anything goes with emma chamberlain - my go-to outfit formulas

Episode Date: August 10, 2025

[video available on spotify] there’s nothing i love more than going into my closet and putting together an outfit that i’ve never worn before. but when i don’t have a lot of time, i rely on outfit formulas. today i’m going to share my go-to outfit formulas. Find trending summer looks at Walmart.  Members save up to 20% on hotels at hotels.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen, there's nothing I love more than going into my closet and putting together an outfit that I've never worn before. Something fresh, something new, something exciting. There's nothing I love more than balancing silhouettes and coming up with a unique color palette and accessorizing in a way that's not too much but also not too subtle. There's nothing I love more than this process. It's wonderful. and it's kind of a hobby of mine. However, this is a time-consuming process. It doesn't take like 10, 20 minutes to put together a brand new outfit. Now, it takes like an hour. And here's the deal. I usually don't have an hour to get dressed. I'm somebody who likes to push getting ready

to the last minute notoriously. I usually give myself like 15, 20 minutes max to get ready. And that also includes time for hair and makeup, which takes at least 10 minutes. leaving me with 10 minutes on average to get dressed every time I'm going somewhere. So I can't always go into my closet and put together something brand new because that takes time. And if I rush that process, I end up wearing something that I'm not 100% confident. And over the years, I've realized that that doesn't work for me. Because when I'm not wearing something that just works, it's all I think about. I can't enjoy myself.

I can't live in the moment. all I'm thinking about. It takes over. And so I rely a lot of times on outfit formulas when I get dressed. It's the solution for me. I have a handful of outfit formulas that I have stored away in my brain for those moments when I have 10 minutes to get dressed and I want to feel good. And so today I thought I'd share with you all my go-to outfit formulas, not necessarily because I think they're the answer for you, but to perhaps inspire you to come up with your own outfit formulas that sort of work for your style and your wardrobe. Because I do think it's a really helpful tool to have a mathematical equation that helps you get dressed. Because here's the deal. When we look

good and we like our outfit, we feel good. We smile more. You know what I mean? And we're really able to live in the moment. And so I think outfit formulas are the perfect strategy to feel good and feel fashionable and feel stylish, even when we don't have the time to put together something brand new. So without further ado, let me share with you my go-to outfit formulas. And if you don't know what an outfit formula is, it'll make sense to you really quickly. Just trust me. I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode of Anything Goes is presented by Walmart. Sure. Technically, it's still summer, but mentally, I'm already starting to think about fall fashion. And you know who has everything to upgrade your fall wardrobe? Walmart.

Walmart has all the pieces you could ever need. We're talking about cozy sweaters for apple picking, casual staples for carving pumpkins. We're talking about cool sneakers. cute boots, and the price is right. Shop major fall trends and new drops at walmart.com slash shop slash women's dash trends. That's walmart.com slash shop slash women's dash trends. Now back to the episode. Let's start with my most used outfit formula.

And this is one that is not unique to me. A lot of people use this outfit formula. but that's for a reason because I think it's one of the best and it's one of the most foolproof. Okay. When I need to look classy and chic, perhaps I'm going to a nice dinner or I'm going to an event, but I have no time to think at all. I'm going to wear all black, head to toe. Okay, let me give you some examples.

If it's perhaps a warm evening, I might wear a tight black tank top with black dress pants, black loafers in a black pair of glasses. Classic. All sort of, you know, it's kind of hard to tell what's going on when you look at the outfit, but the silhouette is sharp on the top, tight on the top, looser on the bottom, there's a structured shoe. It looks good, but it's so simple. Another example, a dressy black top of some sort, perhaps a tunic or like, I don't know, some sort of blouse with black caprice, black flats, and again, black glasses. That's perfect for like an afternoon event, maybe like a brunch or something, a fancy brunch. Another example, perhaps a black turtleneck with a long black skirt and tall black boots,

and again, black glasses. There's something about all black that just always looks good. I would say the only struggle I have with all black is finding black pieces in my closet that match because I have like t-shirts, for example, that are sort of a washed black. But then I have skirts that are a super dark, super well-died, like pitch black, black, you know?

