Creating a Wardrobe you Love with a Style Uniform

A style uniform can give you wardrobe freedom by reducing decision fatigue and giving you a closet full of clothes you actually want to wear.

When I was growing up, my grandfather wore the same clothes every day. Not the exact same clothes, but I peeked in his closet one time and he had the exact same shirt and pants times ten.

I used to think it was weird. So, so weird. Until I realized that many successful people around the world are doing the exact same thing. Spoiler: even my husband does it.

The concept of a style uniform isn’t completely new, but it is revolutionary, especially for women. We are so used to thinking we need to have the latest fashion, and never to be seen in the same outfit more than once.

But a style uniform based wardrobe offers variety whilst removing the difficult parts of getting dressed and looking great. After working with over 2,700 I have seen how creating a system around your wardrobe can change your whole life.

Read on to discover what a style uniform actually is, and the steps to create your own.

What is a Style Uniform?

A style uniform is a specific outfit that you wear on repeat, like jeans, a black turtleneck, and sneakers a la Steve Jobs.

Unlike his iconic uniform, a style uniform can be loosely interpreted as a personal uniform or signature look. Expanding upon this idea, a wardrobe based on the style uniform concept has several uniform outfit options, built upon multiple colors and prints for variety. 

Why Getting Dressed Feels So Hard (Hint: it’s not your fault)

When you stand in your closet each day and get dressed, what you don’t know is that every piece of clothing is sitting there waiting to sabotage your day. And it was designed that way to keep you buying and throwing money at the billion dollar fashion industry.

The overwhelm comes from multiple sources:

• Fast fashion and rapid cycles – companies produce clothing in as little as 2 weeks, with cheap materials and labor, that is not designed to last. The faster it wears out, the more you spend.
• Influencer culture – highlight reel social media content tells you that you need the next best thing to look gorgeous. But what you don’t know is that her style and your style are not the same. That’s why that amazing shirt makes you feel terrible instead of amazing.
• No system – You probably buy clothes like most women: an impulse purchase here or a needed pair of pants there. But when you buy randomly without a plan, your closet is a hot mess that isn’t functional.
• Aspirational wardrobes – those gorgeous curated capsule wardrobes on Pinterest seem amazing, but in real life that fall apart because they’re mixing multiple silhouettes of clothing, which don’t actually work on most bodies. Not to mention that the color choices of black and beige NEVER work on the same individual thanks to color theory.

A style uniform is the opposite of restrictive. It provides the structure you need to have a truly fabulous wardrobe.

Benefits of a Style Uniform

Having a style uniform makes your life easier in multiple ways.

• Removes the proportion problem. If you’ve ever encountered a specific top not working well with a certain bottom, it’s likely a proportion problem. This can cause outlier garments in your wardrobe because they just don’t play well with everything else. A style uniform is carefully constructed to look good together, so you know that the black shirt goes with the red pants, and the red shirt also works with the red pants. The silhouettes are the same, so the problem of mismatched proportions is gone.
• Reduces decision fatigue. Creatively making outfits on the fly can take a lot of time. It’s common for women to take up to 20 minutes daily to select clothing. This taxes your brain, and reduces the amount of energy you can spend on other things. A style uniform offers a small number of options, all of which have been previously vetted to work for you. 
• Promotes success. There are studies showing that individuals who wear a style uniform are more successful. It is due to the aspect of reducing decision fatigue as mentioned above. They have cleared the mind of useless decision making, and are able to focus on other areas of their life. 
• Reduces spending. You won’t be tempted to buy the random dress that catches your eye if you know it’s not part of your uniform based wardrobe. When you see something lovely, you have parameters for deciding whether it works in your existing clothing lineup. Eliminating impulse buys saves you money, but curating your closet also causes you to decide what’s really worth purchasing.
• Gives you true style and confidence. Gone are the days of copying outfits you saw on Pinterest, or following the recommendation of influencers and style bloggers or trends. You get to decide what clothes are suitable for your lifestyle, and choose based on how they make you look and feel. You get dressed each day with excitement, because you really do love your clothes and know they make you look your authentic best.

Style Uniform vs Capsule Wardrobe

I like to think that a style uniform is really a type of capsule wardrobe, but the more common description would be a modular wardrobe. Capsule wardrobes are intended to serve your whole life, but the varied styles don’t actually work in real life.

A modular wardrobe (Youniform™) uses small micro capsule style sets to design for the parts of your life that are important to you. You design one great outfit for work or date nights, then you create a very small set of repeatable formulas.

But we can use the concept of capsules to illustrate the style uniform in real life. Consider a use case capsule like a travel capsule. Much smaller than the traditional example, and designed to serve one specific need: travel. The suitcase imposes automatic limits for that unique trip.

Capsules are random, encompassing, unstructured, open-ended.

Style uniforms are curated, specific, systemized, and defined by your life.

Over time, I refined this concept into what I now call the Youniform™ Framework — a modular approach to dressing that allows women to build repeatable outfit formulas around the real demands of their lives.

Should I wear the same thing every day?

No. And Yes.

It’s common to hear the word “uniform” and think we’re going to be bored wearing the same shirt and jeans every day. While you can do that if you want, and it certainly works for reducing decision fatigue, you don’t have to.

We are women. We typically like pretty things and variety (hello rearranging the furniture twice a year!). 

A style uniform is more like an outfit skeleton. To add variety you are changing up colors and creating more than one single uniform for your lifestyle. 

If you’re a teacher you might decide to wear the same uniform for work each day, have a different uniform for church, and another for Saturday family time. 

But even still, if you did wear the thing every day, why does it matter?

If you think everyone will notice, you’re mistaken. Experiments have shown that a woman can wear the same thing day after day (100 days even!)  and very few people will actually notice. We focus more on the feelings we get around other people, rather than what they are wearing. I dare you to remember what your best friend was wearing the last time you saw each other. 

