Are you bored with your wardrobe and tired of wearing the same outfits all of the time? In addition to purchasing the same items over and over again, we are creatures of habit and tend to wear the same items in the exact same way. By getting out of your comfort zone and exploring fresh ways to wear the existing items in your closet, you can re-invigorate your wardrobe without having to go shopping.

Sometimes we tend to wear the same items together because we’re not sure if certain color combinations look right together. This is where a simple color wheel comes in. You can buy one on amazon.

Use the color wheel to try new color combinations that you may not have considered:

Are opposite each other on the color wheel. Some examples of complementary colors are blue/orange, red/green, and yellow/purple. Complementary colors enhance each other; use them when you are looking for a more eye-catching look.

Wear the same color from head to toe or different shades of the same color. I am a huge fan of the monochromatic look. When you wear the same color (a white button down, white jeans, and white leather slides, for example), it creates an unbroken visual line that helps create length and make you look taller. Also, you reduce the mental overwhelm when you reach for items of the same color in your wardrobe. 

Analogous colors are adjacent on the color wheel and so have similar hues. For example, yellow, yellow-orange, and orange are analogous.

Besides using a color wheel, another trick that I’ve used on many occasions is dumping all of my laundry in a huge pile and playing around with random top/bottom color combinations before I fold/hang everything. This has led to some of my favorite pairings, such as a coral T-shirt with navy wide leg pants!​

Sometimes it’s not about what you wear but how you wear a particular item. Let’s take shirts, for example. Do you always tuck in your shirt? How about leaving it untucked instead? Or using the half tuck (aka the “French tuck”)? Or buttoning/unbuttoning a button or two? What about pushing or rolling up your shirt sleeves? 

 Finding different ways to style items in your wardrobe can extend the wearability of your clothes from season to season while keeping your outfits fresh and interesting.

If you’re like me, you’re used to wearing the same top with the same pair of pants or wearing the same dress with the same pair of shoes, but there is likely more versatility to your wardrobe than you think. Mix it up by pairing items that you wouldn’t necessarily think to pair together, such more formal, structured items, with more casual and/or fun items. This type of dressing is often referred to as “smart casual”. When it comes to unexpected clothing combinations, fit, fabrication, and proportion become even more important.