Jennifer Mackey-Mary: This is a football. No, you haven’t hit play on the wrong podcast, and I didn’t lose my mind over the summer. This is a football is how legendary coach Vince Lombardi opened training camp for the Green Pay Packers in 1961. It was all about starting from the beginning and teaching his players the fundamentals they needed to know in order to become the best. And that’s what this season of The Everyday Style School is all about, so grab your football, and let's get started!

Hello gorgeous, welcome back to the Everyday Style School, the show that teaches you everything your mom never did about getting dressed.  I'm your host, Jennifer Mackey Mary. After 25 years of dressing women with real bodies, budgets, and lives, I know great style isn't about following one-size-fits-all advice - it's about learning what works for you.
 
 And speaking of learning, you’ve probably noticed the Style School feels a little different. We’re switching things up a bit, and moving to a “school year” format, with new episodes dropping every other Tuesday from September through May—and taking breaks over the holidays and summer. Instead of random topics each week, each semester we’re going to focus on one big theme.

I’m changing it up because I want each season and each episode to feel more intentional, so that it’s easier to learn and apply what you hear, without getting overwhelmed or distracted by too many ideas. And I don’t know about you, but I’m drowning in content. I don’t have time to listen to all the podcasts and audiobooks I’d like to–and I feel like everyone I talk to can relate. So instead of contributing to the noise or overwhelm, I’d rather give you fewer, more focused episodes. 

Besides, this new format gives me more time to support our Style Circle members and to create additional style classes. I have so many ideas of things I’d like to do, I just need to find the time, and this will help me do that.

So let’s get into our fall semester, shall we?

This season is all about getting Back to Basics.

We’re diving into some core skills and style fundamentals that every woman needs to know if she wants to get dressed easily, stop wasting money buying the wrong clothes, and finally start loving the way she looks. 

I felt like this was the right place to start with our new format–its a good opportunity to start off on the right foot, and move forward together, and I know there are women listening thinking, yes–that’s exactly what I need, I don’t know where to start. If that’s you, I’m thrilled. But I also know there are probably some of you thinking–I’ve been listening to you for 6 years, I’m way beyond the basics, I don’t need this. 

And you know what? Maybe you’re right. If that’s the case I hope you stick around this season just because you like the show, and I might say something completely off the wall–it’s been known to happen.

But I want to challenge you on something–if you’ve been listening to this show for a long time, but you’re still buying clothes you hardly ever wear, or you’re still searching the internet to find out if a pear can wear a peplum, you might not be as beyond the basics as you’d like to think. 

Sometimes we hear something once or twice, and we go, “yep, got it.” What’s next? And we start layering on idea after idea, and tip after tip, hack after hack…but without a solid foundation, none of it helps, and in fact, it just confuses us more. 

James Clear, who is the author of one of my favorite books, Atomic Habits, had this to say:

Mastery in nearly any endeavor is the result of deeply understanding simple ideas. For most of us, the answer to becoming better leaders, better parents, better lovers, better friends, and better people is consistently practicing the fundamentals, not brilliantly understanding additional details.

I think a lot of us skip the fundamentals and think that the answer lies in the additional details..the extras.
 
It reminds me of a conversation I had a couple of years ago when I was trying to meet some women business owners in my area. I was sitting next to a woman who was lamenting the state of her business and income one minute, and sharing all of her social media tricks the next. I’m talking, you have to post on instagram at weird times, like 7:37 instead of 7:30, so the feed isn’t as flooded, and your content will get seen. And then back to “my husband says if I don’t find more clients soon, I have to get a real job”. Somewhere in our conversation, just being nosy, I said “what’s your website”, to which she replied “Oh, I haven’t set one up yet. I need to do that”. Girl, timing your instagram post perfectly is not what’s going to make or break you. Not having a real, professional website might, though. That’s brilliantly understanding the details without practicing the fundamentals.

