How to get dressed in the morning
Love to be less stressed in the mornings AND feel more comfortable and stylish throughout the day? You need to learn how to get dressed!
Okay so you’re not three, and don’t really need to be told how to dress in the morning. But there’s a big difference between knowing how to dress, and picking out a stylish, practical, comfortable and appropriate outfit to wear each day while ensuring that the kids are dressed, washed, breakfasted and prepped for school or nursery.
If you’re anything like us, your morning dressing routine usually involves grabbing the nearest thing that’s clean, dry and fits – and hoping it goes with your shoes.
So we love this advice from Safestore on how to take some of the stress out of your mornings (and looking less thrown together) by planning your wardrobe in advance. So, prepare to learn how to get dressed!
What type of morning person are you?
If you’re someone who dreads the morning routine, you’ll easily be able to identify the type of morning person you are:
- Plain and simple – you lack faith in your fashion know-how and have very few clothes in your wardrobe. It’s more important to get the kids ready in time for school so throwing on a plain and basic outfit is preferable to turning up in the nude. It’s only work, right?!
- Totally chaotic – you find yourself running around like a headless chicken and have loads of clothes in your wardrobe. There’s simply too much choice and school starts soon, so an uncoordinated outfit is better than a late arrival to the school gates – and office!
- An inbetweener – you fit somewhere between A and B. Picking a nice outfit can be done but that depends on how much sleep you’ve had – and whether the kids are on good behaviour. One minor delay and you might just end up wearing a mismatched suit and slippers, who knows?!
How to make your mornings less stressful
Therefore to make your mornings less stressful you have two options:
1) Wear the same outfit every day of the week
This may sound silly, but it is a thing! Steve Jobs was famous for wearing Levi’s, black turtleneck and New Balance trainers every day of the week. (Though he was obviously more famous for his work with Apple than his dress sense…)
However for most of us, whether we’re avid followers of fashion or not, wearing the same ensemble every day is not the done thing.
So, that leaves option two…
2) Plan your daily outfits
We plan for other aspects of our lives all the time, so why not what we’re going to wear each day of the week? Take, for example, the weekly food shop. We often decide what we’re going to eat for the week, write a list and go buy it.
The approach to planning your outfits needn’t be that different to your food shop. Plus you’ve already got the ingredients sitting in your wardrobe! So put aside 30 minutes on a Sunday evening to spend some quality time with your wardrobe and PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!
How to plan your wardrobe
If you like the sound of option two, follow these simple steps and you’ll be a cool, calm and well-dressed professional in no time at all.
Step 1
Think about what your week involves per day – this will help you to choose clothes on a practical level. For example, maybe Thursdays are hectic and require a lot of moving around. The kids need dropping off at breakfast club and you’ve got an early meeting, so you don’t have time to totter around in heels. Therefore you could opt for:
- Flat, comfy shoes .
- A lightweight top so you don’t overheat.
- A tailored pair of trousers to keep the look smart.
Step 2
Go through each day in exactly the same way and pull out the clothes suited to your schedule, laying them on your bed and teaming the main items (top/trousers/skirts etc) with matching accessories.
Step 3
Try on each outfit to make sure it works and that you like it – if you skip this step now, you run the risk of finding out it looks awful two seconds before you need to leave the house. Or worse still, in the mirror at work!
Step 4
Finally, take a picture of each outfit on your phone. Each photo will act as a daily reminder of what you’re going to put on. Just lay the clothes out on the bed and take a quick snap. That’s it!
Five bonus dressing tips!
Because we believe that feeling stylish, smart and comfortable is a crucial part of a stress-free week, here are five more tips to help you plan your weekly outfits.
1) Don’t let a commute or the school run dictate your outfit choices
You may opt for a pair of trainers if you’re walking in all weathers, but you can pop your heels into your bag to change into once you’re in the office.
2) Space out outfits that use the same item of clothing
If you only have one black jumper and you’d like to wear it twice in a week, wear it with a few days either side i.e. Monday and Thursday, just in case you need to wash the jumper between each wear.
3) You can wear the same outfit if you disguise it
Maybe you want to wear the same outfit twice in a week? No matter, just wear it at opposite ends of the week or disguise the same outfit by adding a scarf.
4) Make your clothes work harder for you!
Try to get as much wear out of all the clothes you own and mix things up a bit. Remember that really nice suit that you only save for important meetings? Wear the skirt and jacket as separates and create some different outfits. Just remember to dry clean them both at the same time to keep the colour matching.
5) Transform your outfit from day to night
If you’re going out straight from work and have little time to get changed, think about how you can easily transform your current outfit with minimum fuss. Often it’s as simple as adding accessories like a stand-out clutch bag and a pair of heels.
Another good trick is wearing jeans under a dress – a nice daytime look and by simply whipping off your jeans you’re ready for whatever the night may bring!
Do it again the next week – if you want
By the end of your one-to-one with your wardrobe, you will know exactly what you’re putting on every morning of the week – and it’s a good feeling.
Don’t fancy doing it every week, though? Just wear it all again the week after with a few minor accessory swaps and no one will be any the wiser.
Head to Safestore’s blog for more fashion advice from personal stylist Melanie Wall, ‘how to’ articles to help organise your wardrobe and more!
