Written by Sharon Then (@hersimplesole)

Jun 06, 2022

"I wish Style Fundamentals would’ve existed years ago"

Sebastian Juhola The Minimalist Wardrobe

A review of everything I learned from taking the course

Why don’t certain clothing items look good on me—a constant question looming over my head all these years. From years of experimentation, I’ve come to learn my main style preferences include high-waisted bottoms, crop tops, black and white stripes, and neutral tones. But the question was, why?

Luckily, the Style Fundamentals Course was the answer to all my whys. A style course perfectly curated to contain tips on how to dress for your ideal self. I truly believe, had I had this course several years ago, I would’ve achieved an ideal wardrobe much sooner.

So, why a style course?

Outfit styling is my favourite form of self-expression. As an intentional style content creator, I’ve really tried to hone in on my personal style in the last few years. What I like, what I don’t like, and how I want to intentionally grow my wardrobe. I now have a good grasp on a foundational wardrobe, but it took a really long time to get here.

In past years, I thought following trends and trying to dress like others made me stylish. In reality, being your true stylish self means to dress for your body and your unique features. Not to mention, to understand how you want to appear to the world. After all, it’s not about changing the way we look, but to enhance what we have and how we feel. Wouldn’t you agree?

Style Fundamentals covers proportions, colours, and style. This was the first style course I’ve ever taken, and to be quite honest, I wasn’t expecting much. I (overconfidently) thought I had my personal style all figured out. But as I moved through the course, the lightbulb moments kept coming, and it all just clicked.

So, let’s chat about my key takeaways from this course, and all the lightbulb moments I had, shall we?

P.S. Keep in mind what’s being proposed in this post, and in this course, are not hard style rules. Rather, these tips highlight ways to enhance and/or flatter ourselves so we can feel more confident in our clothes.

By no means are any ofthe following outfit examples bad—I’d gladly wear them all (again) in a heartbeat! Instead, these examples provide a visual side-by-side comparison as a way to apply these concepts.

My horizontal and vertical body shape

As someone who vouches for wearing what you want, I still think general style tips really go a long way. They can assist in getting dressed with more ease in the morning and perhaps even reduce the amount of unintentional shopping—in turn, giving you more time to focus on other parts of your day.

I think it’s wise to know your exact measurements, not only to understand your proportions, but to make online shopping and a brand’s size chart easier to apply.

For this section, I had my trusty fabric measuring tape on hand. After understanding the five horizonal body shapes, I categorized myself as an hourglass.

For my vertical body shape, to find out I was a long torso-short legs kinda gal was shocking. As a petite (standing at 5’3”), my naturally shorter torso led me to believe that I had a disproportionately shorter top than bottom.

Queue lightbulb moment…

My preference for high waisted bottoms and crop tops is because of my inherent desire to lengthen my legs and raise my waist. Without doing so, the fabric naturally takes over my body, as you can see in the examples below:

Now, cinching my waist with a belt isn’t new to me. However, the concept of why I prefer wearing something that cinches my waist finally made sense. It creates volume on the upper and lower halves of the body, leading to a balanced look—one that’s more pleasing to the eye.

Swapping out a longer cardigan for a shorter one also helps draw attention to the waistline.

Here’s a few other subtler comparisons:

Front rise of 10.5" vs...

... front rise of 12"

Cropped length denim jacket vs...

... regular denim jacket

Can you see the slight differences?

Colours for my natural features

While growing my wardrobe these last few years, I’ve focused so much on adding neutrals to it that I was a little stumped with colour. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of it, but I didn’t want to add it just for the sake of having variety.

Rather, I wanted to be intentional and understand which colours could bring joy to my everyday outfits.

This section of the course really helped with this—to understand how to enhance my natural features and why I resonate with certain colours and tones.

Photo from 2020 where I had just purged my wardrobe and only wore neutrals vs...

... photo from 2022 where I still love and wear neutrals, but also started incorporating colours I want to wear

Contrast

Understanding contrast was new to me. I never thought to look to my own features and dress to compliment them as they are.

As someone with high contrasting features (dark hair and pale skin), I’ve learned that high contrast outfits, ones that incorporate both light and dark colours, create more symmetry for me.

Que lightbulb moment…

And it’s likely a huge reason why I love wearing black and white outfits! Since I'll look more flattering by incorporating a full spectrum of tones in an outfit, I don’t have to shy away from mixing and matching.

