From free to reasonably priced finds, these strategies, instruments, and picks will make higher fashion extra easy.
Particular due to Slick Collar for supporting Primer’s mission and sponsoring this text.
Dressing higher is not nearly shopping for totally different garments or studying esoteric style guidelines—it is about remodeling the way you strategy getting dressed.
The purpose is to create a system that makes the act of dressing clean, pleasurable, and sustainable, even on the hardest days.
A great fashion system reduces friction in your day-to-day routine, creating a greater relationship with what you already personal and making it straightforward to place collectively outfits that work. Beneath are plenty of straightforward strategies, instruments, and picks which have made my very own system infinitely simpler.
A Nice Approach to Consumption and Arrange Inspiration
Free – $10
Any good designer, filmmaker, photographer, architect, or inside designer is aware of the significance of cataloging inspiration. No nice artist works from reminiscence or begins from scratch with each mission.
Placing outfits collectively and honing your fashion is simply as a lot of a visible and creative endeavor as any of these inventive fields. For those who’re nonetheless determining your private fashion, why pressure your self to face in entrance of a closet, staring blankly and making an attempt to resolve what to put on?
You want a approach to save clothes, fashion, and outfit concepts as you come throughout them. Whether or not it’s on Primer, whereas searching a retailer’s web site, strolling via the mall, or scrolling on social media, having a system to seize and arrange inspiration is invaluable.
The way you do that comes down to private choice:
- Create a Pinterest board.
- Take screenshots in your telephone and save them into an album.
- Use instruments like Notion or Evernote for a extra elaborate system.
There’s no mistaken approach to do it, however it’s important to do one thing. You’ll be shocked how usually you overlook about an outfit concept. Months later, you’ll scroll via your saved inspiration and rediscover a glance you may recreate.
It saves time, reduces stress, and makes getting dressed for occasions or each day life considerably simpler. I can’t emphasize it sufficient.
A Movable Shoe Rack to Be Close to Your Clothes
$25+
Having my footwear clearly seen whereas I select my garments is extremely essential. Constructing an outfit is not a linear course of; it is about experimenting, holding objects subsequent to one another, and seeing how they align for the event and look on you.
An outfit is a cohesive look; having all objects seen helps create that cohesion, moderately than simply seeing them as separate items. All of it works collectively to turn into one thing extra. As an illustration, suede loafers change the texture of a shirt and denims otherwise than white sneakers do.
Once I can see my footwear alongside my clothes, I usually choose footwear I would not have chosen if I had already selected the highest and bottoms first. Having the ability to audition totally different pairs whereas placing collectively an outfit makes a giant distinction.
Slick Collar
Package with 3 collar sizes + shirt stays, $23 save additional 15% with SLICKPRIMER
A structured collar could make all of the distinction between trying sharp and searching sloppy. That is true whether or not you are shopping for shirts on the reasonably priced finish of the spectrum or investing in costlier items.
With button-up shirts that lack construction, the collar usually flops over, making your look really feel unkempt. That is particularly a problem for good informal appears to be like the place even informal items must be as refined as attainable.
Enter the Slick Collar: a easy invention that instantly proves its price. Reasonably priced, efficient, and completely designed for its objective, the Slick Collar is actually the collar+placket equal of collar stays. It supplies construction not solely to the collar ideas but in addition to the entrance button placket, holding them in place and stopping them from collapsing or folding underneath the material’s weight.
This retains the collar upright, making certain it would not slide open because of the material’s weight. Created by a small enterprise out of Canada, the Slick Collar is adjustable for various neck and shirt sizes, with every order together with three collar lengths. This versatility means it really works for all the pieces—from knit polos and golf shirts to extra formal gown shirts.
Better of all, you may simply transfer them between shirts, which means no alterations are wanted.
At round $20 for 3 with the code, the Slick Collar is a small funding that delivers large returns throughout practically all your collared shirts. It’s a stable, dependable instrument, and upon getting it, you are set. Straightforward purchase.
Primer readers can save 15% with code SLICKPRIMER.
An Apple Watch Strap That Helps Steadiness the Tech-y and Athletic Nature
$10+
In social media style bubbles, there is a little bit of a pretentious, virtually Luddite view on smartwatches—that they will’t be fashionable. Positive, they lack the heritage of a dive watch or the class of a gold gown watch, however that mindset ignores the truth of residing in 2024.
For a lot of, smartwatches are important—whether or not for life-style, work, or tasks. Personally, my Apple Watch helps me keep targeted with out the distraction of my telephone. I nonetheless get texts and calls however keep away from time-killer apps, which makes it a must have for me.
