Vogue UK used to regularly run articles about getting out of style ruts. These are or were pretty formulaic: take one woman (usually someone who already writes for Vogue) who is allegedly stuck in a style rut. Get her to wear anything other than her preferred style of clothes for a month. This is usually achieved by the fashion editor’s picking out a range of fabulous new outfits for her to wear that will allegedly change her life. At the end of the month the test subject invariably writes an article about how she is going to go back to her regular habits but her eyes have been opened and she will be a little bit more adventurous in future. So far, so predictable, which isn’t to say the articles aren’t interesting reads. I have an insatiable interest in how other people choose their clothes.

I guess it’s good to try new things once in a while, but are style ruts really so bad? Maybe we get stuck in them for a reason. There was a period of a couple years when I only ever wore black. These days I wear a lot of bright colours, but I’m always pleasantly surprised when I see pictures of myself in black. For some reason it works on me despite my deathly pallor. I have a friend who has a very classic, pulled together, preppy look and is rarely seen in anything else. When we go shopping I can predict exactly what styles she will pick out. Another colleague always wears dresses in neutral colours but always has some slightly edgy detail like an exposed zip or darts sewn on the right side. They both look great and make it look easy. Admittedly there’s more to it than style consistency – remembering to put your lipstick on clearly helps too.

So hooray for the style rut. Maybe we could call it a style groove instead – being in a groove sounds better than being stuck in a rut! I am going to embrace my groove and buy more black fabric. Anyone else have a style groove that they love? Colours, shapes, fabrics?