How to Dress for Success

Fashion and clothes have been an interest of mine for a long time. While I wouldn’t have considered myself a “classy” fashionista in my younger years, my taste has evolved and my style has drastically improved. I have much more confidence in how I show up to the world in my outfits. Time is spent choosing what I want to wear in a day. Some may say they don’t care about how they look or what they wear, but I have bad news for those: the rest of the world does care. Whether or not we want to accept it, we judge people on their outer appearance. Right or wrong, good or bad, what you put on your body and walk out of the house in matters. Your clothing budget doesn’t have to break the bank, though. I’m going to share with you how I shop regularly and still manage to have money to eat and feed my pets. Let me show you how to have a great wardrobe and how to dress for success.

Trending apparel is not of interest to me, so I tend to look for timeless pieces at the end of the previous season. I buy sweaters in July and swimsuits in February. While this isn’t always the case, I wait until the sales start to roll in and make my move. Buying something the minute it comes on the market is bad for your bank account. With a little patience, you can get what you want, or something similar, for much less when you buy offseason. Also, I don’t shop at “cheap” clothing stores whose fabrics will fall apart after two wears. Quality is a big deal for me because I tend to keep clothes for years. If I can squeeze my ass into it and I will wear it, it is staying in my closet. I’ve learned how to dress for success through discipline of not buying what I want, when I want. Getting away from thinking I deserve the instant gratification has served me and my wardrobe well, but mostly my pocketbook. And is there any bigger thrill than seeing an item you’ve been eyeing go on further sale and scooping it up? I personally think not. Waiting it out has a lot of benefits, and it’s definitely a great practice I’ve implemented for my shopping habits.

When your wardrobe feels stale, it could just need a mental reboot from you. I’ve had this happen to me, and I will go through each and every piece of clothing to see if it still fits and if I like it. Trying a top I haven’t put on in a while with a new skirt will end up resulting in a new possibility for something attractive to wear. Yes, this takes time and I know that. Dedicate the 20 minutes you would’ve been scrolling reels to going through your already fabulous wardrobe - this is a method of how to dress for success. Remember that cute belt you bought and never wore? Put it around that plain dress that you lost interest in. Voila! You’ve upgraded yourself without spending a dime. What about that scarf (or 10) you have that you want to wear so badly but don’t know how to tie? Stop watching your cat videos and watch a YouTube video on how to tie a scarf. This advice is directly for myself, by the way. I have accumulated so many scarves and have yet to wear one. Let’s do this together, friends. We both need support for our wardrobe upgrade.

Stop buying all new clothes. Upcycling is a huge industry right now, and I am absolutely loving it. The more new we buy, the more gets manufactured. Our planet is suffering from all the yuck we are putting into it, so part of my honor to this earth is to buy previously worn clothing. You can find great stuff at any venue: thrift stores, consignment stores, and estate sales to name a few. How to dress for success comes in many ways, and not buying new is a step in the right direction for many reasons. According to a study at Boston University in 2022, people in the United States trash 34 billion pounds of used textiles. That’s one country alone. Throughout the world, it’s 92 million TONS. Not good. Additionally, I’d like to impress how much better it is to buy clothing that is made of natural fibers. Staying away from the synthetic stuff is not only better for the environment, it’s better for you, too. Where I live, it gets hotter than Hades and I want to stay as cool as I can. Linen and cotton are my friends, and polyester is not. Unless I want to stink to high heaven. Oh! I just started posting my own clothes to Poshmark. I’ll keep you Posh-ted on how it goes. I love the concept, and I also love that I scored NWT (new with tags) Rag and Bone heels for a fraction of the price anywhere else. Therefore, my friends econd hand is a great way to outfit yourself.

This concept could tie in with any of the other points I’m making. There was a time in my life that I went out constantly. I’d see the same people, and I didn’t want to wear the same thing over and over. I also realized that sometimes I’d get invited to things that I had no appropriate attire for, and I couldn’t go or I was scrambling and paying full price. That did not go over well with me, so I decided to change the way I approached how to dress for success and shop. My trick? Buying clothes I didn’t need (at the time). Not in excess. Purchasing 200 ballgowns was not on my “to do” list. Having one or two on hand, though? For all those Mardi Gras ball invitations…yes. Good idea. Or one business suit for some business occasion that I may need one? Sure. Of course I spend most of my clothing budget on items that I predominately wear, but having some extras on hand that I may need at some point eliminated the stress out of events. Who wants to get invited to a wedding and have a panic attack because you have “nothing to wear”? Forget that. When you see something you love (and hopefully if it’s on sale, which is my hack), buy it. Your future self will thank your past self. It’s a stress-saver.

Why have a bunch of clothes in your closet that you don’t fit in or like? Can we pause for a second and really think about this? Life is too short to be 40 years old and thinking “I wish I could fit into my 20 year old self’s attire.” How depressing is that? Do you really want to live like that? Our bodies change, our needs change, and we need to move on and be accepting of who we are at this time. It’s a mindset shift, yes. But man is it liberating. Dressing for the present you can be a treat. Ruminating on who you used to be is gross. You don’t deserve to treat yourself like that. Moving into each stage can be a celebration of where you are and how far you’ve come. And that means learning how to dress for success at that very moment of your life. So, my challenge to you is to go through your closet and get rid of 5 items you know you’ll likely never fit in again. If you want to go Marie Kondo, tell the clothes thank you and you enjoyed their service, but all things have to come to an end. And this is the end of the road, friends. You’re moving on to be upcycled and getting a new home. Someone is going to be so happy you made this choice.

Joining the ranks of how to dress for success doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think. A few modifications to how you do things could spruce up your wardrobe in a way you didn’t know was possible. I’ve given many people these individual tips over the years based on my own success, and compiling the list only made sense. Hopefully you can take one or two tips from here, especially if you feel like your clothing choices are a bit stale. Remember, it doesn’t take a ton of money or room in your closet to have a fabulous wardrobe. Little by little, you will build up an amazing stock of apparel that you can be proud of. After all, we all could use a little inspiration. Be that for someone else when you walk out of your house. You’ll feel great, look great, and that will boost your confidence. That, my friends, is a huge key to your dressing and wardrobe success.