Do you sometimes feel that your outfit lacks depth and substance? It may be because it’s lacking a bit of sparkle—like a fitting accessory.
The right set of accessories can play a significant role in elevating a person’s look. And as important as it is to choose and showcase your highest quality pieces, it’s also about striking the perfect balance.
If you wear too many accessories, they may overwhelm your attire and cause a visual overload. Wear only a few, and your accessories may as well not even be there.
Balance is key when accessorising your outfit. This doesn’t only mean choosing the right number of accessories to complement your getup, but it also entails picking accessories that complement your apparel and your specific style.
In this article, we’ll teach you how to accessorise more effectively and bring your outfit to life. From picking the right sets of accessories to matching metals, we’ll give you a rundown of seven things to consider to make you look dazzling with the right accessories.
Let’s hop right into it.
1. Mix Metals Mindfully
It’s important to be deliberate when you put together two or more metallic jewellery pieces in your outfit.
To go straight to the point, you absolutely can pull off two different metal pieces in one outfit, like a gold necklace and a silver bracelet. The era of sticking to just one of each metal type and colour is long gone.
However, you have to be purposeful when doing the mixing. These jewellery pieces should not just be lazily strung together, as they can lack a sense of cohesion and elegance without the appeal.
You can mix metals in a number of ways. Some metal types can be mixed no matter their colour, like mixing a metal accessory with two different colours with a metal with one of those colour types.
Another way to mix metals is by stacking them. For instance, you could stack silver and rose gold rings on your finger and wear either a silver or rose gold necklace to complement the look.
In any case, it’s best to have an end goal in mind when it comes to creating an outfit. This way, you can create a look that may even allow a mish-mash of different metals to create a respectable and presentable fashion statement.
2. Use Only A Few Pieces
If you’re still experimenting with your look, it’s best to start with a carefully curated list of quality accessories. Wearing too many accessories can create noise in your outfit, which can detract from its appeal and make you stand out in the wrong ways. This is especially true if you’re still in the process of developing your own style.
As such, whenever you dress up, consider using a select few accessories to elevate your outfit. Think of a pair of earrings, a shiny necklace, or a luxurious, jewel-encrusted ring to elevate your style. Wear this accessory across multiple outfits and see how well it fits with your current wardrobe.
Wearing a single accessory centralises the attention to that particular garment. Choosing just one or two pieces of jewellery, particularly when you’re wearing a neutral outfit, allows these accessories to stand out—which can make them great statement pieces to characterise how you wish to be perceived.
Once you’ve figured out how to style a certain accessory, you can gradually work your way up and experiment with other pieces of jewellery. By doing this, you can master the art of wearing the right accessories in a balanced way in relation to the rest of your outfit.
3. Balance Boldness and Subtlety
As previously mentioned, balance is key in nailing the perfect look, and this is definitely true when it comes to choosing the flashiness of your accessory in relation to your overall ensemble.
If you want to promote harmony in your outfit, make one aspect of either your outfit or your accessory stand out. For instance, you can don oversized earrings and statement necklaces if your dress or gown is a simple, refined, one-toned, and free-flowing piece.
If your dress, on the other hand, is flashy and has patterned designs, intricate frills, or some other design statement that makes it stand out, you should opt for minimalist and subtle accessories. Minimalist bracelets and metal rings are enough to give your outfit a final touch-up.
The trick here is to let your accessory support your outfit. You don’t want it to always come in with full force. Promote a good balance that remains elegant and still undeniably stylish.
4. Invest in High-Quality and Timeless Accessories
To transform your look from simple to stunning, you need to have a catalogue of the finest accessories you can find within reach in your jewellery box.
Using cheap, knock-off, or low-quality accessories can cheapen your entire outfit—which is something you’d definitely not want. Besides lacking quality, many of these fakes or bad-quality builds don’t have the longevity to last for more than a year or more. This may require you to frequently replace it.
Instead, consider investing only in quality accessories from reputed brands. Luxury brands are a good start, and there’s certainly more than enough of them that can give you a style of accessory that suits you best.
Besides that, you can also get high-quality pieces of jewellery like watches from reputed independent retailers. Just be sure that they have good reviews before engaging with them.
By getting quality pieces, you’ll not only have a more luxurious ensemble of accessories, but you’ll also have a long-lasting one that can last for your lifetime and that of your next of kin. Remember, a few quality pieces trump multiple low-quality ones.
5. Mind Your Proportions
Don’t get ahead of yourself, we’re not talking about your proportions! Rather, we mean that it’s essential to wear jewellery with proportions that match the style of your overall outfit.
For instance, if you’re wearing a voluminous outfit, it’s best to wear subtle and smaller-sized accessories like dainty rings and pearl earrings to complement your apparel and balance everything out.
Conversely, if you’re wearing a relatively simple and close-to-skin outfit, then you can make an impression by wearing a grand statement piece like a necklace or bold-coloured bag to improve your overall look.
In essence, you want things to balance out together nicely, not clash with each other. Creating a standout look is also about picking an outfit that harmoniously coordinates in terms of sizing.
In doing so, you can have a more polished and well-put-together appearance, regardless if you’re using a small or big accessory.
6. Colour Coordinate
When it comes to fashion, colour-coordinating clothing and accessories is a top priority.
This doesn’t necessarily mean wearing clothing and accessories with just a single palette. Rather, it’s about using colours that complement each other—elevating one another instead of clashing.
For instance, if you’re planning to wear a hot pink trench coat, you can wear lighter shades of pink as an accessory. You can shop Prada sunglasses from 1001 Optometry or other retailers to find sunglasses with a light pink frame or a jet-black look—both would work equally well.
Whether you want to go for a monochromatic look, a pop of colour in your accessory, or a mix of different palettes in a single outfit, being thoughtful with your colour choices can help you look more intentional with your attire. This, in turn, can make you look more fashionable, no matter if you’re 20 or 50 years old.
7. Own Your Style
Authenticity and confidence are attractive. Picking an outfit that allows you to showcase both of these personality traits can boost how you’re perceived in the fashion department, believe it or not.
Your accessory and clothing is a big part of your identity. As such, if you want to showcase the best side of yourself, be thoughtful when choosing your accessory and corresponding outfit.
For instance, if you play by minimalist themes, be sure your clothing and accessories reflect that value; stud earrings and thin bracelets would be perfect for this.
Conversely, if you’re known to wear more bold and eclectic apparel, definitely show that real side of you through your clothing and accessories. Wear chunky bracelets, wide-brimmed hats, and statement accessories. Get wild with it!
The way you dress expresses your individuality. It’s something that’s personal to you, at the end of the day. So if you want to stay true to yourself, wear something that you yourself would agree with. This can naturally be a great confidence-booster—and a good way to look stylish and uniquely you.