I put on it usually at dwelling with the default strap however it’s robust to put on in a extra good informal, night look. Fortunately, Apple Watch bands are straightforward to swap due to their sliding mechanism. A leather-based or steel band, which yow will discover affordably in off manufacturers, and will be swapped in through the occasions the common strap would not work, makes all of the distinction.
Designate an Outfit Workstation
Probably the most stress-reducing modifications I’ve made is organising a devoted “workstation” close to the place I hold my outfits. Having all instruments in a single place makes it a lot simpler to get all the pieces prepared effectively, particularly when operating late. It’s a small shelf the place I preserve my steamer (with plug entry), a clothes brush, and every other instruments I would want.
It’s a form of “workbench” to your garments, the place you progress objects from closet storage into the staging space, and have all of the instruments you have to get them trying their finest.
A Place to Grasp Outfits
This might sound easy, however it is going to change the way you strategy your clothes and elegance.
Choosing out your outfit the night time earlier than drastically reduces morning stress—particularly for those who’re not a morning individual and really feel half asleep or foggy. It is a complete recreation changer to simply get up and know precisely what you are carrying.
For me, I hung a hook in my closet to stage my outfit for the following day. It retains all the pieces neat and separate, performing as a staging space whereas assembling totally different mixtures. As an alternative of making an attempt to image a mixed look in my head, I pull out key items and hold them, making an attempt totally different combos till I discover the proper match.
A Clothes Brush As an alternative of a Lint Curler
$15+
Earlier than the sticky paper-based lint rollers you are accustomed to, individuals used particular clothes brushes to wipe away mud and hair. Originating within the nineteenth century, clothes brushes have been important clothes care instruments for males who wore fits commonly. Since fits cannot be washed simply, it was essential to have a brushing routine.
I’ve lived with canines that shed for 15 years and the sticky lint curler has all the time felt annoying and wasteful to make use of simply because of the sheer quantity of peeling and rolling I might need to do every time. Just lately, I lastly picked up some clothes brushes. They arrive in several coarseness and stiffness ranges, with softer brushes designed for extra delicate clothes fabricated from cashmere, for instance, and stiffer ones to deal with denim extra instantly.
Whereas they are not good, and typically require a number of passes to lastly get that one piece of hair, it’s much less annoying to make use of. Clothes brushes will be discovered beginning round $15 and you’ll improve to the gentleman commonplace, English-made model Kent which begin round $40. The double-sided Kent CC20 which is commonly mentioned as a go-to resulting from versatility eeks handed the article price range and is round $60.
A Clothes Steamer
$15+
I do not understand how that is attainable, however for me, ironing appears so as to add wrinkles moderately than take away them. Plus, my common schedule for preparing is all the time tighter than I’d like, so I’m usually speeding when it’s time to dress. The very last thing I need is to plan on carrying one thing, solely to seek out it is too wrinkled and really feel like I don’t have the time to cope with it.
That is the place a steamer saves the day.
I have two steamers: a budget-friendly mannequin round $20 I’ve had for years and a bigger Conair mannequin. Each work effectively—simply run the steam over the material, and most wrinkles disappear simply.
Actually, I’d be in a troublesome spot with out a clothes steamer. It’s a kind of instruments that makes preparing a lot less complicated, and I can not advocate it sufficient.
The Plain Ball Cap
James Clear, the writer of Atomic Habits, has famously stated, “You don’t rise to the extent of your objectives. You fail on the stage of your programs.” If you’re an individual making an attempt to decorate deliberately in your life—particularly if it is a newer endeavor for you or doesn’t come naturally—you may’t anticipate your pure habits and routines to brute pressure extra conscientious fashion 100% of the time.
It’s simply not going to occur. There are going to be days the place you don’t wash your hair. There are going to be days the place you’ve acquired to toss something on and nonetheless need to look good however don’t have time to do the entire thing.
For these days, a plain black baseball cap has been superb. There’s nothing mistaken with carrying a cool hat with the appropriate sports activities crew emblem or some form of classic design. But it surely does require some visible balancing with the opposite objects. The plain black cap takes it from being a very utilitarian factor (like a free hat from a company giveaway) to an intentional a part of your outfit.
A Hoodie or Quarter-zip Various That You may Wish to Put on
$20+
Hoodies are fashionable for 2 causes: they’re comfy and straightforward to put on. There’s nothing mistaken with hoodies; I like them too.
Nonetheless, there is a distinction between carrying hoodies as a part of your fashion, and counting on them since you panic about what else to put on. For these barely much less informal settings—like a date, household occasion, or after-hours work perform—having one thing that feels as comfy as a hoodie however appears to be like extra applicable will make your life simpler.
There are various choices:
These are straightforward swaps on days the place you do not have the brainpower to suppose past a hoodie that elevate your fashion whereas sustaining consolation.