But this is a show about style, so let me give you a style example. Years ago, I was shopping with a client who was obsessed with finding the right shade of white for her season. Not bright white, not ivory. I was literally working with Goldilocks. She wouldn’t buy anything that wasn’t perfectly in her color palette, so we were struggling. Meanwhile, none of her clothes fit. None. Everything was too big. She was a petite, but none of her clothes were. I was like, listen Amy, the reason you don’t look put together isn’t the white tee that’s just a smidge too white. It’s the fact that you look like you’re playing dress up in your mom’s clothes. Fundamentals first.

Often, we approach fundamentals like they’re a box we have to check before we get to the good stuff, when the reality its, more often than not the fundamentals ARE the good stuff. They’re not sexy. They’re not fun, they don’t make you feel like you’re a style pro…but they’re the things that actually make you a style pro. Master the fundamentals, you don’t need a whole lot else. Skip the fundamentals, and the rest of it doesn’t really matter.

So even if you feel like you’re ready for Style 201 or 301, or heck, a graduate level class, I want you to stick with me this semester in Style 101. Listen with fresh ears, for things you might have missed, and keep in mind that revisiting the basics with more knowledge and experience can supercharge your skills.

Earlier this year, I recorded an episode about the style lessons I learned from baking sourdough bread. Its actually one of my most listened to episodes of all time, which is funny because I literally outlined that episode on a whim on my phone in a bar while waiting for my family to come meet me–ironically I was eavesdropping on the group behind me who was talking about how much they hated podcasts and found podcasters insufferable. But anyway, I think about that episode a lot, and in my mind add to it all the time–and here’s another lesson. In my beginner sourdough class, I learned about hydration percentages, which is the ratio of water to flour, expressed as a percentage. For example, if you had 500 grams of flour, and 250 grams of water, your hydration is 50%. This was a fundamental I just checked the box on. I learned it, and moved on following my recipes. Now with almost a year of baking bread 2-3 times a week under my belt, I’ve recently started to USE my knowledge to get different results. Want more of those nice big sourdough holes? Increase the hydration percentage. Best bread for my gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches? Lower hydration. 

It's the difference between knowing your body shape, so you can find clothes that are best for you, and knowing your body so you can wear things that aren’t best for you in a way that still works. It’s using the knowledge to manipulate results, which you can only do when you truly, deeply understand something.

Long story short, no matter where you are in your style journey–whether you’re just starting, or you’re a seasoned pro, there’s so much value in going back to basics. Remember, Vince Lombardi wasn’t coaching 6 year olds who had never held a football before. These were fully grown adults with NFL contracts. Nobody should be above the fundamentals.

With that said, let’s talk about six style fundamentals every woman needs to master. This is the loose framework for the season, so I’m not going to go in depth on these right now. Consider this a little sneak peek. You ready? 

#1 is that if you want fabulous style, you need to speak the language. Good style requires a strong style vocabulary. Recently, one of our Style Circle members asked me how I find good results on Pinterest and my Google searches, and the truth is it’s part trial and error, and part knowing the words to look for. If you don’t have the words to describe what you like, it’s gonna be hard to find it, or to know why something doesn’t work. Building a strong style vocabulary makes shopping easier, helps you define your personal style, and allows you to be more confident in your choices.

#2 is fit..and before you say “oh lord, not that again” Yes, that again, because if you don’t have fit, you don’t have style–thank you to stacy and clinton for that nugget of wisdom. Too many women are worried about finding the right handbag for their body type while walking around in ill fitting clothes, and if that’s you, you’re focused on the wrong thing. That’s the extra details. Fit is literally the most fundamental of the fundamentals, and we can’t do a season about fundamentals without talking about it.

#3 is proportion. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m actually not that great of a stylist. And what I mean by that is that I don’t have  superior fashion vision like a Jenna Lyons or a Rachel Zoe or an Anna Wintour, or any of those fashion celebrities.I’m not the “I would never have thought to put those together” kind of stylist. But what I AM good at is proportion, and proportion is the secret to how clothes look on your body, and how they look together in an outfit, so if I had to pick one fashiony skill to have, I’d pick proportion over vision any day of the week. Proportion is all about understanding how parts of an outfit, or your body work together as a whole, and Its usually the first reason you don’t like the way an outfit looks, so we’re going to talk about it. 

