How to dress well?

First, what does it mean to dress well? It means that your clothes suit you and the situation. It means that your clothes fit you correctly. It also means that your clothes are well-chosen for their color, fabric, texture and weight to suit you best – in other words, a suitable color, a decent fabric such as cotton or wool, an interesting texture and a weight that suits the weather but that maintains the shape of the garment, as well. Finally, and this is the hard part, it means that when people see you, your appearance says “I am somebody”.

The opposite of dressing well is dressing badly, the best way to say “I don’t care”, about yourself or about others. And, there is nothing quite like stepping out knowing that you look at least as well as the people around you, if not better. 

How can you achieve this? It depends where you are and what you are doing, but here are a few tips.

1. Collect clothes that are well made. This does not mean that they have to be expensive, just that they are made of good material and are well constructed.
2. Focus on quality, not quantity. You do not need 30 shirts or 25 pairs of pants. Look through your wardrobe and remove any that are not well made or that you never wear.
3. Focus on fit. Do all your clothes fit? If not, throw them out, because you will not want to wear them (or be able to wear them, for that matter). If you have recently lost or gained weight, now might not be the best time to do this. Instead, wait until you are back to your normal size, and then go through your collection and assess what you can keep and what has to go.
4. Dress up, not down: if an event calls for a tie, wear a tie. If it calls for a suit, wear a full suit, not half of one suit and half of another. And, if you know that an event is casual, don’t wear a suit and tie (unless you are feeling particularly radical), but a well fitting jacket and nice pants.
5. Make sure your shoes look good! Scratched, dusty shoes do not make much of an impression.
6. Think about colors and patterns: a suit with a light check, or a shirt with stripes, as opposed to plain; dark or light khaki for casual pants, and so forth. 

Why take the trouble? Because you will look better, feel confident and make the kind of impression that you want to.