Casual Chic

Effortless Sophisticate

Natural Classic

Natural Classic Jackie Kennedy smiling her wide grin

If we had to choose the most “basic” style essence blend—the one with the simplest, most understated and minimalist fashion—Natural Classic might win.

Yet somehow, simple Natural Classic style can feel captivating.

a casual top and jeans with heels

Below we’ll explore how the Natural Classic aesthetic makes basic look fascinating.

Natural Classic celebrities

Natural Classic faces have beautiful symmetry and balance, strong bone structure, and often a magnetically friendly, confident vibe. See Natural Classic celebrities on Pinterest and listed below:

  • Betsy Brandt

  • Jackie Kennedy

  • January Jones

  • Michelle Monaghan

  • Mollie King

  • Naomi Watts

  • Rande Gerber

  • Salli Richardson

  • Selma Blair

  • Sienna Miller

    Natural Classics Salli Richardson and Naomi Watts:

Natural Classic fashion

The Natural Classic aesthetic is minimalist and understated, blending a casual and polished feel.

See Natural Classic fashion inspiration on Pinterest. For more Natural Classic inspiration, check out fashion described as casual chic, an aesthetic that tends to be highly Natural Classic.

The easy Natural Classic outfit formula: mix casual basics with formal basics, like pairing a simple loose T-shirt with dress pants, or relaxed-fit jeans with a crisp blazer.

Another way to do Natural Classic style: choose pieces that blend casual and polished elements, like a Classic pinstriped button-down in an oversized Natural silhouette.

Natural Classic top

You can also mix more casual Natural styling—like leaving many of the shirt’s buttons undone and rolling the sleeves—with more polished Classic styling, like tucking in the shirt and pairing it with a red lip.

How Natural Classic makes basic fascinating

As you can see on Pinterest above, Sienna Miller’s Natural Classic street style heavily consists of very casual basics—yet many people are mesmerized by it.

Here’s thoughts on what makes such a seemingly generic style enthralling.

1) Effortless Polish

Part of Natural Classic appeal is how effortless and, yes, basic this aesthetic feels. How confident and cool it looks to wear such understated pieces.

But what really makes the Natural Classic vibe captivating is that by blending polished and casual elements, the viewer may assume, “Oh, she really didn’t try with this outfit (because of how casual it looks)—yet she looks stunning (because of the confident and cool Natural vibes and subtle Classic polish)”. It’s the ultimate “I didn’t try hard but I still look amazing” vibe.

So it’s compelling because it can feel like a visual trick. And like an actual magic trick, it leaves us wondering, “How did they do that?”

2) Unpretentious

People crave authenticity, whether in friends or in fashion and art. And relying on basics and minimalist styling makes Natural Classic style feel unpretentious—not contrived or overly thought out. Beautiful, simple, real.

basic white T-shirt paired with wide white pants with black pinstripes

3) Beauty in Simplicity

We live in a rapidly changing, chaotic world. Maybe that can make us especially drawn to more peaceful, less-attention-grabbing fashion.

Paradoxically, minimalism’s calming beauty does capture our attention, by contrasting so blatantly with the world’s surrounding chaos.

sleeveless sweater tucked into wide-legged pants

This is true of Natural Classic hair and makeup, too (again see Sienna Miller’s street style photos). In a society often proclaiming that beauty is more—more elaborate makeup, jewelry, hair—it’s refreshing to see minimal makeup and simply-styled hair.

4) Creative Creativity

Creativity in fashion isn't always about wearing the most unique pieces. Sometimes it's about combining basics in unexpected ways—like pairing cargo pants with heels, a blazer with sweatpants, or denim with chambray and Classic flats. The pieces themselves may be basic, things we’ve all seen thousands of times before, but when combined in non-standard ways, the resulting look feels special.

pinstriped pink button-down paired with dark green pants and nude heels

5) Extremely Cool

The contrast of very casual Natural pieces and very dressy Classic pieces can also emphasize just how laidback the Natural pieces are. So rather than reducing the chill Natural vibe, adding Classic to Natural can sometimes actually enhance this vibe because of the contrast. The result feels simultaneously put-together, polished, and effortlessly cool.

a Classic blazer and heels paired with wide-leg Natural jeans and Natural T-shirt

Natural Classic style inspiration: Jackie Kennedy and Sienna Miller

Style icon Jackie Kennedy provides timeless fashion inspiration and was frequently photographed in Classic outfits, sometimes with Natural. She’s an ideal muse for anyone with a highly Classic face.

But overall, her style was much more Classic than Natural. So if taking fashion inspiration from Jackie, you may want o customize her looks by casualizing them.

As noted, Natural Classic Sienna Miller offers amazing inspiration for the more casual side of this aesthetic.

Style from work to play

Natural Classic is the ultimate essence blend for looking harmonious in most typical contexts of life, from work to play. You can emphasize the more formal elements of this type in a professional environment and downplay them at leisure.

Many of the essence blends frequently feel compelled to compromise on their style, but for most aspects of life, Natural Classic feels appropriate.

And that’s another part of the beauty of minimalism, and probably a big part of why Classic fashion has such lasting appeal, and why Natural fashion is basically synonymous with modern mainstream fashion—Natural Classic is the style that will get us through the day and that feels realistic to wear most of the time. I love maximalism and wild style, but sometimes I just want to see and wear something that feels practical and real.