What works for me in an everyday sense:
- Wear only one pattern at a time - e.g., if you love animal print, pick just one item with it on (bag, shoes, jacket) and make sure everything else is a single colour from that - if you're not sure, go with black.
- Keep jewellery to a minimum - earrings or necklace, not both (keep that for formal wear). Don't wear multiple rings (especially not stacked up all on the same finger) and lots of jingly bracelets. Simplicity is key.
- Iron and/or steam everything (with the exception of underwear). Sometimes the iron won't shift stubborn creases from linen or stiff cotton, so I'll finish off with a good steam. I bought my steamer from Kmart NZ for $60-odd and it's the best thing ever. You can pick them up on secondhand marketplaces cheaply as a lot of people buy them, intending to use them, but they end up in the back of a cupboard. You don't need to spend a lot of money on an iron, but something with steam and self-cleaning functions is advisable.
- Makeup: make a feature of eyes or lips, not both.
- If you wear a really short skirt, wear a high neck top. If you wear a low cut top, wear something long on the bottom.
- Invest in a session with a stylist to learn what 'your colours' are and what fits look good on you (a real-life Trinny and Susannah-type person). You don't have to spend a lot of money to look great; in fact, a lot of people spend far too much money on things that look terrible on them because they don't suit the colour or fit, or succumb to what's trendy.
- Buy a few scarves - they can transform an outfit very simply (look up ways to tie them on YouTube).
- Look to someone who you think always looks great and emulate what they do.