This 10-second fashion trick takes every outfit to the next level

You know those women who are preternaturally stylish? Who concoct outfits that you’d never think of, always look put-together and do so so effortlessly that you can only assume they came out of the womb mixing polka dots with stripes and Zara with Gucci?

Well, we know one of those women, so we had to ask: What’s your secret? Aside from an innate sense of style, she introduced us to the third-piece rule. Here’s the deal.

The idea is that every great ensemble has three main elements. If the basic necessities like your pants and a top qualify as the first and second element, the third element jazzes things up and makes the final look more interesting.

For example, if you’re wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, top it off with a blazer. A statement bag, show-stopping earrings or a belt also add the best kind of something something.

So while we may never be able to wear a dress-over-jeans-ankle boots combination as flawlessly as our sartorially savvy pal, we can rest easy knowing all of our outfits just got a little more fashion-y—with minimal effort.

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