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How to Dress More Bold (Without Feeling Uncomfortable)

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Emerson chapter.

As my confidence has grown over the years, so has my style. I believe fashion can say a lot about a person, and I have learned to find my own sense of style while becoming comfortable in my own skin. If you are interested in dressing more bold and evolving your style while not going too far outside of your comfort zone, look no further than these tips!

Women sitting on brown wooden bench
Photo by RF._.Studio from Pexels

Find inspiration online.

The thought of dressing boldly might seem like a shock at first, and you might not know where to start with dressing in louder colors and funky prints. Start off by looking for inspiration online, and seeing how you want to dress. If you have any particular style icons or celebrities you look up to for fashion inspiration, don’t hesitate to Google some outfits they have worn that struck your interest. Pinterest is a great place to look for fashion inspiration, and it’s my primary source of finding new ways to style my clothes. However you choose to find inspiration, save them in a place where you can refer back to them in the future.

Assess your wardrobe, and take into account what you already have.

Before you start going ham and revamp your entire wardrobe, look through your closet and see if you can work with anything you already own. You could use this step to organize your wardrobe, and to get rid of anything that you either don’t wear anymore or don’t plan on wearing in the future (refer to the Konmari method if you are having trouble organizing your wardrobe). Make sure to keep a mix of both staple pieces of clothing like plain white tees or your favorite pair of jeans, and statement pieces you can see yourself using in your outfits. When going out shopping for new clothes, keep in mind of the fashion inspiration you found earlier if you’re having difficulty finding pieces to keep for your closet.

Take it one article of clothing at a time.

If you are still a little intimidated by dressing bolder, don’t be pressured to dress bold all at once. Instead, have one item on your person that can be considered as the statement piece of your outfit. Whether it is a pair of colorful shoes, or that statement jacket you’ve been waiting to wear to a dinner out, have a piece of clothing that you want to stand out from the rest of your ensemble if you don’t want to go the full nine yards with dressing bold. Don’t worry—it will get less intimidating over time!

Wear it on short trips out at first.

Dressing bold may seem scary if you plan on wearing your ensemble for the whole day, but it might seem a little easier if you wear your outfit for a short period of time, even if it’s for thirty minutes or so. To get more comfortable in dressing more bold, try wearing your outfit on your quick trip to the grocery store or the park—somewhere you know you won’t run into a lot of people you know. Over time, it will just feel natural to start wearing more bold outfits for longer periods of time. Pro tip: own it with a photoshoot! If there is a day where you’re going out with your friends, ask them if they are down to do a photoshoot—there’s something about having your picture taken in your bomb outfit with your friends hyping you up that brings your confidence up to an all-time high!

Marieska Luzada is a sophomore at Emerson College at Boston, MA majoring in journalism and minoring in publishing. Besides writing for HerCampus, you can find her drafting an a capella arrangement, drinking an iced matcha latte, reading a young adult contemporary, or listening to Studio Ghibli movie soundtracks.
Emerson contributor