Power dressing for everyday moments
Principles and tools we can use to feel great no matter the day's agenda
If you’re a local reader who missed my recent secondhand market, you’re in luck! We’re hosting Revive and Relove Part 2 on Tuesday, February 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the North Central College School of Business and Entrepreneurship. I’ll be selling upcycled clothing and accessories, as well as some pre-loved items from my closet. Check out this Instagram post for all the details!
I’ve been thinking about the days when I get dressed and something just clicks. On these days, I can stroll onto campus, or even into the grocery store, feeling ready for anything. A good outfit, to me, is that powerful.
When I consider these outfits, they’re not overly formal or showy. Rather, they’re subtly different versions of my usual looks. It seems small changes, even accidental ones, can bring me an almost-dangerous level of confidence.
In today’s post, I’m dissecting my moments of accidental power dressing to offer us all some ideas we can use to dress this way on purpose. My vision isn’t for you to dress like me; I don’t think power dressing is as simple as copy + paste. Instead, I’d love for you to think of what power dressing means to you, with your clothes, body, and lifestyle.
Below, I’m breaking things down into two sections: principles and tools. Principles are theoretical (mindsets you can adopt as you’re approaching your closet) and tools are practical (things you can touch or create when you get there). I don’t think your outfit needs to include consideration of every principle and every tool, but snacking on one or two might be enough to give you a new idea for getting dressed.
Disclaimer: If you take my advice and you become too powerful for your own good, I cannot be held liable for damages. I will, however, write a nice Substack post about your cool outfits.
Principles
When analyzing my moments of accidental power dressing, I can identify four principles that got me there: self care, attention to detail, authenticity, and personalization.
Principle #1: Self care
Dressing for self care means you approach your closet with the intention of using clothes to help create a wonderful day for yourself. Our intentions don’t always translate into reality, but as I wrote about here, dressing ourselves antagonistically (or with apathy) just seems wrong in this volatile cultural moment.
Maureen Welton talks about dressing intuitively, which I think speaks beautifully to the concept of self care. I love her recommendation to dress according to a need - whether it’s creativity, comfort, or something else that pops up that day. She also reminds us to be flexible, or open to change in the moment.
Dressing intuitively with the goal of self care might mean asking ourselves:
What am I feeling today?
What do I need today?
What clothes can help me meet those needs?
What clothes might not help me meet those needs?
If the answers to these questions seem out of reach, know that self care and intuition are both practices. They get easier with time.
Principle #2: Attention to detail
Dressing for self care is possible in part by knowing your clothes intimately for how they meet (or don’t meet) your needs. This makes it easier to get dressed and helps avoid outfit blunders. Attention to detail also comes into play when we’re shopping or editing our closets.
For example, I’ve been thinking about what makes my “ideal” pair of work pants. The ones I gravitate to are high-waisted, wide leg, made of lightweight wool, and long enough to accommodate both heels and sneakers. Because of these things, they make me feel amazing when I wear them.
Now that I have a few pairs of pants like this, I know I won’t regret grabbing one of them when I’m in a pants mood. I can also edit out pants that don’t meet my criteria. When I’m shopping, comparing potential purchases to this ideal saves me money.
When you think about your favorite garment from a given category, what makes it special? Consider how it feels on your body, and hold all other garments in this category to this standard. The more clothes in our closet that meet our ideals, the better chance we stand at feeling powerful on a regular basis.
Principle #3: Authenticity
I don’t know if it’s possible feel powerful when you’re dressing like someone else, or dressing according to someone else’s agenda and values. Of course, none of us are making 100%-independent decisions about fashion, but staying true to yourself when you’re getting dressed is going to result in a better outfit than trying to copy an influencer or trending aesthetic.
What kind of clothes and accessories make your heart flutter when you see them? What items in your closet do you love even though they might not be “cool”? Can you please promise me that you’re going to give them some airtime this week?
We are, of course, social creatures. It can be scary to wear your favorite clothes for fear of judgment. I try to reassure myself that no one notices or cares, but I think the bigger lesson for me has been that if I love what I’m wearing, my enthusiasm radiates from me and helps me find my people. Dressing authentically is a matchmaking service.
Principle #4: Personalization
It has never been easier (and cheaper) to fill our closets with in-season trends so we can look current. While I love hopping on trends now and then, I try to cherish the old as much as the new.
I’ve started thinking of my closet as a personal archive of my past experiences. It’s a gift to accumulate things I love, and wearing them connects me with the power of getting older and wiser.
Part of dressing authentically, for me, means that I can use my personal archive to make an outfit that only I could have put together. Literally, no one else owns this exact combinations of things. It’s my combination.
This often happens with accessories. I’m thinking about the times when I wear a thrifted belt with my hand-me-down brooches, and add a made-by-me charm to my tote bag. Even if the base of the outfit is jeans and a t-shirt, I’m still putting my spin on it.
While I have fun with mixing and matching, it doesn’t need to be this complicated. Why not wear the heirloom jewelry you’re saving for special moments, and carry your family around with you all day? Wouldn’t that old jacket in the back of your closet look great with your new shoes? In a world where we can, theoretically, all look the same if we want to, why not be specifically you?
