The secret to looking effortlessly stylish? A little work and a few simple rules

‘Drape your knitwear without making a big deal of it.’ Photograph: David Newby/The Guardian

To be thought effortlessly stylish is the very best of compliments. A designer wardrobe can be bought; the bone-deep chic that enables you to sling a sweater over your white T-shirt just-so and look fabulous can not.

Effortlessness is the most prized of attributes, because it implies that style runs through your veins, rather than something you paid through the nose for on Bond Street. An effortlessly stylish aura looks like the outward manifestation of some inner fabulousness. And it is so much better to be thought effortlessly chic than cutting-edge fashionable.