‘No Bad Outfits’ Is the Only Resolution I’ve Ever Stuck To

Guidelines to feeling better in your clothes, tested over nearly a decade.

I’m not a resolutions gal. I can’t form a habit to save my life, and I certainly don’t become more productive during the coldest time of the year. I spend most of winter in soft sweaters under warm ambient lighting doing my best to avoid anything that would take me too far from my cup of tea. A mug of English breakfast is my sun, and I simply orbit around it.

Any New Year’s delusions of a healthier, more fulfilling, less screen-pilled lifestyle have not seen a lot of success. But eight years ago I made one resolution that has stuck — no more bad outfits.

looking around realizing how many things in my closet i kind of hate

A bad outfit dampens my spirit and tampers with my confidence — things far too important to not take precious care of. I don’t feel as though I’m presenting an authentic version of myself when I wear something I don’t love. So I resolved to stop.

“Bad” is entirely subjective, of course (and I don’t mean ugly, I quite like a lot of ugly things), I really mean ‘No wearing something you don’t love for the sake of convenience.’ It’s never convenient to feel bad about yourself.

Here are the guidelines I set for myself:

1. Avoid wearing leggings in public unless I’m heading to a workout

2. Wear the bag that looks best with the outfit rather than reaching for the safe, catch-all bag that’s most convenient

3. Don’t save heels and nice tops for special occasions; errands are a good enough occasion to break them out (I’m sure those pieces would like to see the inside of the post office too)

4. Make sure you feel good in what you wear — comfortable and confident enough that you wouldn’t be embarrassed if you ran into someone you knew

5. Push style boundaries as often as you can, every day is an experiment in dressing and the slate will be wiped clean tomorrow

No one sets out to wear a bad outfit, but it’s easy to get caught up in wardrobe hubbub. Some people put on one great outfit each morning (people stronger than I), and some of us flounder the day away changing from comfy inside clothes to nicer outside clothes and back to inside clothes until everything we own is on the floor (much more my speed).

me in my natural habitat

When I made this resolution, I was in my first year of college and living as any freshman does: oscillating between early classes and late parties, relying on the greasy dining hall for plates of fries to carry me through both. It was 2017 and my uniform was cuffed mom jeans, a black-and-white striped Brandy Melville ringer tee, and purple matte lipstick that’s making my lips chapped just to think about (it was the vibe at the time!). My tiny dorm closet didn’t allot much space for clothing, and I was always in a rush to be somewhere, usually opting for ease and speed over style.

As a classically angsty Tumblr-raised teen — who wore a school uniform from 6th to 12th grade and hadn’t had many opportunities to experiment with clothing outside of Polyvore — I was desperate to figure out “who I wanted to be.” Every time I wore an outfit I only felt so-so about, I wasn’t giving myself the space to figure it out.

blonde freshman mac in that green army jacket she lived in from 2015-2017

To figure out what a “bad” outfit is to you, consider asking:

1. What do I always regret wearing?

   Maybe it’s a pair of jeans that are too tight in certain areas or too baggy in others but you seem to forget until you’re out of the house and cursing the waistband. I’m definitely guilty of holding onto things that don’t fit me well for far too long. Take it to the tailor or part with it, it’s the humane thing to do.

2. What do I reach for often? Does it make me happy?

   There’s a good chance something you wear a lot isn’t a piece you really love — it might just be comfortable or convenient. For me in 2017, it was leggings. You might feel great in leggings so you can pick something else, but they don’t feel like me at all. Is there a bag, a top, a pair of shoes, that you wear a lot but don’t actually love or feel at home in?

3. What’s something I feel great in that I can adjust to wear more often?

   I feel great in knee-high leather boots and mini-skirts. Unfortunately, that’s not a super practical uniform. What we can do with that bit of self-reflection is try to incorporate those boots into winter-appropriate or office-appropriate outfits — long plaid skirts, layered with tights, underneath trousers, etc. How can you revamp a confidence-boosting outfit for other occasions?

4. Where can I find an extra 5 minutes in my routine to ensure I feel good about my outfit?

   If bad outfits are often born of being crunched for time, a little extra time might alleviate the issue. Maybe this looks like waking up five minutes earlier (fat chance of that happening for me); maybe it looks like setting out your outfit the night before; maybe it’s picking out your work outfits for the week on Sundays; maybe it’s falling asleep to the image of your wardrobe rotating through outfit combinations like a mental Cher’s closet (this is what I do lol).

tired of leggings? easy switch to jeans or trousers. these nudie clean eileen jeans are some of my favorites.

sick of sambas but not sure what to swap for? chuck 70 high-tops and gh bass loafers are my go-to classic comfy shoes.

“No bad outfits” crosses my mind almost every single day — a guiding light during a dressing room freakout and a gentle nudge in the right direction when the devil on my shoulder suggests leggings to the grocery store.

This is not to say every outfit is a winner (they’re not, I promise). But in the conscious effort to stray from the lazy options in my wardrobe, I’ve reclaimed a piece of my personal style.

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