Forget dressing to impress others – try ‘mirroring’ them instead
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Big dress-up occasions rarely happen in January. So what to wear to low-key meet-ups? Try something your friend would like. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
![[Jess Cartner-Morley]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/05/20/Jess_Cartner-Morley,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The best place to take style inspiration is from your own life. Not from a film or a celebrity or a designer’s moodboard, but from your real world. The thoughts in your head, the roads you walk down, the people you can reach out and touch. This is the stage you are on, so dress for it.
Imagine your life is a movie, and you are the costume designer. What would you pull out of your wardrobe tomorrow morning? You would start, I think, by establishing character. This sounds far-fetched, but it’s just a fancy term for what you do already even if you don’t consciously define it as such, which is tell people a bit about who you are via what you wear. There are a few basics to factor in next – keeping warm, staying dry, is there time to iron that – before your thoughts naturally move toward what’s on your schedule. Some days have clear plot points. You might be hosting a child’s birthday party, so you want to project approachable cheer; you could be attending a meeting to which you need to bring authority and calm. On days like those, the style script writes itself.
But winter weekends tend to lack much in the way of helpful stage direction. Life is low-key and a little formless. January social occasions don’t tend to be the black-tie kind. At this time of year, meeting friends for a coffee, or one pal for a walk, might well be the sole event in your weekend diary. These are by definition social events, because the whole point of them is to spend time with other people. But they are not the kind of social events for which there is a dress code.
