STUCK IN A WINTER STYLE RUT? HERE’S HOW TO GET OUT OF IT…

It’s winter time in January, the dullest most miserable month of the year. All we want to do is hibernate indoors with the fire on, a plethora of candles flickering and to sip on countless cups of tea… Yet, we have to go out and we have to work, socialise and try and be as normal as possible despite the weather and despite the fact we don’t bloody want to.
So it’s easy to get in a bit of a style rut when it comes to what we grace our body with each and every day. For me, I’m gravitating towards a simple look of jeans, a jumper or a hoodie and my trusty black & Other Stories coat with either trainers or a comfy pair of boots. A great classic look but not overly inspiring when you’re wearing it day-in-day-out. My sister too has openly said over on her Instagram that she is struggling with the annual style rut so I’d imagine some of you are too? Therefore I’m going to share a couple of tips and tricks that help me get out from under the dreaded style rut, despite how much I want to wear loungewear to today’s meeting…

So first up it’s important to identify those pieces that make you feel good, for me right now it’s jeans, my black leather blazer or coat or an A-Line skirt or smock dress with knee high boots. Style up some looks around your feel good pieces, looks that don’t involve the same sloppy jumper you’ve been rocking for the last week or your comfiest trainers, try mixing it up but ensuring that feel good piece is at the heart of the outfit to keep you comfortable, happy yet hopefully with a fresh new styled look.

Finding inspiration is always a great place to start for getting me out of a style rut. My go-to source is of course Instagram, in particular my “saved” page which features all the images I’ve found and loved on that channel. My “saved” page is bursting with inspiration for styling and for the home, scattered with feel good quotes and funny memes that instantly leave me feeling inspired. Find an image you love and run with it, style up a look similar to it, get inspired with colour palettes, textures and layers.

The previous point brings me nicely onto this point which is to play with layers. Layers are essential at this time of year, particularly as we make our way from miserable January to even miserable-er February. We need to be cosy, comfortable and warm yet usually those three things come with a rather uninspiring Michelin man inspired look… Not chic.
So play around with your layering; throw on a long sleeve insert underneath a T-Shirt. Try a collared shirt underneath a T-Shirt too, thats always such a cool look. Cardigans with blazers layered over the top or take this look for example, I’m wearing three pieces of knitwear… Really. So it meant I could leave my coat at home and still be toasty af. A cashmere high neck jumper underneath a cream aran knit tank top underneath the dreamiest oversized chunky cardigan by Hayley Menzies… The dream layered look right there.

With this look, I worked to play with colour palettes a little. Neutrals isn’t something I tend to rock at this time of year so I thought it would be fun to test it out for a winter look. Neutrals combined with black boots and a statement black bag by Coach and tonnes of textures and knitwear makes the look feel appropriate for January yet it’s something that helped inspire me when all I thought I wanted to wear was darker shades. So have a play around with colour palettes, try some colour clashing or rebel against the seasonal palette rules; there’s nothing like a bit of sartorial rebellion to bring you out from under your style rut.

And finally step into your wardrobe and take a long hard look at it. View it with fresh eyes and pick out the pieces you might have neglected for a while, set your wardrobe to work and style up some fresh new looks that you haven’t thought up before. Play with all of the above points and have some fun coming up with new combinations. There’s nothing like setting some time aside to really get stuck into your current wardrobe, to find the pieces you may have forgotten about, to create combinations you hadn’t thought up before and then finally to identify any gaps in there that would help bring a look or ideally looks together.

I truly hope you’ve enjoyed this post and that it’s helped a little with the dreaded winter style rut. Winter and January are tough enough so we don’t need to make it tougher with not knowing what to wear every morning. Let me know if you implement any of the points above, I’d love to hear how you get on.

x M

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROSIE BUTCHER