Tools
When analyzing my moments of accidental power dressing, I can identify four tools that got me there: fit, silhouette, color, and hero pieces.
Tool #1: Fit
Power dressing begins with clothes that fit well. By “well,” I don’t mean “flattering.” More so, I mean clothes that allow for distraction-free movement. Tight or loose, it doesn’t matter. Nothing is pinching or bunching. When something fits, we can move through the world without adjusting or feeling self conscious.
I don’t like feeling restricted at all. My broad shoulders and muscular quads make me sensitive to any point of tugging, so I love soft fabrics with generous cuts. For that reason, I regularly edit my closet to make sure nothing in there is judging me. For the clothes that remain, I know which ones are best at adjusting to my body’s needs on a given day. My elastic waistband skirts, for example, don’t care that my period’s on the way or that I had a big lunch.
Let’s not forget about the gift that is tailoring! Because I’m petite, I’ll often go to the tailor to make sure my clothes fit properly. When my pants, jackets, or sleeves are too long, I feel frumpy. When they’re just the right size, I feel polished. This has made me very aware of the difference even half an inch can make when it comes to the size of our clothes. If you love something in your closet but it doesn’t fit exactly right, you can probably fix it for far less than it would cost to replace it.
Tool #2: Silhouette
Silhouette is an extension of fit. I think our most powerful outfit moments take on certain visual shapes. The comfort and ease of power dressing come in reliable patterns.
For me, the vast majority of my favorite outfits contain these elements:
Slim-fitting top
Looser-fitting second layer (e.g., vest or blazer)
Wide or flowy pants or skirt
Defined waistline (love a belt!)
Slim shoe (often with a walkable heel)
Here, because of the natural shapes of my body - broad shoulders with narrower hips - the final result is usually pretty balanced. My broad shoulders mirror a wide or flowy bottom layer, and a cinched waist adds a visual break. This isn’t something I intentionally try to create when I get dressed, but it helps explain why an oversized top layer and a slim-fitting bottom layer makes me feel “off.”
If you consider your favorite outfits, what shapes do they make? Maybe you gravitate towards a head-to-toe slim fit. Maybe you like oversized on oversized. Whatever works for you is perfect, but knowing what works for you will bring you one step closer to power dressing on purpose.
Tool #3: Color
Color plays a few different roles in my closet, and my moments of accidental power dressing reflect that. My most reliable uses of color include:
Bold red or berry lipstick
Knotted silk scarf
Using color in my wardrobe is both strategic and fun - and I love that it can be both. It look me a while to get here, though, because not all colors are created equal.
Color is such a huge topic within the realm of personal style. There are schools of thought that suggest using color to evoke certain moods, while others invite you to find your “best” (i.e., most flattering) colors and run with those. I’m not here to tell you what colors to wear, but I do think each of us has colors that make us feel amazing, whether they are flattering or not.
If you say you like wearing blue, I’d ask you: what kind of blue? There are so many of them! Some blues, like cobalt, for example, make me look alive. Other blues, like a slate blue, have the opposite effect. If you don’t know what your power colors are, bookmark this as a possible exciting discovery process for down the road.
Tool #4: Hero pieces
We all have days when getting dressed is difficult for whatever reason(s). Maybe you’re in a rush, or you’re really tired. Maybe you’re bloated and nothing fits the way you’d like it to.
Hero pieces can save the day. A hero piece is something that you know always makes you feel good. Yes, by extension, it probably looks good too, but here we are talking about feelings. A hero piece fits you well, plays nicely with the rest of your wardrobe, and doesn’t require any of your precious brainpower.
My hero piece is a slim-fitting white t-shirt. I have about three of the same ones in my closet right now because I wear them multiple times a week. They look great on their own, or paired with a cardigan, vest, or blazer. They’re casual but I can dress them up for work. I don’t need to wash them in a special way, and they don’t really get wrinkled so I can pop them on when I’m in a rush. Going back to power colors, I also happen to look excellent in white! (Not really a color, I know.)
My hero piece is likely not your hero piece - this is very personal - but I hope you have a few things in your closet that never let you down. Once you know what they are, let them work for you. Break out one or more on a day when you need their power.
Turning “accidental” into “intentional”
I sincerely hope this post was helpful to you. (It was helpful to me, at the very least!)
One of the many reasons I love writing is because it helps me think. I’m curious how my relationship with my closet will change now that I know with more certainty what makes me feel my best. For example, based on my principles and tools, I can tell which items, or which outfits, don’t align with my own teachings. There are some things that I’ve tried to make work, and now I know why. Maybe I don’t need to force them.
After pondering this topic all week, I also think it’s more important than ever for us to bolster our confidence and mood however we can. Dressing with power in mind is really about seeking ease; wearing clothes you don’t have to think about, so you can focus on what’s in front of you. Your family. Your job. Your passions. With so much uncertainty all around us, you deserve that.
I hope you feel powerful today, whatever you’re wearing. Thanks, as always, for being here.