And then my accessories, like belts and bags and shoes, those are almost always pitch black. Some of the pieces in my closet were pitch black when I bought them, but I've since faded after wearing them and washing them time and time again. So it is sort of a, it's not like the easiest outfit formula

because I have to sort of think about how I'm balancing my shades of black, whether I'm wearing all the exact same shade of black, like all pitch black, or I'm sort of adding in some washed black into it. You know what I'm saying? It is a process. You know, I have to pay attention to the materials and the washes, but once assembled, it's really good. And I will say because this is an outfit formula that I gravitate towards often, I've collected enough black pieces in various

materials, in various shades, with various undertones, to be able to sort of effectively put together cohesive, monochromatic all-black outfits successfully. But if you don't have a lot of black in your closet, this might not work for you. It might not make sense. But for me, I'm obsessed. And I've actually become even more obsessed since cutting my hair and bleaching it. There's something about the super blonde, almost white hair with an all-black outfit and even better with a pair of black glasses on, it just, it just looks good. And I would say this formula I have to think about the least, even though there is that little element that I have to think about, it's still one of the easiest, but also most elevated looking. It's like the least effort, highest reward. I would say

out of all of these formulas. And again, it's like, I'm not reinventing the wheel here, but it's classic for a reason. There's something about how I feel when I wear a whole black It's my fate. It might be my favorite. Like, I love it. I feel the most put together. I feel the most elegant and chic. It's kind of addicting, honestly. I have to really motivate myself to wear color because of how good I feel in a monochromatic black outfit. Like, I really have to, like, look at myself in the mirror and say, Emma, you can't just keep doing that. Like, you love clothes too much. you love fashion too much wear your other pieces of clothing and it's also bled into like what i wear to my workout classes like i wear all black workout clothes that's also for function because any

other color of workout clothes will show sweat stains but it just it's classic and it just looks good and i often wear all black on top of that i'll wear an all black sweatshirt some sort of chic sweatpants set You know what I'm saying? It's just a go-to for me. Okay, next. Because that was like boring. But we had to get that one out of the way because it's one of my favorites.

Next, when I want to wear something classic, timeless, and sharp, perhaps, I'm going to a work meeting. It's the daytime. I don't want to wear all black. It doesn't make sense to wear all black. I'll wear black and white. Okay?

Black and white, to me, feels very, different from an all black outfit. It's like all black to me feels very, it feels very fashion, whereas black and white feels very traditional. There's something about all black that feels more like dinner party event, whereas black and white feels more like business meeting. Does that make sense? Not that I only wear black and white to like go to a business meeting. I wear black and white all the time. It's like a go-to color palette for me. I mean, it's very obvious. It's like, okay, it's one of the most obvious color palettes you could choose. But it just always feels sharp and timeless. But what I like about it, though, is that it does have a bit of dimension. Like, you can see

what's going on. When you wear all black, you can't really see what's going on. It's kind of a blur. Whereas when you add some white in there, suddenly you have dimension. And what I really like about wearing black and white outfits is that I can very easily add a pop of color more so than if I'm wearing all black. If I'm wearing all black, that's it. That's the end of it. All black is it. If I randomly throw on a red bag, it looks weird. Whereas if I'm wearing black and white, I can throw on a red bag and it looks balanced. Do you know what I'm saying? It doesn't just look like, oh, she's wearing all black, but then why is she wearing it? It doesn't look intentional. Whereas black white with a pop of color, is classic and it always works. I'll give you some examples. Okay, a black and white

staple for me, white collared shirt with a black top layered on top. I love it. I wear that combo all the time and it looks, it always looks good. So, okay, example outfit, white colored shirt, black top layered on top, perhaps like a tang top, with black capris or maybe a long black skirt with white socks, black flats, or perhaps a kitten heel, if I'm feeling very chic, with black glasses. Okay, classic outfit, interesting to look at, has dimension because it's not just all black. There is some white sprinkled in there, but really cute, fashionable fun. Okay. Now, if I really wanted to, I could swap out the black glasses for like a pop of red glass. Or I could swap out the black caprice. Or I could swap out the black caprice.

