What to Wear To Your Next Dinner Date (for when you hate dressing UP)
Some people find dressing up in the evening easier than others. In this guide, I show how you could dress for your next date based on your personal style and feel confident when you hate dressing up
In today’s newsletter…
🧣 Evening outfits for those who hate dressing up
📹 How to create a home that you love (especially for autumn)
👟 Lookbook: wedding guest dress which is stone x sun x mushroom
Apologies everyone - I thought I had scheduled this for last Friday but it didn’t send! Your email will continue on Friday as usual
How do I feel like ME in the evening?
Some of us simply don’t feel as comfortable dressing UP as others. For those of you who prefer dressing simple, casual, relaxed or sporty - the idea of putting on a glamorous dress can feel daunting and completely inauthentic. For others, you wish you could wear that dress every moment of the day! This is my guide for outfit ideas for some of the style roots combinations which will struggle the most
🪨🌙🍄 edgy, timeless, relaxed
Someone with the 🍄🪨🌙 style roots usually like relaxing in jeans and a graphic tee, and this can feel too underdressed for an evening date. The key is to not lean too inauthentic - so wearing a floral dress would be completely out of character and feel really strange. It’s better to lean into some style words which work for your style roots AND an evening event. For example, opting for sporty, minimal and rock n roll wouldn’t be the best of your words for this scenario. This outfit is casual so it doesn’t feel out of your wheelhouse due to the cosy jumper, casual miniskirt and cool knee boots. The leather and dark colours add in your moon root, but ultimately you lean into your mushroom root with a timeless silhouette, minimal detail and neutral tones.
🌱🌸⛰️ preppy, girly, academic
This set of style roots is at the other end of the spectrum, with clothes that can feel too formal and modest for an evening occasion as if you are a woman from the 1800s who has travelled in time. Most of your outfits feel like day looks, so you might choose to look to some of your style muses for inspiration. For example, Spencer in Pretty Little Liars often wears outfits which would work for these roots, so you could find evening date occasions in the show to see how she channels her style in those moments
🪨☀️⛰️ futuristic, playful, powerful
As the first two examples show, the style roots which are probably going to struggle with this most are stone and mountain; stone is too casual, mountain can end up feeling too office-y or old-fashioned. So, what about when we pair them together? The mountain, stone, sun style root combination leans into extravagant day looks; however, you can channel the formal energy for the evening. It would be out of character for you to lean overly sexy or stereotypically feminine with a miniskirt like the other two looks, but you still might want to show off your silhouette on a date. Something like a fitted pair of trousers and a clingy top still achieves this, whilst remaining true to yourself
🌸☀️🌱 eclectic, bohemian, delicate
One of my favourite style roots combinations is earth, flower sun! These looks do lean a little beach-y so can feel strange in a fancy restaurant setting. Lean into your love of femininity and intricate details and let this side of your personality shine.
Ultimately, the trick is to not be ashamed of your personal taste. I think sometimes it’s our instinct is to assume that the things we like are going to be unacceptable to others, based on some inner insecurity. Unless you turn up in sweatpants and a hoodie, odds are, you aren’t going to be inappropriately dressed on your date. Try to take the fundamentals of your style, the things you wear everyday and elevate them with a higher shoe, a more fitted jacket, and a skirt and you are pretty much half way there!
What’s new:
👙 YouTube - Brutally Honest Advice to Improve Your Style in Your 20s
📚 My book is available now!! | If you’re based in the UK, you can now read my book! I believe if you are US or otherwise based, you can read the ebook version (I recommend reading on the kindle app rather than the kindle itself which is black and white). I am so thrilled, we’ve had some positive reviews already and it is so exciting seeing it go into your hands.
Thank you for reading the free style scholars newsletter. In this week’s paid segment below:
outfit look book: stone x sun x mushroom for a wedding guest
how to create a wardrobe of pieces you love + combining style roots and essences
outfit challenge of the week
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