Apply Interior Design To Your Wardrobe and Elevate Even Your Simplest Outfits.
Because style starts at home.
When it comes to making a house into a home every person must define a personal style, a look that they're going for, in order to create a beautiful space. But, regardless of whether you like a minimalist mid-century modern aesthetic, a cozy Scandinavian look, art-deco, farmhouse, bohemian or industrial, there are some rules that every good interior designer will follow. Creators will take these guidelines, apply them to each unique style and create beautiful visual art that flows and accentuates the best your home has to offer and all your personality offers with it. The beauty of it all? Those same rules used to create a stunning home can also perfect a fabulous wardrobe.
So get ready to get dressed. After all, the clothes you wear are like your second home, right?
#1 - Main Character Energy: Define a Focal Point
First thing first: your outfit benefits from a focal point. Just as the word implies, a focal point is a design element that draws attention, maybe even the first place your eyes land when you enter a room. This element can be something built into the architecture, such as a large bay window or a fireplace, or it can be manipulated using strategically painted walls or furniture orientation to direct attention.
In fashion, creating a focal point is all about adding details to an outfit to manipulate the perception of the body in it. A bold statement necklace, a curated color palette, or even the stitching and pleating on your trousers will guide viewers' eyes to the place you choose to lead them.
In this ensemble, the big contrasting white bow grabs attention while the clean and defined lines of the blazer guide eyes to the waistline. The result is an accentuated feminine curve.
#2 - Not the kind in a song: Create Rhythm
Just like your feet tap to the drums from the song stuck in your head right now, the concept of rhythm boils down to repetition. The same family of colors, materials and textures, or shapes and patterns can be repeated throughout a room in different elements to create a unified look that ties even the furthest corners of your home together.
With clothes, creating rhythm can be as simple as using the same metal in all your jewelry pieces or matching the pattern of your belt to your shoes and your purse. If gold hoops and rings aren't your vibe, try grouping pieces made of organic materials like leather or cork. Unify a fit by adding a pair of fringe boots to a top with fringe on the sleeves. Small repeated details will bring your style together and make even the simplest outfits look thought out and intentional!
That's the key!
Here, you can see gold details in the earrings, rings, and belt buckle. Similarly, the earrings pepper in some pink to match the bright trousers as well.
#3 - Hoofbeats sometimes mean zebras: Utilize Contrast
Believe me when I say there's a reason zebra, classic stripes and polka dots catch our eyes. Contrast is the name of the game and interior designers use contrasting colors, shapes, sizes, and textures to create bold and unique spaces that hold tight to your attention.
Contrast can be as simple as sporting a white button-up shirt with a black pantsuit. However, dive a little deeper and you can further develop that contrast by turning those black trousers over for a pair of tight-fitted, shiny black pleather pants paired with an oversized white button-up. Couple a soft and slouchy sweater with tailored, structured trousers to create a cozy yet professional look for the office. Mix ruffles with clean straight lines, edgy necklaces, and combat boots, with romantic dress styles or bright patterned pieces with single-colored articles. The contrast will amp up your personal style, showcasing all kinds of different facets of your complex personality!
This outfit features a bright patterned top from which I selected one color to wear as my bottom half. This simple design choice was also used to select the purse (an example of rhythm too!)
#4 - Spread the Love: Generate Balance
Imagine with me if you took all the furniture in a large living room and moved it completely to just the right side of the room. Or if you only had light fixtures at the back left corner of your kitchen. Weird, right? You could even say it would look like a visual seesaw. That is why we need balance, an element most classically achieved through symmetry.
Balance calls you to spread the love, wealth, and accessories across the entire real estate of your rooms and your outfit. This element can be applied through stylistic details, for example, western boots coupled with a large, cowboy belt buckle and a chic wide-brim hat. Visual balance can also be achieved with simple symmetrical cutouts on the sides of a dress, a double slit in a skirt hem, or structured oversized shoulder pads in a blazer. A more editorial look might use asymmetry instead, with a single exaggerated puffed sleeve, a triangular, slanted hem, or an oversized bow feature to draw maximum attention.
Though this outfit has some basic symmetry with the use of the open scarf and the neckline of the jacket, the asymmetry of the skirt hem adds visual interest. The sheer socks also create balance by filling in "blank space" without completely weighing down the light-colored outfit with the heaviness of thick, black stockings.
#5 - Bring it all together: Make it Harmonious
Like every voice in a choir joining together to make one unified note, harmony is the element achieved when every piece of the puzzle fits in place. Very simply put, harmony is the idea that every element in a design belongs, and that every piece fits in the big picture.
Harmony is the culmination of the other four elements, summing together to make one design work. Sometimes, you can look in a mirror and simply see that that necklace or those shoes simply don't belong. Mixing and matching your pieces and achieving a look that is cohesive, where every accessory makes sense, is what this element is about. And if you've mastered the first four elements, the natural progression will fall to this fifth.
Best Dressed in the House
Making an outfit that is stylistically beautiful and 100% you doesn't have to be complicated. Ultimately, you should have fun when you get dressed in the morning! But, just as you'd like to wow your dinner guests with your perfectly curated dining room, it feels good to stop traffic with the perfect outfit. Interior designers may know a thing or two. After all, art is art. Why not borrow some of their rules?
Like some of these tips? Want to keep seeing them in action?
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