or the black skirt for like some sort of fun colored capri or skirt. It's very easy to add a pop of color. I think it just needs to be done in a way that feels right. Like when you look in the mirror, you should be like, okay, that works, that pop of color works. Sometimes you look in the mirror after adding a pop of color and you're like, oh, that actually does not work. It definitely comes down to intuition. Like I have to really be intuitive with it. Another example of a black and white outfit, perhaps a dressy white top or blouse or tunic with a long black skirt in white socks and black shoes of some sort, perhaps a flat or a loafer if it makes sense, black glasses in a bright colorful bag. Maybe a red bag, maybe a bright yellow bag, whatever. Or maybe a fun pop of color in the shirt.

shoes, perhaps replace the black shoes, the black flats or loafers, with a red shoe, a red loafer. So I'd even exist. Let's say a red flat, because a red flat definitely exists, a red loafer. I haven't seen that, perhaps for a reason. Because as I'm imagining it, it actually sounds quite ugly, unless it was like an ox blood, like dark. Why is it called ox blood? Ew. I don't want to talk about blood right now. So I'm actually going to call it Maroon, maroon, you know, like a dark maroon, leathery, you know, that would be cute for a loafer, but not bright red. But you get the idea. Another example would be perhaps a white top with a black cardigan on top with a pop of color pant, okay? Perhaps a pair of green dress pants, like olive green

dress pants or I don't know you could even do a pop of like khaki that doesn't really feel like a pop because khaki is still a neutral but if you're wearing all black and white and then you throw like a khaki pant in there that to me does kind of feel like a pop of color because compared to black and white it is kind of a pop of color and then pair that with like a white sock and a black loafer or black you know flat or whatever black glasses you know little white bag or something cute. There's just something about starting with black and white that is so foolproof to me. And the way that you can just add a pop of color and it almost always works is really fun. I don't know. I love doing that. And I think it's particularly strong when a white colored shirt

is involved in some way. Like the second I put on a white colored shirt, I know things are about to be sharp and chic. I think the reason why, black and white reads so timeless and elegant is because the classic tuxedo is black and white. And that's like a symbol in our minds of being dressed up. And so you might not necessarily want to look like you're wearing a tuxedo. You might not necessarily want to be that dressed up. But there's something about the way that black and white reads that it just, it feels timeless and it feels elevated. Okay, next, when I don't want to feel dressed up, when I don't want to feel over-dressed. Perhaps I'm going to a game night at someone's house, or I'm going shopping with

friends. And it feels off to me to wear like a collared shirt, you know? It feels off to me to wear like a skirt with a blouse and flats. Like it feels like too much. My formula is classy bottom, meaning like a nice pair of dress pants or a nice skirt or perhaps a pair of caprice or, you know, dressy shorts with layered basic tops on top. Okay. I love the look of layered basic tops. That could be two tank tops layered on top of each other or a short sleeve t-shirt tight with a tank top on top or a classic long. sleeve tight shirt with a boxy t-shirt on top. I love the look of layered basic tops. It is incredibly casual, but it's classic and it is fashionable and cool. I just love it. I think you can't

go wrong with it. And there's something about it. It balances casual with fashionable so well. And when I don't want to feel overdressed, but I still want to feel cute, I'll start there. I'll start by layering tops in a way that is exciting and makes sense for the weather. I'll start there. And then I'll pick out a chic bottom half so that it doesn't go too casual, right? Because it's like if I'm wearing layered tops on top and then like sweatpants, that's a little bit too casual for me. Like I don't feel confident in myself in that. I feel like I'm wearing my PJs.

so it's nice to counteract the casualness with sort of a chic pant like a dress pant or a sharp skirt or something like that I'll give you some example outfits long sleeve with a boxy t-shirt on top classic combo can't go wrong with it always looks good I love it I reach for that a lot perhaps with a boxy but sharp dress pant in a flat or a loafer, in a structured purse or bag. You'll notice everything about this outfit is actually pretty classy and pretty sharp, you know. There's a sharp dress pant, a flat or a loafer has a lot of structure, and then a structured purse or bag. And then sunglasses and glasses, I feel like always add a shakness. So perhaps you could add some glasses as well. But the top is casual. The top half is casual. And there's something about that