Being able to play with variety? I’m here for it!

Low contrast outfit vs...

... high contrast outfit

Again, I love both outfits above. But as you can see on the left, there’s a bit of unbalance in terms of what’s shining through. The outfit on the right enhances my features by incorporating higher contrast.

A few other high contrast outfit ideas:

Skin undertone

This section wasn’t really new to me. I know that I have a cooler undertone (discovered after years of trying to figure out the right foundation and concealer shade!) so colours that fall on the cooler spectrum suit me better.

A green layer in a warmer undertone vs...

... a green layer in a cooler undertone

A light brown layer in a warmer undertone vs...

... a light brown layer in a cooler undertone

One thing that I did take away from this section, however, is how gold and silver jewelry looks against my skin. I learned that being on the cooler side means silver looks more flattering on me.

Based on the vein test, you can see in the photo above that the veins on my wrist are clearly blue/purple, identifying my skin undertone as cool. As well, the silver chain (left) appears to have a bit more of an impact than the gold chain. I think it’s time that I give silver another chance!

Colour psychology

You are what you wear—could this be true? Generally speaking, this section of the course identifies certain moods or feelings when it comes to colour.

For example, when I think of yellow, I think of cheerfulness; when I think of red, I think of power and passion.

I would say blue takes up a large section of my wardrobe in the form of tops and jeans. Blue has always been my favourite colour—I almost consider it a neutral.

And speaking of neutrals, as mentioned above, my wardrobe is now full of it.

So, it was interesting for me to find out that blue signifies calmness, stability, security, and reliability. These are all feelings I truly value when I think about the life I want to live. Incorporating blue into my wardrobe expresses my desire to integrate these feelings into my day-to-day life.

I love incorporating blue into an outfit. When I look at these ones above, I feel an instant sense of calm.

Neutrals, or even a more neutral shade of a strong colour, can provide a sense of neutrality, lessening an overpowering signal.

*Queue lightbulb moment*—as someone who’s more of an introvert, I dislike drawing too much attention to myself. So I tend to “play it safe” with neutrals.

A bright yellow top vs...

... a muted yellow top. Muted yellow can lessen over-cheerfulness or attention.

After reading this section, I now value incorporating both light and dark tones in my outfits. In terms of incorporating colour, I’ve started to place focus on more muted tones since my individual preference is to lessen strong, overpowering feelings.

Style and psychology

As a form of self-expression, I believe what you choose to wear is psychological, and I really resonated with this section of the course. What you wear is what others see when they first meet you. While going through this section, I had flashbacks of my style phases:

In high school, I wore a lot of pink/purple, lace and florals – to appear more feminine when I wanted to become more of a woman.

My university days consisted of a lot of trends, as well as bright and bold colours (oh how I cringe at my coloured skinny jeans collection) to draw attention to my growing confidence.

After graduating university, I filled my closet with darker tones (mostly black) to signify my entrance into the corporate world and as a way to appear more professional.

This had me thinking about my previous style choices and how certain periods of my life influenced so much of these choices.

The course identifies adjectives where I chose the ones that resonated with me the most, then searched for them within the 7 major style typologies.

In high school, I would’ve been The Romantic; in university, The Bohemian; and after graduating, The Classic.

Now, since I value simplicity and comfort, as well as a calmer and more casual demeanor, it comes as no surprise that I’m The Minimalist.

Examples of minimalist outfits, created using wardrobe items I’ve had for a few years now (#wearwhatyouhave)

As I continue to build an intentional wardrobe, I have no issues being in this category. However, style is ever-evolving, and we shouldn't fixate ourselves into a restricted style box.

Instead, the experimentation of getting dressed based on what you want to exude out into the world is what makes it fun! Who knows, the style typology you’re currently in could change in a year’s time, and that’s absolutely okay.

Style with ease

Style really shouldn’t be difficult or overwhelming. All in all, the Style Fundamentals Course helped define my preferences and validate my style choices.

I’ve found ways to enhance my own body and unique features that make me the person that I am today.

Honestly, it’s so refreshing! I love applying these concepts to my every day dressing and wardrobe preferences with ease.

Whether you’re just starting or in the midst of your personal style journey, I think this course will be valuable to you—it'll help you feel like your true empowered self through style.