How to Create a Style Uniform

What you’re about to read is the streamlined version of the Youniform™ Framework. Inside the book, I walk you through the full system for designing a wardrobe that supports your life with clarity and ease.

This process has been tested with hundreds of clients to help you reduce your morning decision making fatigue, feel confident and beautiful in your clothes, and have a closet filled with items you love to wear.

Step 1: Choose your Focus

Inside the Youniform™ Framework, every wardrobe is built around seven repeatable outfit structures designed to support the real rhythms of your life.

The first time you build a style uniform, there’s a lot to uncover. The best thing you can do is choose one area of your life to focus. I used to recommend a lifestyle audit, but I found this too open ended for my clients. Which is why I developed the 7 Foolproof Outfits, so you can choose one part of your life and build intentionally.

These seven outfit types cover work/professional, casual at home, community casual, going out, loungewear, hobbies/activity, and dresses. You can learn more about each type here.

Step 2: Create a Color Palette

The first step to create a style uniform is to create a color palette. Since you’re limiting your wardrobe, you don’t want to be tempted by an odd colored item that doesn’t fit with the rest of your clothes. 

You can do a small palette with 3 neutrals and 2 colors, or go much larger with 8 neutrals and 7 colors. It’s up to you and what makes you happy.

You can choose your favorite colors, but for the most impact, choose colors from your seasonal color family. These are the colors that are the most flattering based on your natural skin, hair, and eyes. Since these are features you are born with, colors based on this won’t change. So it’s a one and done process! 

Ready to get started? Create your palette here, or discover your best colors here.

Step 3: Consider your Personal Style

This goes back into step 2 just a little bit, but don’t build a uniform based on slacks if you don’t like them. Your uniforms should reflect your personal style, body type, and style archetype. 

Start by creating a mood board to give you ideas about what you find beautiful. Look for common themes to create style goals. 

Want more help? Join the Radiant Style Squad for more in depth guidance to find your style.

Step 4: Build your Uniform Base Layers

At this point you have a specific uniform focus, a color palette, and an understanding of your personal style.

The next step is to build the base portion of your uniform. By this, I mean the 1-2 pieces that you wear on top/bottom, or a dress/jumpsuit. For each of your activities, choose a silhouette for your base layer. 

You want to consider silhouette when choosing these pieces, and find ones that make you feel good and flatter you.

Here you can see four different ideas for what a base layer could be, from a single dress, to a simple tank and shorts, or tee and jeans, even a tunic sweater and velvet leggings (yum!).

Step 5: Choose Layers for each Uniform

You now have a basic silhouette for each of your uniform needs. Now it’s time to add a third piece/layer/completer piece. 

Why are we doing this?

Because this is the element that makes an outfit go from bland to brilliant.

Layers make an outfit look finished. For each uniform you’ve created, you’re going to choose a layer that is authentic, functions with your lifestyle, and fits the silhouette of the outfit.

Using our previous base layers above, here are some ideas for adding a layer. You can choose jackets, vests, kimonos, cardigans, or even a scarf can be a completer piece.

Step 6: Shop for your Uniforms

Now that you know what you’re going to wear, you’re going to duplicate the uniforms. Using information from your lifestyle audit, consider how often you need a specific uniform within a 1-2 week time frame (depending on your laundry schedule).

For most uniforms I recommend using the 4-Piece Wardrobe to design your Youniform module: 2 colors and 2 neutrals of each piece to create a full 12 piece uniform.

So, using our 3rd uniform option of a long sleeve crew neck tee, straight leg jeans, and a button up top, you might look for 4 tees, 4 jeans, and 4 shirts.

To make it all mixable, stick to your color palette, and make sure at least 2 of each item features neutral colors. Building on our example, your entire uniform module might look like this.

Based on the numbers here you can create 64 unique iterations of your uniform, without repeating. Here are 8 options just to get started.

Step 7: Use Shoes and Accessories to add variety.

When choosing shoes and accessories it’s important to consider lifestyle, personal style, and silhouette. Boots, for example, pair specifically with some pants better than others. These style trends can be cyclical, so focus on what works best for YOU, rather than what’s in fashion.

If we add 2 pair of shoes, a vest and scarf, and a few pieces of jewelry, we’ve greatly expanded what we can do with our basic style uniform.

Wow, look how stunning our single style uniform looks now!!!

The really exciting thing I’m not going to cover in depth, is that you actually have 2 style uniforms here. You could in theory buy another vest or two and wear them without the button up shirt, and you would have 2 style uniforms built upon the same base layer. This is why style uniforms are such a ground breaking concept!

The second great thing about these accessories is that you can use them across your entire wardrobe in your other style uniforms!

Bonus: Create and Modify your Uniforms as your Life Changes

You’ve done the work. You’ve put in the time to discover your best colors, you’ve honed in your personal style, you know your body and style archetype.

Those are hard parts of nailing your style and creating a wardrobe.

You can use these concepts and steps every time you need a uniform, your body changes, or you just want something different. They work again and again, and your wardrobe stays easy.

Final Thoughts on Creating a Style Uniform

A closet based on the style uniform concept is the ultimate in wardrobe freedom. When you move past societal expectations to discover what you really love, then wear it on repeat, you free yourself up to grow. You can present yourself authentically each day, and get down to the more important business of living out your calling in life. 

The Youniform™ Framework is Stacey Herndon’s proprietary approach to building modular wardrobes through repeatable outfit formulas.

Related Style Articles:

• 9 French Fashion Tips
• I’m Not Trendy and That’s Ok
• Find Your Personal Style in the Past

A style uniform is not about owning fewer clothes. It is about building repeatable outfits that eliminate decision fatigue and support the life you are actually living.