that creates a really cool vibe. If you want to go really Pinterest mode, you could add like a cute baseball cap. That's very, that's actually a very common, trendy, like business casual sort of outfit. Maybe it's a little bit more casual than business casual. I think it is. But that's like a common outfit formula that you'll see online. All the girly pops are doing it. But for a reason, once again, because it is a really balanced vibe. You're casual, but you also look put together too. Another example, perhaps a t-shirt, like a short-sleeved t-shirt with a tank top on top of it, paired with a classy pair of caprice or a classy short. Like, I have a bunch of long. I have a bunch of long. long pairs of shorts that are made out of like dress pant material, so perhaps something like

that. With a flat or a kitten heel in a structured person bag in a cute pair of glasses. Again, everything about the outfit is actually very chic and classic, but the top brings it down to a casual level. Perhaps pair that with like a cute little beret or something. Cute. And the tops layered on top of each other. Keep it cash. I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode is brought to by Hotels.com. Okay, I'm to let you in on a little secret. Hotels.com could help you level up your vacation. So if you sign up for free, I might add, you save up to 20% on select hotels. Yep, up to 20%. That's actual real money back in your pocket, which means yes to massages, yes to room service, yes to those little extras that make a trip feel extra

special. Head to Hotels.com to book now. Now back to the episode. Okay, moving on. When I'm particularly craving comfort, like when I'm on my period and my stomach is killing me and I don't want to go outside or if I'm going to have a long travel day, perhaps I'm going to the airport or going on a road trip or something like that, but I still want to feel fashionable. Comfort's the number one priority, but I still want to feel fashionable. My outfit formula is boxy top, boxy bottom, okay? I don't know if you remember when everyone on the internet was talking about, this was a while ago. This was a while ago.

It was like tiny top, big bottom, like wearing like, you know, a cropped shirt or a really tight shirt with baggy, boxy sort of bottoms, okay? And then there was also, I think, baggy top little bottom where it was like you'd wear a big t-shirt with like a little pair of shorts or whatever. And those were like trendy outfit formulas. I mean, they're very simple. They're very self-explanatory. They're very obvious. It's like intro to balancing silhouettes, right? Well, imagine that, but neither of those, okay? Instead, it's boxy top, boxy bottom. Now, let me explain to you what boxy means through comparison. Okay, let's take a white short sleeve t-shirt, for example. There are two silhouettes. There's a tight one that's tight to your skin, tight to your arm. There's no gape, right? Like, it's just on your body, okay? And then there's

a boxy t-shirt. It's not oversized, okay, because that would be an oversized t-shirt. Boxy means it's loose, it's not form fitting, but it fits you properly. It's not, like, the seams are all placed in the right places. It cuts off right at your waist, but it's a boxy fit. You know what I mean. It's not tailored. It's boxy. Same thing goes for pants, right? You have tight, tailored pants, perhaps like a leather pant or a pair of jeans that, you know, fits you perfectly and is really, really tight and, you know, lifting up the booty. But then you have a boxy pair of pants. That might mean like a boxy skirt, right? A skirt that's not super tight, not super tailored might mean a boxy pair of work pants, super straight leg, not super

tight on the waist might be a boxy pair of jeans again not too tight loose around the butt and if you were to squint at these pieces while they're hung up they would look like a square uh you wouldn't see curves or or you know it wouldn't look tight looks like a box okay i love wearing boxy on boxy i don't think that that's for everyone some people don't like that look because i will say like there's no like shape you know it's not necessarily flattering actually i wouldn't say it's unflattering but it's not like flatter it's not um accentuating your beautiful body shape which is a lot of times something that we want to do right we want to wear a tight pant so that we're showing off the booty or you know we want to wear a tight top because it's giving us a nice shape

it's showing our shape through the clothing which is a wonderful wonderful thing sometimes but it's like that isn't always the vibe. And I think when I'm feeling uncomfortable because I'm on my period and I don't want clothes touching my body or if I'm about to be sitting on an airplane for 10 hours flying somewhere, you know, I don't want to wear something tight and then it get all stretched out or whatever. Or I just, I'm going to go to sleep. So like I want to look cute in the airport, but I don't, I don't care about looking cute once I'm on the plane because I'm just going to go to bed, whatever, but I don't want to like go change my outfit. I've never understood. people who can like get on the plane and then change into PJs. That's too much for me. I'm going to

