9 Essential styling tips that will help you look elegant
Between trying to stay on top of the ever-changing fashion trends and deciding what your personal style is, being able to pull together perfect looks can be a bit tricky.
Luckily, elegance coach Anna Bey, who runs the online School of Affluence, has shared her top styling tips that 'every classy lady needs to know' to avoid looking ’tacky’.
Her tips are mostly around the small, simple things you can do to look stylish and elegant.
They include only wearing neutral underwear, avoiding clashing colours and always accentuating your waist.
Wear nude underwear
Bey suggested nude and seamless underwear whenever you wear light coloured garments.
“I want you to stop wearing white underwear or contrasting colourful underwear whenever you wear light coloured clothing because hello, we can see them.
“The same goes for wearing textured underwear like lace bras under delicate or sheer fabrics because the texture is going to be visible under such fabrics,” she explained in a YouTube video.
“Underwear should not be visible. This is a rule every elegant woman must follow because as soon as underwear becomes visible, the elegance immediately disappears.” she said.
Always wear lipstick that matches your skin undertone
Explaining how to find out what your skin undertone is, Anna said: 'Just take out your wrist. Take a look on the veins inside and see what colour they are. Do they appear to be more blue or green?
“If your veins appear to be more blue then you are going to be a cool undertone. If you see more green than you are a warm tone, but if you see a fair amount of both green and blue, then you are a neutral undertone.
“So ladies, once you know your undertone, you always have to wear your lipstick in that undertone. If you are warm, make sure your lipstick has a warm undertone,” Bey said.
Those who have a cool undertone should wear lipsticks with a cool undertone and those with a neutral undertone are lucky to be able to wear both.
Look at yourself in the mirror from every angle before leaving your home
Bey suggests doing a full 360 degree turn in front of the mirror before leaving your house.
“I'm talking about your clothes, your hair, your makeup, because you're not aware about how you look from the side or from the back,” said the elegance coach.
She also highlighted the importance of owning several mirrors.
“You must invest in several mirrors and always have a proper check before you leave that door,” she said.
Find your signature style
Finding your signature style is important because then you will have set outfits that you can wear on days where you don’t feel like putting an effort and dressing up.
Bey described it as an essential style uniform or full proof go-to look that is always on standby in your closet.
“Ladies this full proof go-to look that you have to put together, it has to be first and foremost, elegant, it has to flatter your body shape and it has to work for most occasions,” she said.
Look out for lose threads
Bey suggests constantly checking your clothes for lose threads as they will negatively affect your elegant look if not taken care of.
Always coordinate your outfit colours
Coordinating your outfit colours can seem a little intimidating but Bey simplified it.
“I know that many ladies find it really tricky to wear patterns because you might be worried on how to really style the rest of the outfit without ending up looking a bit like a clown.
“And the key to looking elegant when you wear those patterns is to always wear colours of the pattern in the rest of your outfit,” she explained.
“So you don't want to mix and match and start wearing all kinds of other colours that are not inside the pattern. It's about making sure that the rest of the outfit has the same colours as the exact pattern,”
“This way it looks really coordinated. It unites the whole look and you can really let loose. If you have a pattern, let's say with three different colours, you can wear all of those three colours in your entire look without it looking strange,” Bey said.
Add a pop of colour
The elegance coach suggested adding some colour to an outfit using accessories.
“We all have those days when we look at the outfit in front of us and we just feel that something is missing,” Bey said.
“And sometimes the trick is to really just add a little bit of accessories or a pop of colour.
“So let's say you're wearing a plain white dress. If you wear a matching white bag, it is going to look really plain and boring. Let's say you add a little red bag or a blue bag, then all of a sudden you spice the outfit up and it looks more interesting.” she said.
Never wear scuffed shoes or bags
“We want to look elegant, we want to look expensive so for us it's a massive no-no to wear scuffed shoes and bags because it immediately downgrades an entire look,” insisted the elegance coach.
“For bags you have to pay attention to certain things. First of all, if the bag is looking really tired and worn out. Now it is normal that the edges can have a little bit of scuffing going on. That's fine.
“But when those marks start to become really big, that's when you really need to pay attention. Same goes ladies if you have those threads poking up that I just mentioned, from the stitching of the bag or if let's say you have some visible stains,” she said.
Dirty shoes are also a big no according to Bey.
Shop for your current size only
Bey said it is important to choose the right sized clothing instead of sizing down in hopes that one day the items will fit you.
“I really think it's so important to buy for the size that you are today because of how essential the fit of the garment is.
“And what happens when you wear a garment that is a little bit too small for you. You're actually going to look bigger, your garment must have the appropriate fit for your body because otherwise ladies, all of these styling tips that I'm giving you are really just pointless,” she concluded.