Edith Wharton Was Right: Your Style Habits Could Be Making You Old (But Here’s How to Fix It!)

I recently read this quote from writer and designer Edith Wharton, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, on what causes old age:

“The producer of old age is habit: the deathly process of doing the same thing in the same way at the same hour day after day, first from carelessness, then from inclination, at last from cowardice or inertia.

Habit is necessary; but it is the habit of having careless habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive… one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.”

Habits are interesting when it comes to your style as they can have both positive and negative effects.

Negative Effects of Habits on Your Style

1. Wearing the same garments over and over in the same outfits
2. Thinking you’re too old to care about your style.  There is no age to style, and you can be stylish at any stage of life.
3. Waiting til you lose weight to care about your style or buy yourself clothes that you enjoy wearing.  You need to have clothes that make you feel good and look good now.
4. Wearing clothes out of the laundry basket rather than shopping your wardrobe to try out new outfits
5. Not accessorising outfits, no accessories can mean no great focal points where you want to direct the eye and make a feature.
6. Not putting away the washing in an organised way that makes it easier to find garments and create outfits
7. Keeping your “good clothes” for special occasions rather than teaming them with other clothes and getting more wear out of them
8. Prioritizing comfort over confidence can lead to bland and boring, or wearing sad, baggy and dated clothes because they are so comfy.  You can be both comfortable and stylish!
9. Keeping clothes that are past their used-by-dates – just as you clear out the pantry of food that’s gone off or out of date, you need to do regular closet cleanses to keep your style up to date.  If there is dust on the shoulders of your clothes, that’s a good sign that you should let the garment go.
10. Neglecting fit because it’s easier not to get your garments tailored to fit you well (making even expensive items look poor quality).
11. Ignoring the details, such as ironing or steaming to remove wrinkles, forgetting the impact of grooming (who has the time?), as these detract from your overall appearance and style.
12. Investing in staples and basics, but having no heroes and accessories that make your outfits elevated.
13. Wearing black or only neutrals makes you more forgettable, and style boring and bland.   Colours bring joy to both you and the people who see you!
14. Chasing trends without considering if they are for you.
15. Not updating your style recipe at least once a year.

Rather than let that carelessness or cowardice or inertia steal your style, here are 13 ways you can use habits to improve your style.

Habits that Refine Your Style

1. Curating your closet, decluttering regularly and making sure that what’s inside fits, is in great condition and is still current and a reflection of your style recipe.
2. Updating your style recipe regularly will help you keep your style fresh and out of that style rut.
3. Shoping with intention.  When you know what’s in your wardrobe and what you actually need, you’ll shop more effectively and not buy doubles of what you have or be tempted by garments that just aren’t you (because you read somewhere that everyone needs this item this season).
4. Maintenance routines for your personal grooming such as updating your hairstyle every few years along with that daily brushing of teeth, as well as keeping clothes looking great, mending, ironing and altering where necessary.
5. Shopping your wardrobe for new outfits.  Try challenging yourself to wear everything in your wardrobe that’s seasonally relevant.  Try new combinations of garments to create new outfits.
6. Accessorise every outfit.  Add some sort of accessory or two or even three.  Try different shoes, a necklace, earrings, scarf, belt, handbag, bracelets, rings and hats for starters.  There are so many different ways to accessorise your outfits (check out my expert tips here in The Finiishing Touch ebook if you want lots of ideas and inspiration).
7. Seasonal updates to your wardrobe, you don’t need to follow every trend, but adding a few new pieces can boost your style and give you more outfit options and keep your style current without being a slave to fashion trends.
8. Know what you love, if you’re not a blazer person, then no point in buying one just because that’s what everyone else is wearing.  Instead, get to grips with your own personal style guidelines and criteria so you don’t go off track when shopping.
9. Embrace your colour palette.  The colours that make you shine, that highlight your inherent colours make you look stunning.  Colours spark joy and wearing your great colours makes you look fabulous, plus you’ll find when you start investing in your colours (and your neutrals) that your garments mix and match effortlessly as the colours are designed to go together so you get more outfits from fewer garments.  Plus did you know that people who wear colour are seen as more confident than those who wear all neutrals?
10. Organising your wardrobe by style, colour and season can make it easy to see more outfit options from your existing pieces, plus point out wardrobe gaps so you have a plan when shopping for what you actually need and will get value from.
11. Not saving your good clothes for special occasions, instead wear that fancier top with your jeans to dress them up.  Dress down a smarter dress with your denim jacket.  Get the wear from all your clothes before they date so you get value from them.
12. Look for style inspiration, it may be on Pinterest, or Instagram or just people-watching when you’re sitting in a cafe having a coffee.  Look around and notice what others are wearing, check out nature when you go for a walk and notice the colour combinations that you could copy.  There are so many places to find style inspiration, from art to architecture, nature to Netflix, trying something new helps to keep you youthful.
13. Defining your personal style criteria, knowing the shapes and styles of garments that fit and flatter your body, discovering your signature colours so that you look amazing, finding out which fabrics work best for your body and making you feel comfortable and confident.  This is why I developed my 7 Steps to Style program to help you discover what really works so you are in the driver’s seat of your style.

Don’t be afraid of change.  Yes, change can feel uncomfortable and even scary at first.   Remember, fashions change, railing about that makes you into an old person just as Edith Wharton said.  Have fun with fashion and your style, play in small ways each day with your outfits, and if you’re feeling stuck and want to start in a small way, join my Evolve Your Style 31-day style challenge which is guaranteed to get you out of that style rut and have you seeing your style in a whole new way.