How to dress casual and comfortable when you have formal style essences

Don’t wear this.

Another age old question: how do you wear casual fashion if you have formal style essences?

Good style advice applies easily to real life. So Romantic Dramatics may not want to hear that they should never leave the house without stilettos. But Romantic and Dramatic, along with Ethereal and Classic, do have a formal vibe. And modern aesthetics lean casual. So can a person with formal style essences look harmonious without resorting to wearing red carpet gowns to the grocery store?

Yes—here’s how to look harmonious while appearing casual and comfortable.

Dress by your casual style essences

Of all the essences, Natural exudes the most casual vibe, but Gamines are also gorgeous in casual style, like jeans and graphic Tees. Many Ingenue styles, like cardigans, capris, and circle skirts (which are roomy enough to wear shorts or leggings beneath) can also be comfortable and easily dressed down.

So if you have a significant amount of Natural, Gamine, or Ingenue, you can incorporate these less formal essences in silhouette and fabric when you want to feel comfortable and appear casual.

Then you can include your more formal essences in elements less relevant for comfort, like color or print.

Additional ways to create visual harmony while dressing down your formal essences:

Color: wear neutrals or your essence’s most stereotypical colors

Casual Dramatic Classic style.

All things being equal, a black or white (or gray, nude, etc.) casual top tends to look more formal than the neon one. Same goes for casual pants and shoes. The above top is Dramatic Classic, but in a bright yellow it could read as having some Gamine, and in baby pink it might take on some Ingenue.

So if you have a formal style type but want to wear an iconically casual piece of clothing, then wearing neutral colors can be one way to appear more dressed up.

If you want to wear color in very casual clothes, you can create harmony by choosing the most stereotypical colors for your essences, like deep red for Romantic, darker red for Dramatic, very pale blue for Ethereal, or navy for Classic (though that’s arguably still a Neutral!)

Print: avoid it or wear your essence’s most iconic prints

One way to look more formal in print is to not wear print—often the solid version of an outfit appears more formal than a printed version.

Prints can be harmonious in casual fashion if they’re iconic for the formal essences—like large, stylized roses or other curving flowers for Romantic and sharp geometrics or snakeskin for Dramatic. Dreamy abstract prints, especially with elements that suggest but don’t literally render the sky and sea, evoke Ethereal. And Classics can do symmetrical, conventional prints that don’t contain especially large or small shapes, like a neutral plaid.

This top looks comfortable and somewhat casual but doesn’t have significant informal essences. Large flowers arranged in circular clusters are Romantic, while a fairly narrow straight silhouette adds Dramatic.

Silhouette: find casual clothes in essence-appropriate shapes

For Dramatic and Ethereal, wear elongated and relatively narrow (doesn’t have to be fitted) silhouettes in comfortable fabrics. Comfortable cotton pants can read as Dramatic if they have a sharp, tailored-appearing Dramatic silhouette. There are even sweatpants like this—they tend to be made of thicker fabric that can form and hold straight shapes.

If you’re willing to compromise a bit on the casual part, you can also find narrow, sharply-tailored Dramatic dress pants that appear fairly formal while still being comfortable. Classics are also harmonious in basic dress pants, chinos, or khakis. Again, you’re technically kind of dressing up, but personally I think dress pants can even be more comfortable than jeans, as jeans are often tight and stiff, and some dress pants have a looser fit with a softer fabric.

A version of what I mean by Dramatic sweatpants. These pants look like something I’d wear lounging around the house, but their color and elongated, narrow cut makes them fully Dramatic (you could swap the boots for flats to increase the casualness). To me this style of pant is infinitely more comfortable than skin-tight jeans.

Ethereals are gorgeous in comfortable flowy, narrow pants, like palazzo pants, and Romantics can do a similar sillhouette by adding detail like gathers or pleating.

Palazzo pants that have Romantic because of the waist emphasis—sexy tie/bow around the waist—and overall slinky feel, as well as some Ethereal with the flowiness. The tops appear to be Classic. Again you could swap the heels for flats.

Narrow, elongated (high-waist) Ethereal pants in a pale color and soft fabric that appear to gently drape across the body. If they had larger gathers or pleating at the waist, they could also read as having some Romantic.

Fabric: choose from surprisingly comfortable options

The formal essences actually have a lot of comfortable fabric options, like silk and chiffon for Romantic and Ethereal. If those fabrics seem too formal, you can still look harmonious in something as inherently casual as cotton or a cotton-blend. Most fabrics that visibly appear soft can work for Ethereal and Romantic, as long as the silhouette (and other elements, like color, print, etc.) is right. For example, it’s hard to tell what fabric the above Ethereal pants are, and it may very well be cotton. But because the silhouette is so highly Ethereal, and the fabric appears soft and gently draped, the pants don’t read as having any of the less formal essences.

