Merriam-Webster defines “chic” as “smart elegance and sophistication especially of dress or manner.” But for most people, a definition is unnecessary: it’s something you know when you see it. When you see someone on the street or in the pages of your favorite magazine whose style is particularly chic, you just know.
When it comes to defining our own style, it can be confusing as to what best suits our look and body shape vs what looks good on someone else that we like to see. If you want to look as effortlessly chic as your favorite Instagram influencer, these pieces of advice will help you do so.
Opt for classic, timeless items over trends
Fashion trends are fun and help the industry to move and grow, but that doesn’t mean you need to pick up every new must-have item each season. Instead, you’ll find that a few classic items better fit the chic style you’re striving for. Better yet, their timelessness will make it all the easier to put together the perfect outfit—some of the most fashionable people in history have made the perfect look with a tan trench coat or little black dress. Your style will not only look effortless but will feel it, too.
Accessorize appropriately
The chicest looks highlight pieces and details without piling on accessories. If you take advantage of a bold red lip, keep your eye makeup subtle. If you’re wearing a vividly printed blouse, tone down the rest of your look with neutrals and solids. Find accessories you love and highlight them, rather than adding too many layers or pieces to your ensemble. A signature piece can be particularly striking, like something from Nelson Coleman, a source for custom jewelry Baltimore natives and out-of-towners alike know and love. An accessory created just for you will add the perfect, unique touch to the most timeless look.
Lean into casual
If you were to head to the chicest streets of Paris, you’ll find tennis shoes and ballet flats, t-shirts and joggers just as readily as dresses and stilettos. These aren’t the exceptions to this remarkable sense of style; rather, these outfits are channeling a key facet of effortlessly chic fashion. Combining casual looks with dressier, trendier pieces helps to give your style the sense that you look like this all the time—it’s the all-important “effortlessly chic.”
Take advantage of lines & structure
Feminine style may tend toward flowing curves, but the chicest outfits use lines and structure to the fullest extent. There’s a reason that Chanel’s iconic bag, with its recognizable rectangular silhouette, remains so classically fashionable! Pair a high-quality pair of women’s straight leg dress pants with a more flowing blouse. Play with the shapes that make up your look, and you just might create a new classic (or stumble upon one you didn’t realize you could pull off).
Create your own definition of chic
Remember that dictionary definition of chic? Throw it out the window. To some degree, every rule is made to be broken and, in this case, fashion is no exception. While you shouldn’t mindlessly follow trends if you’re striving for a timelessly chic look, you can incorporate them in your own way. Combine that custom jewelry with a classic LBD. Take that trend that intrigues you and pair it with a pair of well-tailored dress pants. Put your personal twist on the most classic choices. The chicest fashionista knows how to make her fashion sense distinctively her own.
“Chic” is as much a feeling as it is fashion sense, and it is as full of contradictions as it is guidelines. For an effortlessly chic look of your own, combine classics with statements and trends. Try casual pieces with more formal apparel. Whatever you do, customize your chic new look to make it effortlessly, chicly, you.