sleep in my outfit. And I always sleep on the plane, but I'm going to sleep in my outfit. So I want something boxy and comfy. I'll give you some examples. This is one of my favorite go-toes. Okay, boxy t-shirt, boxy skirt, socks, and flats. It looks cool. It doesn't look, listen, it's not sexy. It's not sexy, but that's not the point, okay? Also, it's funny that I'm saying that because I'm like the least in my personal life. I really rarely am like, let's go sexy mode tonight. It doesn't happen to me a lot. I'm usually going for, I don't know, more so though, as I'm getting older, I'm actually

weirdly like, wait, I kind of want to feel hot tonight, you know? Like it's starting to happen more and more and I might need to start keeping my eyes peeled for some less boxy items because I have a lot of boxy items in my closet. but anyway, that outfit is not necessarily going to be sexy. You're not going to be feeling hot, but you're definitely going to be feeling cool. And that's great. There's something about the boxy t-shirt, boxy skirt that does have a really fucking cool vibe to it. And if you have like, you know, a chic bag with like, you know, a big pair of glasses on, you look like you don't give a fuck, but you look fashionable and you look cool. And if you're going to the airport or you're on your

period it's like that's all you could ask for at least to look cool and like you don't give a fuck right okay let me give you another example a boxy sweater okay there are some sweaters that are super tight some sweaters that are super oversized i'm talking about a boxy sweater it's boxy let's keep this in mind okay boxy work pants like a vintage work pant or like a dicky you know something like that something boxy with a flat boot a cute little flat boot okay that's again comfy but cool another example a boxy button up sort of over shirt right there are button up shirts that are supposed to be worn tight to the body right that's supposed to be the first layer or maybe even the only layer that you wear there are boxier button up shirts that are meant to go on

the outside of clothing i'm talking about that type of button up shirt okay boxy button up shirt that goes over another shirt, perhaps with a boxy pair of dressy little shorts. Maybe it's like something boxer short adjacent. Maybe it's a dress short made out of like dress pant material with a sock and a loafer, boxy, comfy, but in this case, kind of preppy and cute. There's something so satisfying to me about boxy on boxy. I'm into it. I'm into it. I'm into it. Okay, next, when I want to wear a bit of color, but I don't have the time or energy to figure out a complex color palette. And by complex color palette, I mean like, okay, I'm going to wear all earth tones. Like, I'm going to do, you know, mossy green with brown, but also with black.

And then I'm going to do like a pop of burnt orange and it's going to kind of feel like, you know, mossy and earthy. Or if I'm like, okay, I, I, I, I. I think I want to do, like, I don't know, I want to do a yellow, I want to wear a yellow raincoat, but like I also kind of want to integrate like pale blue, and then I want my base of the outfit to be black and white, but also like, wait, maybe I want to add like a little bit of green, like maybe I want to wear a green, like coming up with a color palette that's cohesive and makes sense and has sort of a vision to it can sometimes take time and a bit of playing around. And we don't always have time for that, right?

So when I want to wear color and I want to wear multiple colors, like I don't just want a pop of color, like black and white with the pop of red or with the pop of olive green or blue or whatever like I described earlier, primary colors. Start with the primary colors. There's something about red, blue, and yellow that just feels well-rounded, and it always works.

And an important message that I need to make clear is when I say primary colors, I'm not talking about like classic bright red in royal blue and mustard yellow. Okay. I'm talking about these colors in any shade that you want, actually ideally in more subtle shades. Okay. Like for example, I have a few different kinds of red in my closet. I have a few really big. bright, sharp red pieces. Like a great example of that would be, I have my favorite bag of all time is this black Prada bag.

And I love it so much that I bought it in red. And it's in this really dark, rich, shiny red. Okay? So I have really classic red. I have a lot of vintagey red items. Like, for example, I have this pair of sneakers that they sort of look like converse, but they're not.

