Last Friday, I was chatting with my assistant, Rachel, on Slack. I started kicking around my thoughts about the topic of this week’s blog post. “Something about people being exhausted about the state of the world, how unsure people feel about money, and the lack of interest in fashion that comes as a result,” I Slacked to her.
Rachel agreed and said, “The answer would probably be to not buy anything and just wear what you own, LOL.” I chuckled back at her response, because nobody needs a blog post to tell them to do more with less, right? So I Slacked her back, “Also, though, there could be an angle about how much better you feel when you try.”
“Totally feel better!” She said. “Even if it’s just putting on real pants for the first time that week.”
This Slack chat happened while I was working at a neighborhood coffee shop. I messaged her back, “I am out at a coffee shop and put a super easy outfit on, but it’s cute. I have jeans (link to them here) and a Quince ribbed tee, my Quince knockoff Veronica Beard blazer with the attached dickey hoodie in grey, M.Gemi driving loafers in saddle, and my Edmonton Oilers cap (Go Oilers!). Nothing special, but still looks chic. It makes a huge difference in how I feel. Plus, nobody knows I haven’t washed my hair since Tuesday.” (It was Friday.)
The benefits of the topic were starting to show themselves, and I saw them as twofold. First, simplifying. When we’re feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, it’s the best strategy we can employ. If you recall, right when we were coming out of the height of the pandemic, I wrote about how, in times of stress, the easier option is always the better one. You can read the post here. The second thing that surfaced was the benefit that comes from putting some effort forth in times of stress, because how much better you feel when you do. We’ve all had the experience of the difference it makes when we know we look good. I decided to call this, low-effort style, something I think we’re all craving right now, but not exactly executing well.
If you break down the components of my outfit, it’s really just jeans and a t-shirt, plus very straightforward basics to finish my look. For my Brooklyn neighborhood, where I like to say, “people spend a lot of money to look like they didn’t spend any,” this was pretty refined. I created something that made me feel better being out in the world vs. just dialing it in. I stylishly solved for things like my hair being absolutely filthy, but having no mental bandwidth to deal with washing it. I added layers with a little more polish that could have easily been solved with frumpy functional pieces, and I chose a foundation to my outfit that is truly my home base. You can read more about Home Base Looks here.
I think if you look around at how most people are dressing these days, it is reflective of how we collectively feel, and I can’t say I blame anyone. It’s so easy to back burner, looking polished when it costs one kidney to pay for gas, human rights are being threatened left and right, and the world is on fire. However, if you look at it from a different perspective, feeling and looking good is one of the most straightforward things we can control in challenging times. A good outfit won’t fix the world, but feeling worse doesn’t help either. If getting dressed well makes your day even slightly better, that’s reason enough.
HOW TO EXECUTE LOW-EFFORT STYLE
One of the reasons so many of us default to too casual instead of polished casual when we’re stressed is because we’ve got enough to do and think about. Nobody wants to think about an outfit because, in their minds, that’s one more thing to manage. Low-effort style is about reducing the amount of thought required to still look good. It’s about knowing your limits and distilling down what you wear to its most basic components. It’s about solving problems, not creating new ones. Here are some of my tips and suggestions.
GET BACK TO YOUR BASICS: NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR EXPERIMENTATION
As I said in my post about Home Base Looks, we all have our default looks we come back to over and over because they feel like home, and we feel most like ourselves when we wear them. These looks provide comfort, stability, and familiarity. You could also call this your You’niform.
But there’s also something else going on here. A lot of women have been conditioned to believe that if something isn’t hard, it doesn’t count. That effort equals value. That if you’re not pushing yourself, stretching, or trying to do something new, you’re somehow falling short.
When we default to what’s easy, it can feel like we’re dialing it in, even when it’s actually the smartest choice available to us. But what if we changed our mindset about that in moments of unease? Why is it so bad to tighten things up and fall back on what works?
Go deeper with what works instead of spreading yourself thin trying to reinvent the wheel. Keep things tight, stick with the familiar, and focus more on how you feel than on taking risks. When your bandwidth is low, the answer usually isn’t more creativity. It’s more clarity. Once the load is lightened, you can go back to whatever complicated approach you want.
BUILD FROM A RELIABLE FOUNDATION
When you’re burnt out, start with the piece you know almost always works. Maybe it’s your favorite jeans, a great pair of trousers, a knit dress, or the white shirt that somehow never lets you down. The point is not to create an outfit from scratch every time. The point is to start from a foundation that already has a proven track record. Low-effort style works best when the first decision is easy.
LET POLISH DO THE HEAVY LIFTING
A lot of women think looking pulled together requires a complicated outfit, but usually it comes down to a few strategic choices. Real shoes instead of throwaway ones. A proper layer instead of the sad sweatshirt. Earrings, a belt, sunglasses, a structured bag, or lipstick. Just enough to signal intention. The outfit can be incredibly simple if one or two elements do the polishing for you.