Picket Hangers
$4.99+
In case your closet feels chaotic, switching to picket hangers can present the wanted construction and group. Rainbow-hued plastic hangers add visible muddle when your thoughts is making an attempt to determine what to put on, they usually don’t give your garments the assist they want. In a packed closet, shirts and pants get compressed, inflicting wrinkles, creased shoulders, and crushed collars.
Picket hangers clear up these issues. They supply construction to maintain your garments able to put on and provides your closet a cleaner, extra organized look.
The most effective half? Picket hangers don’t need to be costly, and also you don’t want to exchange them all of sudden. I transitioned my closet over a few years, and the distinction is night time and day. IKEA and Amazon have reasonably priced choices, and when you make the swap, you’re set for good.
Closet Area Savers like Tiered Hangers
$15+
Tiered hangers are nice for grouping comparable objects collectively, decreasing visible muddle. In case you have six equivalent white T-shirts, hold one visibly and preserve the remainder on a tiered hanger. The identical goes for exercise garments you put on in no specific order. This setup saves area and minimizes visible muddle, making it simpler to concentrate on key objects when placing outfits collectively.
Levi’s 501
$35+
For those who’re a Primer common, you’ve got heard me discuss 501s as kinds have shifted towards straighter/looser suits over the previous few years. The 501s, with their traditional straight match, have been the primary place I turned. Initially I assumed, “These are method too large; I will by no means put on them.” However they shortly grew to become my go-to, no-thought-required pair. I put on them dressed up, dressed down, and in every single place in between.
This is the factor about straight match denims: If you have not worn them because the ’90s, it is easy to guage them too shortly. After they’re new, they give the impression of being crisp, pressed flat, cuasing the facet seams to flare out awkwardly. However after washing, drying, and breaking them in, the drape modifications fully. Now, they observe my physique’s contours with out feeling too large, free, or blocky.
They’re straightforward to put on with chunky boots or suede loafers for that light preppy look you see at locations like J.Crew, Buck Mason, and Taylor Sew. They’re comfy, delicate, have a little bit of stretch, they usually’re reasonably priced. You may snag a pair for underneath $50, particularly throughout upcoming gross sales.
A Nice Plain T-Shirt
Having a delicate, handsome t-shirt that you simply love the best way it suits—I can not overemphasize how priceless that’s. You’ll put on it on a regular basis. You’ll layer it beneath leather-based jackets, sweaters, and button-ups. You’ll put on it by itself with denims. You’ll put on it tucked into chinos for a contemporary look.
A t-shirt that drapes effectively with a delicate visible texture can exude sophistication simply in addition to a button-up shirt. Between a man carrying an inexpensive, unkempt button-up and a man carrying a very stable, delicate, well-fitting t-shirt with some particulars within the collar, hem, texture, or wash—I select the t-shirt each time.
Staples and fundamentals are referred to as that as a result of they’re common and might look superb on anybody when the main points are dialed in. There’s an inclination to dismiss them as much less essential or boring, however that couldn’t be farther from the reality.
Cease Sporting (and Get Rid of) Issues You Hate Sporting
It is a large one for me. I misinform myself about issues which might be a smidge too small or don’t match fairly proper. I’ll attempt them on, then find yourself selecting one thing else, however I don’t say to myself, “I ought to simply eliminate this.”
Maintaining these objects makes getting dressed more durable as a result of they create visible muddle in your closet. It’s additionally wasted time for those who attempt them on solely to reject them once more.
One other stunning facet impact that I found is, I might by no means take into account shopping for issues “I already had” however by no means wore just because they did not match proper or weren’t comfy, even when the correct model of the merchandise would have gotten worn on a regular basis.
Exterior of utmost utilitarian circumstances—like a blazer or swimsuit you don’t get pleasure from carrying however sometimes want—there’s no level in retaining objects you dislike. Use the trick the place you hold these objects with the hook dealing with outward and after six or so months, if the hanger hasn’t been circled (indicating you’ve worn the merchandise), donate or promote it. This technique clears up area and helps you acknowledge what you really need.
Darkish Grey Denims
$25+
If you would like a single reply to what’s one factor you should buy to make outfit-building simpler, it’s a pair of darkish grey slim or straight denims with 1 / 4 or half break.
You’ll be capable of gown them up, put on them tremendous casually, fashion them rugged, or pair them with preppy or streetwear appears to be like. They’ll work with brown boots, black sneakers, and virtually anything. The flexibility is limitless.
If a good friend who was simply beginning out requested me for one suggestion, it will be this. You will discover loads of choices underneath $50 from locations like Levi’s or Amazon Necessities, particularly throughout gross sales which might be developing.
