How to Do an Outfit Check Before You Go Out (And Why the Mirror Lies)

From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London, five checks that take ninety seconds, and one famous rule that turns out to have no author.

Most people do an outfit check by standing close to a mirror in good light and looking at the thing they are most worried about. That is not a check; it is reassurance. A mirror at arm's length in a well-lit bedroom tells you almost nothing about how an outfit reads across a room, in daylight, in a photograph, or after three hours of sitting down. The five checks below take about ninety seconds between them and each one catches something the mirror cannot.

The short answer

The rule everyone credits to Chanel, and why she probably never said it

Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory. It is the most repeated piece of dressing advice in the world and it is attributed to Coco Chanel everywhere it appears. It is worth knowing that no one has ever produced a source. There is no interview, no memoir, no contemporaneous magazine piece. Writers who have gone looking, including the novelist Alec Nevala-Lee, conclude that it is most likely apocryphal, one of those pieces of collective wisdom that attach themselves to a famous name. The line about refusal being the essence of style, also routinely credited to her, was in fact Diana Vreeland's. Chanel is a magnet for misattribution.

The most quoted rule in dressing has no author, and the second most quoted rule credited to the same woman belongs to somebody else.

This matters practically as well as pedantically, because the rule as stated is not very good. Removing one accessory at random is a blunt instrument. What the advice is groping towards is a real principle, which is that an outfit should have one focal point rather than three competing ones. That is worth keeping. The instruction to subtract something on the way out of the door is not, because if you have built the outfit around a single deliberate piece, taking something off will as often break it as fix it.

The five checks

1. The two-metre look

Stand at least two metres from a full-length mirror, which is roughly conversational distance and considerably further than most people check from. Close your eyes. Open them. Notice, honestly, where your gaze goes first. That is where everyone else's will go, because it is a property of the outfit rather than of your anxiety. If it lands on the thing you intended, you are finished. If it lands somewhere you would rather it did not, you now know exactly what to change, which is not the same as changing everything.

2. The squint

From the same distance, squint until the detail blurs. This is the single most useful trick in the article and it works on a real principle: squinting removes texture and pattern and leaves only silhouette, value and blocks of colour, which is precisely what a person sees at ten metres or a camera sees at low resolution. Look for three things. Is one side visually heavier than the other. Does the silhouette end where you want it to end. Do the colours read as two or three blocks or as a jumble. Almost every outfit that feels wrong but looks fine up close fails one of those three.

3. The photograph

Take a full-length picture, front and back, and look at it rather than at yourself. The reason this works is psychological rather than optical: in a mirror you focus selectively and rationalise as you go, while a photograph creates enough distance that you see what is actually there instead of what you are checking. Do the back as well. It is the half of the outfit you have never seen and the half that people behind you in a queue, in a church or on a staircase see for the longest.

One caveat, since the camera has its own distortions. Phone lenses are wide and they exaggerate whatever is nearest, so do not draw conclusions from a close-up, and do not stand at an angle. Full length, straight on, normal room light. The photograph is for composition, not for scrutiny.

4. The seated test

You will spend a large part of any event sitting, and almost nobody checks an outfit sitting down. Sit in it, on a hard chair, and look again. Hems ride up by several centimetres. Necklines that behave standing can gape when you lean forward. A jacket that hangs cleanly can pull across the back. And if you are wearing anything on your head, this is the check that matters most, because a brim that clears everything while you are standing will meet a table, a car roof or the person next to you the moment you sit.

5. The wind and stairs test

Open a window, or walk briskly down a flight of stairs, and see what moves. This takes ten seconds and it catches the two things that actually undo outfits in public. Skirts that lift, coats that flap open at the wrong point, and headwear that shifts. On the last of those, a piece fitted with a wire headband and elastic behaves in wind in a way that a comb alone does not, and a British occasion held outdoors will find the difference. Our guides to wearing a fascinator, which side to wear it and measuring your hat size cover the fitting itself.

The three checks specific to headwear

Compressed, because each one takes seconds. First, the shoulder rule: as a general guide a piece should not exceed the width of your shoulders, which is a better test than any of the face-shape rules that circulate. Second, the sightline: in a photograph taken straight on, can the person looking see both your eyes. A brim that shades the face flatters in life and disappears in pictures, so if the day will be photographed, tilt it back. Third, the hug: put the piece on, then embrace someone. That is the movement that dislodges more headwear at more weddings than wind ever does, and it is far better to find that out at home.

Three Merve Bayindir pieces that pass all five

Chosen because each solves one of the failures above rather than merely surviving it. Each is hand-made in our London atelier. Prices include UK VAT.

IVY HEADBAND

£1,000

A white sateen bridal headband crowned with a cluster of custom-made sateen irises, each bloom shaped by hand to catch the layered petals of a real flower and sitting as a sculptural focal point along the band. It passes the two-metre look because there is exactly one focal point and it is at the face. It passes the seated test because there is nothing to collide with a table. For weddings, civil ceremonies and bridal showers.

WHISPERING WINGS HEADBAND

£700

A black velvet band on a tall sculptural form, with an arching cascade of custom-trimmed geometric rooster feathers curving overhead in a single sweep, anchored at the right edge by cut black crystal beads and softened by a veil falling forward across the face. Height rather than width, which is what lets a dramatic piece pass the shoulder rule. Made for black tie, theatrical evenings and memorial services.

BARLESQUE HEADBAND

£800

A black headband built around a single floating ostrich plume rising from a black sateen base, with black crystals set to catch the light as it moves. This is the piece to check in a mirror and a doorway before you commit, because the plume is the whole design and it is deliberately taller than the wearer expects. Once you know it clears, it is the most striking thing on this list. For evening galas and statement nights out.

Ordering, and what to expect

Every piece is made to order in the London atelier, part of a deliberate, low-waste way of working. When the date is close, our ready to ship pieces go out quickly instead. Every order arrives in a custom box, with worldwide DHL Express shipping included.

Frequently asked questions

Did Coco Chanel really say to remove one accessory before leaving the house?

There is no evidence that she did. The line is attributed to her everywhere but no interview, memoir or contemporaneous source has ever been produced. The related line about refusal, also credited to her, was Diana Vreeland's.

Why does an outfit look different in photographs?

Two reasons. A camera flattens texture and detail, so only silhouette, value contrast and colour survive, and phone lenses are wide, which exaggerates whatever is closest. Check composition in a full-length photograph and ignore close-ups entirely.

What is the squint test?

Standing back and squinting until the detail blurs, so that you see the outfit as blocks of shape and colour rather than as garments. It reveals imbalance and colour clashes that are invisible at close range and obvious at a distance.

How do I check a hat before an event?

Three checks. Keep it within the width of your shoulders, make sure both eyes are visible in a straight-on photograph, and put it on and hug someone. The last one dislodges more headwear at weddings than wind does.

Should I take one thing off before I leave?

Only if two things are competing for attention. The useful principle behind the famous rule is one focal point, not subtraction for its own sake. If the outfit is built around a single deliberate piece, removing something is as likely to break it as improve it.

Find your piece

Every piece above is designed and hand-made in our London atelier by Merve Bayindir, a member of the British Fashion Council with selections in the Royal Ascot Style Guide. Browse the full range of hats and fascinators.