SOLVE THE PROBLEM YOU ACTUALLY HAVE
Sometimes the reason an outfit falls apart has nothing to do with style and everything to do with whatever minor disaster is happening that day. Your hair is dirty. You’re bloated. You’re freezing in one office and sweating outside. You don’t have the patience for anything restrictive. Low-effort style means solving for the real issue instead of pretending it doesn’t exist. Put on the baseball cap. Choose the soft waistband. Add the layer that actually works. The goal is not suffering beautifully. The goal is to make functional choices that still look intentional.
DON’T CONFUSE COMFORT WITH SLOPPINESS
This is where a lot of people lose the plot. Comfortable does not automatically mean oversized fleece, stretched-out leggings, and the emotional support zip-up you’ve owned since 2014. There is a middle ground between uncomfortable and completely checked out. Soft fabrics, easy silhouettes, flat shoes, and relaxed pieces can still look refined when the proportions are right, and the pieces feel considered.
MAKE YOUR EASY OUTFITS ACTUALLY EASY
If you have to think too hard about it, it’s not low effort. The best low-effort outfits are the ones you can practically assemble in the dark. This is where having a handful of repeatable formulas matters. Jeans, fitted tee, polished layer. Trousers, sweater, loafers. Dress, jacket, sneakers. When you know your formulas, getting dressed becomes less about effort and more about execution.
AIM FOR “GOOD ENOUGH TO FACE THE WORLD”
This may be the most important shift of all. Low-effort style is not about rising to your personal best every day. It’s about getting yourself to a place where you feel decent, functional, and like yourself. Sometimes that is more than enough. You do not need to be inspiring. You do not need to look editorial. You just need to not feel worse when you catch your reflection.
If you go back to my outfit, here is why it was a low-effort, stylish look:
I USED ONE “REAL CLOTHES” PIECE TO ELEVATE EVERYTHING ELSE
At its core, this is jeans and a t-shirt. But the blazer is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It immediately pulls the outfit out of “I gave up” territory and into “I made a decision.”
Low-effort style works when at least one piece anchors the outfit in the real world. It doesn’t have to be a blazer specifically, but it should be something structured or intentional enough to carry the rest.
LAYER SMARTER, NOT HARDER
The hoodie + blazer combo is doing two things at once: it keeps the outfit comfortable and gives it dimension.
This is where people often go wrong. They either pile on random layers or default to something purely functional that kills the look. The goal is not more layers, it’s better layers. Ones that feel easy but still look considered.
LET SOMETHING CASUAL BE THE POINT, NOT THE PROBLEM
The baseball cap could easily read as “I didn’t try,” but here it feels intentional. It works because the rest of the outfit is pulled together enough to support it.
Low-effort style isn’t about eliminating casual pieces. It’s about balancing them so they feel like a choice instead of a fallback.
CHOOSE COMFORT THAT STILL HAS SHAPE
The jeans fit well. The tee isn’t sloppy. The loafers are easy, but not throwaway.
That’s the difference between comfort and checking out. You’re still choosing pieces that have some structure, even if they’re easy to wear.
HAVE A GO-TO COLOR STORY WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT
This outfit is basically navy, grey, denim, and brown, with a pop of orange.
Nothing complicated, but everything works together. That’s what makes it feel cohesive without effort.
When your color palette is this dialed in, you don’t have to “figure out” outfits. They just come together.
SOLVE THE REAL-LIFE PROBLEM AND MOVE ON
Dirty hair? Hat.
Don’t feel like trying? Stick to your base formula.
Need comfort? Soft layers, flat shoes.
Low-effort style isn’t about doing less across the board. It’s about being strategic about where you don’t spend your energy.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Yes, this makes sense, but I still wouldn’t know how to do it,” that’s exactly why I exist. Low-effort style is only low-effort when the groundwork has been done. If you want that part handled for you, I can help.
As I like to say, my job is to make it so you can focus on the things that matter.
Take the first step by scheduling a free Image & Style Assessment call with me today.
You look very “I just threw this on” but chic! You don’t look like a ‘try-hard’. Yet it comes across as purposeful. Intentional. Like I want to look on a daily basis.
Right now, my challenge is a nasty cold. My head hurts, my eyeballs feel sandy. Putting on something slightly stylish helps. Black knit pants and black/white fair isle sweater, as comfy as pajamas. I can and will fall asleep on the couch in this…
I love this concept! It’s very ‘me’! The problem I experience over and over is the translation between a woman who looks reasonably fit and those of us- of which there are many- who are size 16 and above. It doesn’t translate the same. The proportions achieved by tucking in the tee shirt, for example, doesn’t look the same on a real-life woman with a pendulous abdomen. Many of us need more examples of this translation! 🙏🏻
I understand and can certainly appreciate that. You’re right, the average woman in America is now a size 16. I deal with this with clients all the time, and know how underserved this size range is, as well as how differently outfits can look. I wish I could give you some real-life examples on this blog, but, unfortunately, I don’t have any clients who would publicly allow themselves to be published, and I definitely don’t have the bandwidth to create looks using models. That said, for sure, I think it would be helpful to see these examples. It’s a different approach than what works for a reasonably fit person, and it’s not necessarily just about size that matters, but also the proportions of a person’s body.
Perhaps a future post?
I’d second this! I also have a huge difficulty translating what’s in fashion right now (boxy over wide? are you kidding me?) for my size and shape. Would be fantastic to see some real life, current-trend examples