Advice for Dramatics and Classics is similar—as long as the elements like silhouette, color, and print fit with the formal essence, then casual fabric will still read as formal.

The one exception to this general rule would be if the fabric has a quality that really signals one of the informal essences, like distressed denim. Actually denim in general would be the main fabric to avoid for the formal essences, just because it is so inherently casual. Even a black denim, though, could potentially work if all of the other elements read as your formal essence.

Neckline: wear a (highly) harmonious one

Necklines are critical to match to your style essences—they’re the part of your look closest to your face. Fortunately, the necklines that harmonize with the more formal essences can easily be pretty comfortable and casual, like a big Romantic scoop neck, narrower more elongated Ethereal neckline, or basic Classic crewneck. An exception may be a very tight Dramatic turtleneck, so go with a sharp V or square neckline instead to bring in Dramatic.

Gorgeous and comfortable appearing top that incorporates both a deep-V Dramatic neckline and Romantic cold-shoulder. The soft gently draped fabric also brings in Ethereal.

Loungewear: choose silky or lingerie-inspired or hunt for more tailored sweats

Romantics and Ethereals have great options for stuff to wear lounging around the house, because camisoles, nightgowns, and robes often have lace, shine, delicate straps, curving necklines, and other Romantic and/or Ethereal elements.

If you want to wear pants, then silky shorts or pajama pants—ankle-revealing for Romantic, elongated for Ethereal—can work well.

Dramatics can look for more sweatpants in elongated, severe silhouettes. Less severe and less elongated versions of these silhouettes can work for Classics.

Jewelry/accessories: make what’s closest to your face especially harmonious

Jewelry, like necklines, is often critical to match your style type as it can be adjacent to your face. It’s also a great way to dress up a casual outfit while maintaining comfort.

Choose large, curving, blingy jewelry for Romantic, like big diamond studs. Flowy silky scarves can be Ethereal and dress up or disguise a casual top. A sleek geometric necklace works for Dramatics. Or choose Classic jewelry like pearl earrings or a simple pendant.

Shoes: avoid stilettos

Flats can be pretty comfortable, especially if they have straps, and if they’re very angular and minimalistic they can read as Dramatic. If they’re velvet or satin or have lace up detail, they’ll likely have Romantic. Simple, neutral flats without remarkable shapes or detail will read as Classic. If they have gentle shimmer or transparency, Ethereal.

You can even find sneakers that evoke the formal essences—for example, narrow, futuristic style sneakers can read as Dramatic.

Comfortable (at least in theory they could be) Ethereal Dramatic flats.

Outerwear: pull a Lorelai on Rory’s first day of school

Colder weather may actually make things easier, because many coats with Romantic faux fur or Ethereal feathers, or Dramatic elongation and sharpness, are still roomy and comfy. Trench coats are a comfortable Classic style.

Classic trench coat

In general, find dressy versions of casual clothes

A neutral V-neck instead of a standard t-shirt is one example. A t-shirt with lace detail is another. Swapping a sweatshirt for a shrug that ties in the front might bring in Romantic; an elongated cardigan might instead bring in Ethereal, or Dramatic if it appears stiff. You can get creative. If you crave to wear flannels but you’re a Romantic Ethereal Dramatic, you could wear something like a black semi-sheer dress top in silky material that if worn unbuttoned essentially has the same silhouette and comfort level as a flannel—it just reads as way dressier, as Romantic Ethereal Dramatic instead of Natural like a typical flannel.

Avoid perfection

Sometimes (or often) go for good enough rather than perfect. A black v-neck narrow yet semi loose-fitting cotton Tee isn’t the most Romantic Dramatic garment you could possibly wear, but black is good for both Romantics and Dramatics, as are v-necks if they’re sharp and/or plunging enough. Are you compromising a bit on the glamorous vibes of Romantic and the avant-garde vibes of Dramatic, sure, but it will likely still read as Romantic Dramatic, just not as the most Romantic Dramatic shirt that’s ever existed.

This brings up an interesting point about the style essences that may become a future post—despite that the types are categorical, they’re also continuous. Meaning, one outfit can be fully Romantic Dramatic, and a different outfit can be fully Romantic Dramatic, but the first outfit can still be a lot more Romantic Dramatic than the second. Confusing but true.

Break the rules

Sometimes you can ignore your essence guidelines entirely. Maybe you don’t mind stepping outside certain recommendations on certain occasions.

It’s also fine to have certain things you decide you’ll just never wear because they aren’t harmonious on you—unless the list is like so restrictive that it’s interfering with your quality of life, like you’ve decided you can only wear ball gowns and your job is a personal trainer. Ideally style analysis makes your life better, not worse, and for some people that may mean that they occasionally or frequently ignore their style guidelines, and that’s good—part of the point of style analysis is to have fun, and it’s a game where you can break the rules.