Find out if you have a cool or warm undertone. This will help a lot with picking colors that suit you. I like this tutorial. She also has a whole playlist about colors. Some are less useful than others, but some can help you determine on your color palette once you've determined your undertone. A lot of her other fashion advice is for women's fashion, but colors are universal.
Take some time and just try stuff on. Go to a big department store with a wide selection. This doesn't have to be a place that you would actually make a purchase from. You're not there to buy, you're there to determine what silhouettes look good on you. Not sure what style of _______ suits you? Pick a color from your palette that you like. Now go find a bunch of different styles of that clothing item in that color and go try them on. It's key that you stick to the same color so you're focusing on the fit, not not color. Pay attention to things like where the shoulder seam sits, where on your hips you like a jacket or sweater to hit you, what fit of denim makes you feel good, etc. Pay attention to how proportions make you look. For example, I wear normal sizes in shirts, but petite in pants. If I don't want my legs to look stubby, it helps to not "cut them off" visually by wearing shirts that hang down too low. Another Short Person trick is to wear the same color shoes and pants, so the eye kind of blends them all together to a longer silhouette. But different things work on different bodies, and the only real way to find out what works for you is to just try them on. This does take time, but at least for me, it was time well spent. When I'm shopping now, I can often look at something and know that if I put it on, I am not going to feel like I'm looking my best, so it's easy to give it a pass and not waste my time. High necked and sleeveless? Hard pass. Lighter color on the bottom than on the top? Never ever. Khaki pants do not exist in my wardrobe. You get the picture.
Don't talk yourself into clothes. Nine times out of ten, they'll just sit in your closet because when you're getting dressed, you're going to gravitate to things that you don't have to persuade yourself to like. If you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it. Leave it on the rack and try again some other time.
If you're trying to keep things simple, a capsule wardrobe might be good for you. Even if you find the capsule concept too restrictive (like me!), you might find their tips helpful, like on making sure that the elements of your wardrobe work together in various permutations, stuff like that. Just search "capsule wardrobe" and you'll have tons of options.
Remember that ultimately, it's about feeling good in your own skin and feeling good about how you're presenting yourself to others. If the rules say that a certain color is bad for your undertone or a certain cut doesn't suit your body type but you feel :gigachad: when you wear it, then wear it! It all comes down to how your clothes make you feel.
Some practical fashion advice:
Find out if you have a cool or warm undertone. This will help a lot with picking colors that suit you. I like this tutorial. She also has a whole playlist about colors. Some are less useful than others, but some can help you determine on your color palette once you've determined your undertone. A lot of her other fashion advice is for women's fashion, but colors are universal.
Take some time and just try stuff on. Go to a big department store with a wide selection. This doesn't have to be a place that you would actually make a purchase from. You're not there to buy, you're there to determine what silhouettes look good on you. Not sure what style of _______ suits you? Pick a color from your palette that you like. Now go find a bunch of different styles of that clothing item in that color and go try them on. It's key that you stick to the same color so you're focusing on the fit, not not color. Pay attention to things like where the shoulder seam sits, where on your hips you like a jacket or sweater to hit you, what fit of denim makes you feel good, etc. Pay attention to how proportions make you look. For example, I wear normal sizes in shirts, but petite in pants. If I don't want my legs to look stubby, it helps to not "cut them off" visually by wearing shirts that hang down too low. Another Short Person trick is to wear the same color shoes and pants, so the eye kind of blends them all together to a longer silhouette. But different things work on different bodies, and the only real way to find out what works for you is to just try them on. This does take time, but at least for me, it was time well spent. When I'm shopping now, I can often look at something and know that if I put it on, I am not going to feel like I'm looking my best, so it's easy to give it a pass and not waste my time. High necked and sleeveless? Hard pass. Lighter color on the bottom than on the top? Never ever. Khaki pants do not exist in my wardrobe. You get the picture.
Don't talk yourself into clothes. Nine times out of ten, they'll just sit in your closet because when you're getting dressed, you're going to gravitate to things that you don't have to persuade yourself to like. If you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it. Leave it on the rack and try again some other time.
If you're trying to keep things simple, a capsule wardrobe might be good for you. Even if you find the capsule concept too restrictive (like me!), you might find their tips helpful, like on making sure that the elements of your wardrobe work together in various permutations, stuff like that. Just search "capsule wardrobe" and you'll have tons of options.
Remember that ultimately, it's about feeling good in your own skin and feeling good about how you're presenting yourself to others. If the rules say that a certain color is bad for your undertone or a certain cut doesn't suit your body type but you feel :gigachad: when you wear it, then wear it! It all comes down to how your clothes make you feel.
:order-of-lenin: