Breaking a few style rules can bring a spark of life to an outfit | Jess CartnerMorley

New Year's resolutions are good business. Sobriety. Budgeting. This time of year is all about batch cooking healthy root vegetable dishes and rinsing plates before putting them in the dishwasher, then flossing before bed. She's hardworking and well-mannered, but not, you'll be pleased to hear, fashionable. It's the perfect time to break a few rules.

I actually believe that breaking a so-called style rule every day is the key to looking modern. I don't mean scruffy. I mean include one thing in your look that brings an element of surprise. We follow rules without even realizing it: what colors go together, what suits your age, what hemline is expected at the office, what earrings are a little fancy for the supermarket.

Deliberately disregarding a single law when getting dressed is a visual nod, a sideways glance at the camera that functions as a friendly email signature. It brings a spark of life and humanity to the figure you cut as you walk down the street and encourages us all.

This is especially important at this time of year. year, when the practices of keeping warm tend to trivialize our outfits. Summer is naturally a little more chic - sunglasses in your hair, flimsy dresses, brightly painted nails in the sandals - but January is a sea of ​​black puffer jackets and chunky, blocky boots or sneakers and jeans endless dark, all with the exact same phone bulge in the right back pocket.

A tiny conscious effort can make a big difference. Take socks. Sensible pants with a sturdy brogue or sneaker is an attractive and practical winter combination, but it doesn't make your heart sing. An unexpected pair of socks – bright red or sequined wool – will lift everything. The key is to make it look deliberate, not like you didn't know your socks were showing: choose a good quality pair and consider shining your shoes and/or rolling up the hem of your pants an inch. Small thing, huge difference. Unexpected socks are also fun for evening wear. At a Chanel show in Paris last year, the models wore chunky hiking socks with slingback sandals, and it was excellent.

Break the rules Style rules don't mean looking garish. Combining navy with black is traditionally a no-no, but it's actually very chic: a navy sweater under a black suit, or a navy dress with black tights, looks minimalist but not boring . I also feel like navy blue with black is a bit French, although I can't prove it. Gray with camel – a camel knit sweater with gray tailored pants, for example – is chic and professional and a bit Italian.

I'm still amazed at the hold the rule against mixing gold and silver jewelry has on seemingly free-spirited women. (Fun fact: Kate Moss once told me that's the only style rule she sticks to.) But there's no reason not to break it — in fact, because few people do, wearing gold and silver together is an easy way to look maverick without, you know, going all out in a purple hat or brightly colored tights.< /p>

The opportunities to bend the rules can be tailored to your personal tastes. Amplifying those likes is exactly the point you want to make, after all. So if you like to wear stripes, try wearing two stripes together: a striped sweater tied around your shoulders over a striped shirt, for example. If leopard print makes you happy, treat it like a neutral and wear it every day.

Choose a rule - any rule - and break it. the. The choice is yours. And you can change your mind tomorrow. If only all New Year's resolutions were this fun.

Photo Assistant: Bruce Horak. Model: Eliana at Body London. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Bumble & Bumble and Laura Mercier. Dress: Aligned. Socks: whistles. Heels: Dune London