I don't repeat colours in my outfit, and here's why.

One of the most powerful — and surprising — style rules I teach inside Boss is this:

Don’t repeat your colours across your outfit.

I know… it goes against everything you’ve been told about “tying a look together.” But the truth is, when you don’t match your jacket to your shoes or echo a handbag in your earrings, something far more interesting happens.

You create artful tension.

The eye isn’t bouncing back and forth, trying to make connections. Instead, it settles into the centre of your outfit — your face, your shape, your silhouette.

This gives your outfit a sense of polish and sophistication that’s harder to explain, but easy to feel.

It’s less about matching, and more about allowing each piece to hold its own, no one item competing or mimicking another.

Your inside silhouette (that’s your base layer) can be all one colour, that’s your anchor.

Then your outer layers and accessories can do the work of adding interest, without needing to “speak” to each other in the same colour.

Check out the examples below to see how powerful this rule really is. It might just rewire the way you get dressed.

How It Works With SHOES

Now that we’ve busted that myth on matching and repeating a colour in our outfit, let’s bust another one:

Myth = Matching your footwear with colours in your outfit, especially the colour of pants so that it elongates your leg!

The problem?

You’d have a longer leg, but then you’d virtually have no feet!

This is completely unnatural and takes you out of proportion.