Today, we’re challenging seven outdated style rules and replacing them with something much more powerful – your own signature style and essence. We’re breaking rules, specifically those fashion mandates that never made sense in the first place.
Here’s the thing about style rules: they feel safe because they provide boundaries, but what makes a person magnetic is communicating who you really are effectively through your appearance.
Here’s an example:
- In high school, I was told that women in business had to have short hair to be successful. I graduated in 1981 with short hair.
- By the mid-to-late 80s, the rules had already started to shift. Picture the power suit with giant shoulder pads and equally giant hair!
- Today, female executives across industries wear their hair at whatever length works for them personally. This evolution proves how arbitrary these style rules actually were—they reflected temporary cultural attitudes rather than any true principles of professionalism.
Where did this rule originate anyway? The phenomenon really took off with John T. Molloy’s “Dress for Success” books (here’s an Amazon affiliate link to the original 1975 book) which created rigid professional appearance standards that many just didn’t question.
The valuable takeaway wasn’t actually the specific rules but the recognition that appearance can be a tool for effective communication—a principle that still holds true even as the specific guidelines have become laughably outdated.
So let’s talk about seven style rules that I think are worth breaking, and why.
Seven Style Rules Worth Breaking
1. “You can’t repeat an outfit”
This rule creates unnecessary pressure and expense. In theater, they actually suggest wearing the same outfit to callbacks that you wore to auditions, just to make you more memorable.
When you find a combination that works beautifully for you, why wouldn’t you want to repeat it? Creating signature looks that people associate with you is actually a powerful way to build your personal brand.
2. “Shoes must match your outfit”
This matchy-matchy approach often creates a disjointed look. It actually works better if your shoes match your hair or your skin tone instead, creating a more harmonious visual flow from head to toe.
When your shoes connect to you rather than just your clothes, the whole look feels more integrated and intentional – it’s a subtle difference that makes a major impact.
3. “Everyone needs black basics”
This might be the most universal and harmful style rule out there. Most people actually look terrible in black despite this being standard advice—it can be harsh, aging, and drain the life from many skin tones.
For most people, navy, chocolate brown, or even charcoal would be far more flattering alternatives that provide the same versatility without the harshness of black against their skin.
4. “Don’t mix metals”
The majority of human coloring is not strictly warm or cool but both, which means mixing metals is actually more harmonious with most people’s natural coloring.
Rather than wearing gold with warm colors and silver with cool, it often looks better to go the other way around, like wearing gold with black or white and wearing silver with red or yellow—this creates a beautiful tension that adds interest to your look.
5. “Age-appropriate dressing”
People need to get over doubting whether they can wear what they love because of their age. Your style should evolve because your preferences change, not because you hit some arbitrary birthday.
If you want to change and mature, that’s one thing, but the idea that just because you wore a style once means you can never wear it again is just bonkers!
6. “Never wear bold colors in professional settings”
This outdated rule definitely emerged during the “Dress for Success” era, when the professional palette was restricted to navy, gray, and burgundy if you were feeling adventurous. The goal was to blend in with men’s uniform-like attire rather than express individuality.
Unnecessarily limiting ourselves to dark neutrals is taking a step backward in terms of individual expression. We should rather see men getting to wear more variety and color rather than limiting ourselves.
In my Signature Color Palette Guide, I suggest three different kinds of power colors:
- a power red which works for business when the garment is tailored, a
- formal neutral which depends on contrasting with your skin tone value, and
- a bold dramatic color which is often the complement of your skin hue, so it will be a cool color like teal, indigo, or violet
Each of these can command attention and respect in professional settings when used thoughtfully.
7. “Invest in classic pieces that never go out of style”
This advice ignores the reality that even so-called “timeless” pieces evolve significantly over time. What was considered a classic blazer in the 80s looks dated now, despite being sold as a “forever” piece.
Instead of chasing generic classics, I recommend creating your own list of personal classics—pieces that work consistently for your body, your lifestyle, and your personal style preferences regardless of what the fashion industry deems “timeless.” When you identify what truly works for you, you’ll make better investment decisions that serve your authentic style rather than some universal ideal that doesn’t actually exist.
Create Your Own Color Combination Rules
I have an exercise for you that might be a little more involved than most, but I think it’s something you haven’t thought of before and will be useful:
- Make a list of colors that you wear: ROY G BIV, whatever else, then your neutrals
- Ask yourself: “What color(s) do I like to wear with this color FOR SPRING?”
There are plenty of ways experts like to make rules around color combinations, but this can be a step toward creating your own set of rules for your own signature style.