They're like a little bit more square looking. They look like a low top converse, but they're not. And they're, they came in this sort of washed red color. Like they already look pre-worn in. I also have a zip up hoodie that's vintage and it's been washed a bazillion times and it's red. That's another example of a red that I have, right? I also have bright red cardigans that are not quite as bright as my red purse that I

described earlier, but still pretty bright. But because they're knit, they look a bit softer. I have a lot of maroon in my closet, darker, you know, richer, more brown reds. I have a lot of different reds going on. With yellow, same thing. I have some really bright yellow things. Like I have a yellow raincoat. I finally got a yellow raincoat because I have been dreaming of owning a yellow raincoat for like a year now. And I finally found the right one. So I have a bright yellow raincoat, but I also have a pair of butter yellow sneakers, and I have a lot of butter yellow basic tops, like, you know, three-quarter-length sleeve tops or whatever. With blue, I have dark blue, like navy, I have pale blue, I have grayish blue, I have vintagey looking blue, I have, you know,

a sharp, classic blue blue that's not quite royal blue, but like, whatever. I'm not, just talking about taking like the most obvious pantone swatch of the primary colors and styling that all together. That's not what I'm saying. In fact, I would advise against that. You know what I mean? I think that that's a little bit too. That's a lot. I mean, listen, actually, I don't want to stop you because I actually do think that that could look kind of cool and maybe kind of like 60s, you know, vibes. But that's not what I'm saying here. Okay. Let me give you some example outfits and perhaps that'll help explain what I'm talking about, starting with primary colors. Now, wait, actually, one more thing I have to say as well about this.

I'm not saying that all you're wearing is primary colors, okay? You need to build around it with neutrals, like black, white, perhaps gray or brown, maybe, if that's your style. But for me, usually it's black and white. You got to build around it. But it's more like the color palette is primary colors, and black and white are just their supporting on the side, like just to, you know, to break it up a little bit. But definitely, you know, I'm not saying like just wear the primary colors. Not only is that hard to do,

but it's also like it might look kind of weird, to be honest. It might look cute sometimes, but anyway, let me give you some examples. One of my favorite examples of primary colors in an outfit. White top, red cardigan, blue jeans. Black glass. with yellow lenses. White socks, black flat loafers slash flat shoes, whatever, black bag or perhaps a pop of yellow bag. I have a bag that's black that has this banana, like 3D printed sort of banana on it. Like that's a great example of a way to add another little piece of yellow. Perhaps I could add like a little yellow pin to my sweater. Okay. The white shirt, red cardigan, blue jeans with yellow accessories is wonderful. It's wonderful. I love it. Every time I wear it. It's so

classic. It's quite a popular outfit formula as well. To be honest, if you go online, you wouldn't have to search that hard to find somebody wearing this sort of outfit. Perhaps not with the pop of yellow, though. It's more common to just do blue jeans, white top, red cardigan. classic can't go wrong with it love it the addition of the yellow though to me takes it to the next level and it's just primary colors at its best i'll give you another example though this is a more sort of pastel kind of approach white tank top classic you know whatever doesn't matter could be ribbed could be not classic white tank top red and blue patterned shorts perhaps plaid perhaps stripes, probably some sort of like pastel-y sort of patterned, sort of classic preppy sort

of boxer shorts or dressy little shorts, whatever. You get the idea. White socks, baby yellow sneakers. That's another great example of primary colors in a more subtle way. Like you wouldn't even think of the outfit as being primary colors because it's all sort of pastels and it's a bit more understated and like the shoes are technically butter yellow but they're not like noticeably yellow they're at a glance maybe even off white cream right but they have that yellowness to them the primary color palette can be more subtle like that it doesn't need to be bright and obvious even though that can be kind of fun too at times um i'll give you one more example this is actually an outfit that i wore i'll just i'll literally just describe to you my outfit

I wore this outfit to the farmer's market yesterday, yesterday morning, okay? I wore a white t-shirt with a cute, grayish blue hoodie on top, boxy hoodie with a black long skirt, pleaded. I was kind of going for like semi-athletic vibes, but like not fully athletic vibes. Do you know what I mean? I wanted there to be like sort of an athletic outdoors. feel, but like not at all. Does that make any sense? I'm starting to realize that as I'm saying it out loud, that makes no sense probably to anyone but me, but whatever. Anyway, the grayish hoodie that has

white thermal. It has like white thermal lining in it. So like when the hood is up, you can see like the white thermal on the inside, very athletic, very outdoorsy with the black pleaded skirt, white socks with cream yellowish sort of flats. They're really cream, but there isn't a little undertor. of yellow, in my opinion, in my eyes. I wore all that with a red cross body bag, okay, a yellow baseball cap, like a mustardy yellow baseball cap in black glasses with yellow lenses. You might have to use your imagination with this one, to be honest, it's weird because I'd never worn that outfit before, and I had a little bit of time to put it together, and I was like, I'm going to do primary colors. And it doesn't sound like it would make sense,

