The Five Piece Rule

Created on the ASOS website

At my job, I'm always learning new stuff.  Like today, for example, I'm learning that I need more practice standing on my feet for a solid four hours without the dogs getting tired.

But I also learned about what is called "the five piece rule" while I was waiting for my shift to start.

So what is the five piece rule, you may ask?  Well, it's the basic style rule that in order for an outfit to be "complete" it has to have five pieces to it.

1) Top
2) Bottom
3) Third piece/overpiece
4) Shoes
5) Accessories

In the example on the left, I used the following five pieces: a cami (Top), a skirt (Bottom), A third piece (Blazer), Shoes, and an accessory (Scarf).  Probably the only way to break this rule is when you use a dress, but overall, a put together outfit has five pieces to it.

A note on a couple of the pieces:

Third piece/overpiece -- this can be a scarf, blazer, belt, jacket, etc. -- anything that goes over the clothes.

Accessory -- with the exception of blazers and jackets, certain overpiece items can also double as accessories.

So have fun when putting your outfits together.