Any tips on putting outfits together?

[Getyournamefaceon]

I'm a size 12, in my 30s and have a lot of nice clothes (a lot don't fit but that's another story) but I don't know how to put outfits together.

How do you put together your outfits? Any tips?

Do you work from one piece? Follow people who's style you like and try copy it?

I'd love to be more adventurous and like justclassicallycassidy on tiktok but don't think I'm brave enough! So thinking more toned down

If the top is close-fitting, then I might have a looser bottom half.
And vice versa.
All close-fitting is fine.
Never loose top and bottom.

3 colour max and following cos late and will report back with more tomorrow

Melissa Morrel on You Tube is good.

You need trying on sessions at home, that's the best way.

You can follow all the influencers you like, but essentially, to develop your own style and manage what’s in your wardrobe you need to try everything you own on with everything else. You’ll surprise yourself by discovering colour combinations and new proportions between items that you would never have considered theoretically possible.

It’s really a matter of taking the time to experiment.

I'd love to be more adventurous and like justclassicallycassidy on tiktok but don't think I'm brave enough!

Be brave! Nothing bad will happen, and it's fun. (Being very very brave is even more fun. Trust me.)

I agree with pps above - you need a huge trying-on session.

My tips ...

Don't buy things; let them buy you (by which I mean, don't buy anything unless you really love it)

Try things together that you wouldn't automatically think will go together - evening dress with leather jacket; beautiful delicate top with beaten-up jeans; smart hat with casual outfit, etc

Pick up a colour in one garment with the same colour in another

Consider weight and texture. Things don't necessarily work together because the colours like each other. Texture and weight have a huge effect. Sometimes I've not known why two things that "shouldn't" work do in fact work, and it's turned out to be because the fabrics work together, regardless of colour.

Wear jewellery. Jewellery lifts every outfit.

Dump most of your wardrobe, especially if a lot doesn't fit. Buy a capsule wardrobe of complementary colours, it's worth spending some money on this.

Exactly as you say, @Time40.

I have a red white and blue plaid skirt that inexplicably works really well with a heavy knit, bright green camisole. It makes no sense, but I feel extraordinarily well dressed in that outfit.

And if you already have nice clothes the trick is to actively think about what you own while you’re browsing websites. A beanie in this year’s colour, for instance, might be exactly what you need to turn some ancient boots and a neglected skirt into an outfit.