but it actually did make sense. It looked fine. It looked good. I mean, it's not my favorite outfit I've ever worn, but it was, it was cute. And it was shockingly balanced. Even though it sounds like there's a lot going on, it was shockingly balanced. And it made sense in my brain. And that's again, all that matters. It's all that matters. Okay, let's move on. When I want to wear something special for an occasion, like perhaps I'm going to do a concert or a party. But I'm feeling overwhelmed and I'm struggling to put together an outfit. I'm like left with, you know, 30 minutes to get ready and I really want to feel different than I usually do.

You know, I really want to feel dressed up for the occasion. I'll build around a statement piece. This is another very common outfit formula, but it's so foolproof and it's so good. Like, I'll give you some examples. Okay, if it's wintertime, I'll start with a trench coat, some sort of extravagant trench coat. A good example in my closet would be I have this vintage, minty green, bright, mod

trench coat. It's so wonderful. It's so beautiful and I love it. Another example would be I have this Jean-Paul Gautier, like, black leather trench coat that has red stitching and like copper buttons and it's super gothic and fun. That's another great example. I could start with those trench coats and build something really simple around. it and because the trench coat is such a statement, it's so bright, it's so loud, it's so

exciting, that's the outfit, that's the end of it, you know, it's that easy. And the outfit around it can be shockingly simple. Like with a trench coat, literally any sort of like tight, structured pant that'll like poke out the bottom really nicely, a boot and like what, a turtleneck? Who cares? A pair of cute little glasses? Who cares? Easy. It doesn't even matter. With a trench coat, anything becomes elevated. Another example could be perhaps a voluminous skirt. Like, I have a few voluminous skirts in my collection that are kind of dramatic. Like, they might not have a bold pattern or anything, but they are sort of statement pieces in their silhouette because they're very voluminous, you know, like they have sort of, I don't know, they just have a dramatic

shape to them. To me, that can be a statement piece as well. Statement pieces don't always need. to be the most obvious, bright maximalist pieces. They can also be things that have sort of a dramatic shape that maybe isn't as casual as other things in the closet. Whatever. So, okay, another example could be a voluminous skirt, you know, that has pleats and it has, you know, lots of fabric. And so it's just sort of flowing and it's very extravagant paired with like a simple tank top and a simple flat shoe. Suddenly, you know, an outfit that could be. simple. If the skirt was just simple, it would be just a simple basic outfit, but because there's this voluminous, exciting sort of skirt, now it feels brand new. Another example could be taking an amazing

pair of pants. Perhaps that's a leather pair of pants or like a bright colored pair of pants that fits really well, perhaps has like a lot of little interesting, intricate details with like a simple t-shirt and like a boot, boom. Statement piece of the pants, the rest can just be simple and chill. Or perhaps you could do a really simple top, whatever, really simple top, a really simple bottom, perhaps a pair of jeans, with a really extravagant boot, like a bright patent leather red boot. Boom. Now there's a vibe there. Do you see what I'm saying? Do you see what I'm saying here. Okay, moving on. When I want to wear something casual, but particularly interesting and bright and dynamic, perhaps to go to sit at a coffee shop on the weekends, or to go to a flea market

to shop around, or pretty much any casual activity, assemble your distressed, vintage, antique-looking pieces, and then put them all together. There's something very naturally cohesive about pieces that look vintage. There's a difference between pieces that are vintage but don't look vintage. They look like they could have been, you know, assembled yesterday versus pieces that have a vintage look to them. They look a bit worn out. There's holes. There's distressing. Okay. I'm not talking about the vintage pieces right now that look brand new, that are in perfect shape. I'm talking about vintage pieces that look beat up. They look vintage. Now, this is something that I don't necessarily have a lot of in my closet, but I do definitely like pieces sometimes that

look old, you know, sometimes that's the vibe. And there's something very naturally cohesive about pairing these types of pieces together that look old, they look vintage, they look distressed. There's something about the worn out material, about the colors that are faded. There's something about those types of pieces that always look good altogether. I'll give you an example. Okay, you could put together an outfit with a distressed vintage graphic t-shirt with a big vintage belt and, you know, a nice old pair of Levi's with some worn in boots and some big sunglasses and you have a vibe on your hands.