The fourth style fundamental you need to know is some basic color theory. In style, understanding color works in two ways–first, finding clothes that look best on you, and second, putting colors together in an outfit so you can bust out of that jeans or black pants and a colorful top rut. A lot of women feel there are colors they can’t wear, or are intimidated by using color and part of that is just not understanding color, so this season, we’re going to get started. 

#5, an oldie but a goodie, and that is understanding your body. Look, this is a topic we’ve covered a lot on this show, but it’s kind of at the root of most of the style problems I encounter–like women not knowing how to find clothes that fit and flatter, or feeling self conscious about an area of their body. For me, when it comes to body shape and style, it’s never been about wear this not that. It’s about making peace with my body, understanding that my frame is just my frame. I don’t have broad shoulders because I like chips and queso or because I hate running. Its just the way I’m built. No matter what I do, my shoulders are broad. And when certain clothes don’t work for me, it’s not me, it’s the clothes, and because I understand that, I also know there are clothes that do work for me. And that’s something I think every woman deserves to know. One challenge I see is that women are still stuck on finding the right label, like that’s the magical key to unlocking fabulous style, and it isn’t. The label doesn’t matter. Having a deeper understanding of your real, actual, unique to you, right now body does–so we’re going to dive into that deeper this season. 

Finally, #6 is your personal preferences and your personal bests. We’ve talked a lot on this show about finding your Signature Style, but that’s just part of it. One of the best ways to save money on your wardrobe is to buy things you’re actually going to wear. Imagine how much you’d save if you hadn’t purchased all the things in your closet that were worn just a couple of times. And think about the pieces you would have invested more in if you’d known they were going to be wardrobe go-tos? But how do you know if you’re going to wear something? Well, that comes down to a deep understanding of what you like, and what’s best on you. This season we’re going to talk about a few personal bests every woman should know, and how to use your understanding of your personal preferences to expand your style, rather than falling into a style rut. 

That’s just a look at some of the things we’re going to be talking about this semester. My hope is, if you listen to all the episodes, and apply what you’ve learned, you’ll have a better style foundation, and everything you learn after that will be even more impactful.

Before we wrap up the semester and go on our winter holiday break, we’re going to end with an episode answering YOUR style questions, so if you have something you’ve always wanted to know, especially if it’s a question about style fundamentals, you can head to the shownotes for this episode and send it in–I’ll do my best to answer as many as I can.  Submit a Style Question at  https://forms.gle/aQPb4Dxr3HPRBuHC8

We might have a guest during the semester as well, and they might be talking about the season’s theme, or maybe we’ll be talking about something totally different. We’ll see–but those are just a few things you can look forward to in the months and weeks ahead. 

Your homework for this episode, because we’re bringing back homework to our school year is to think about where you fall in these 6 fundamentals? Which ones have you mastered, and which ones do you need to pay particular attention to? Giving these topics a little bit of pre-thought will help you absorb the information even better.

Before we wrap up, if you’re not on our email list, I highly recommend signing up–it’s the best way to know about events like the Fall Trend Preview Party we just did–I know you don’t want to miss out. You can join through the link in the shownotes. Never Miss an Update https://everyday-style.kit.com/thread

And finally, if you’ve been listening to this entire episode, just dying to know if Vince Lombardi's back-to-fundamentals approach worked in 1961, I won’t leave you hanging. The Packers went 11 and three that year, and the season ended with a 37-0 victory in the NFL championship game, which is what we call the Super Bowl now…so yeah, I’d say it was pretty successful. That’s what building on fundamentals can do for you. 

That’s it for this episode of the Everyday Style School. Thanks for spending time with me today. If you’re ready to make style easier and more fun, come join me in the Style Circle. It’s where you’ll get all of our classes, capsule guides and style tools, plus the support to actually use them. Become a member today at https://youreverydaystyle.com/ 

I’ll see you next time–and until then, stay stylish!