And it naturally all just works together because it looks like a vintage store threw up on you. But that works. Like, I don't know, there's something about just going full vintage that always works. Another example, you could do like a beat-up sort of like gross stained white tank top. Doesn't need to be gross and stained. But, you know, like a vintagey tank top, right? One that's been worn before, not like a perfect, pristine, crisp white tank top. Maybe one that you've worn enough times that now it's sort of starting to turn like yellow a little bit. Like that, that you get the idea. That with like some vintage board shorts, like a cute, I don't know,

a pair of little red shorts with white details that look super 60s. Maybe the little drawstring is starting to fray. You get the idea with chunky socks, a vintage sneaker, perhaps for you, it's just like a retro style sneaker that you've already worn in, and like a vintage baseball cap, okay? And last but not least, when I'm going to a hyper-specific event, like I'm going on a boat or I'm going bowling or something like that. I dress for the theme. Why not?

If I'm trying to figure out an outfit and I'm like, oh, what do I wear? What do I wear? Why not use the event that I'm attending to help me get dressed, okay? If I'm going on a boat, for example, maybe I'll wear a baby blue button up top with some cream shorts and some boat shoes and some preppy little, cute little sunglasses. Why not? Okay, if I'm going bowling, why not wear an outfit inspired by bowling shoes? bowling shoes have a very cool, like retroy look. Maybe I'll wear some old jeans and a vintage red sweater, you know, because the bowling shoes are always like fun, bright colors, like blue and red and whatever, and with white stripes, and it's always very fun. So perhaps pop of color for the sweater, like just lean into the fun, bright colors of bowling shoes.

Another example of this that I know a lot of people do, I don't do this, but a lot of people do it, is get dressed up for the theme of a concert, like dress up like the artist that you're going to see. Why not? That's fun. I feel like that can help immensely with trying to figure out the vibe for certain events. As often as I can, I try to dress for the theme. Why not? There is something a little bit like costume-esque about it. It feels like, am I just getting into a costume? But no. No. It's fun to dress for the theme. Like, I'm not going on a boat and not wearing my boat shoes. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I have boat shoes. Why the fuck would I not wear the boat shoes? I'm not too cool to wear my boat shoes on the boat. Yeah, I bought my boat shoes because they're cute and I like the style of them, not because I go on boats a lot. But if I am going to go on a boat, I'm going to wear the fucking boat shoes. If I'm going bowling, I'm not going to wear like a super cute, like flowy blouse with like a black, skirt. You know, I'm going to wear an outfit that matches bowling. That's fun. You know, I'm going to pull together my favorite vintage pieces and put together a cute vintagey outfit that'll match with the vintagey looking bowling shoes. That's the vibe. You know, if I'm going to dinner at like a super chic French restaurant, fuck it, you know, I'm going to dress up like I'm in Paris. I'm going to wear all black. I'm going to wear a cute pair of glasses. I might even put on a beret. Fuck it. Do you see what I'm saying? It's like dressed for the theme. And that's it. Those are all my

outfit formulas. Listen, a lot of them are self-explanatory. A lot of them are obvious. I didn't invent a lot of these. I'm not saying that I did. However, I use them. And they are very helpful for me as somebody who's incredibly type A and needs some sort of plan or formula. or routine or whatever in everything that I do. And maybe that's a bad thing. I'm not sure. Okay, that's it for today. That's all I have to ramble about.

I hope that you all enjoyed this episode. And if you did, new episodes of Anything Goes every Thursday and Sunday. So come tune in and hang out. You can stream anywhere. You get podcasts. But if you want to watch me talk on video, that is on YouTube and Spotify.

Anything Goes is on social media. And anything goes. I'm on the internet at Emma Chamberlain and my coffee company is in the world and on the internet at Chamberlain Coffee. I love you all. I appreciate you all. It is always a joy and a pleasure to hang out with you and spend time with you

and I'm grateful that you spread your precious time with me. And luckily for both of us, we'll be hanging out again very soon. In a few days, we don't have to miss each other that much. Thank God for that. All right. Love you guys. And talk to you later. Bye.