Every morning when I wake up, I am eager to pick out an outfit to wear.
I love playing around in my closet, examining all the clothes that hang there, the ones that are folded, and even the ones I have completely forgotten about. I pull things out, try them on, change my mind, put something back, and inevitably find a piece I haven’t worn in months that suddenly feels exactly right.
The best part of all of this is that I get to decide who I want to be that day.
I’m not saying that I change my entire personality every morning and become a completely different person. I am always Jaycee Dubuc, with a chic bob, a pair of glasses resting on my face, and simple makeup. But sometimes I wake up wanting a little bit of country twang. Maybe I’m feeling a little rock and roll. Or, even better, maybe I want to feel free and whimsical.
Pulling clothes that embody that feeling and styling them into an outfit is one of my favourite kinds of satisfaction.
I was reading a book the other day and came across a quote that felt just right. A girl was talking about the idea that you need to “make your outside match your inside.”
That is exactly how I feel about getting dressed.
For me, clothes have never just been clothes. They are an extension of how I feel, where I’m going, what I’m doing, and sometimes even who I want to become that day.
When Nothing Feels Right
When I was younger, I used to get into the biggest fights with my mom in the mornings before school. I would end up in tears, insisting that I had absolutely nothing to wear.
She would look at my completely full closet and, understandably, not understand my logic.
“How do you have nothing to wear?”
Looking back, I think what I was trying to explain all those years ago—without having the words for it—was that nothing felt right.
The vision in my head and the feeling in my body didn’t match the clothing hanging in my closet.
I could have ten shirts, but none of them felt like that shirt. I could have a closet full of clothes, but somehow nothing expressed the version of myself I wanted to show that day.
Eventually, that feeling became a huge part of why I fell in love with design and sewing.
I learned how to take those feelings and turn them into something tangible. I could imagine a silhouette, a colour combination, a print, or a certain detail and actually create it. Instead of searching endlessly for the thing I had pictured in my head, I could make it.
And I think that is where my love for fashion really began.
Fashion Is Personal
My pieces are not going to be loved by everyone. And honestly, I don’t think they should be.
Your style is personal. It changes and evolves with you. What you love at 22 might not be what you love at 25, and what you wear when you’re feeling confident might be completely different from what you reach for when you want to feel comfortable and understated.
I think that is the beauty and the art of fashion.
It is unique to you, but it can still be shared and appreciated by someone else who has those same internal feelings.
Fashion doesn’t have to be about following every trend or figuring out what you’re supposed to be wearing. I think personal style is much more interesting when you stop asking yourself, “Does everyone else like this?” and start asking, “Do I like how I feel in this?”
There is a certain confidence that comes from putting something on and knowing it feels like you.
Not because it is necessarily the most fashionable thing in the room, but because when you look in the mirror, your outside finally matches your inside.
The Art of Styling
My Spring/Summer collection that I released with Dubuc was the first curation of clothing for my brand.
I wanted the collection to feel a little business-like, but with feminine details woven throughout. I wanted the pieces to work together as a capsule collection while still having enough personality to stand completely on their own.
One of my favourite parts of creating a collection is watching how the individual pieces can transform depending on how you style them.
Take either of the Mercer Mini Skirts, for example.
I could pair one with a graphic tee, high-top Converse, and a leather jacket for a rock-and-roll-inspired look. Add a pair of cowboy boots, a crisp white button-up, and a cute felt hat, and suddenly the exact same skirt has an entirely different personality.
The skirt didn’t change.
I did.
Or maybe the version of me that I wanted to bring forward that day changed.
That is what makes getting dressed so much fun.
The clothes become the starting point, and the rest is up to you. Add a hat, change your shoes, throw on a jacket, or keep everything incredibly simple. Sometimes the smallest detail can completely change the feeling of an outfit.
There are no rules saying that one piece can only be worn one way.
In fact, I think the best pieces are the ones that keep giving you new ideas.
Dressing for Where You Are
Another part of the art of getting dressed is your environment.
You are going to dress differently depending on your plans and where you are headed. That is one of the things I love most about clothing—you can blend your environment into your outfit and completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere of wherever you are.
There is something so satisfying about dressing for the occasion.
A summer dinner on a patio feels different from a rainy afternoon wandering through a museum. A weekend away calls for something different than getting dressed for work. A concert, a coffee date, a wedding, a night out with friends—each one has its own energy.
And your outfit can become part of that experience.
Sometimes I want to blend in with my surroundings. Sometimes I want to stand out. Sometimes I want to feel polished and put together, and sometimes I want to throw on something unexpected and let it carry the personality of the day.
I think that is where fashion becomes more than just getting dressed.
It becomes a form of participation.
You’re not just attending the dinner. You’re dressing for the dinner.
You’re not just going on the trip. You’re creating the wardrobe that becomes part of the memories.
You’re not just going through your day. You’re deciding how you want to experience it.
There Are No Rules
Of course, putting pieces together and styling an outfit is not for everyone.
And that’s okay.
Maybe your perfect outfit is jeans, a white T-shirt, and the same pair of shoes you’ve worn for the last five years. Maybe you love colour and prints and changing your outfit three times before leaving the house. Maybe you live somewhere in between.
There is no right way to have personal style.
If you have never really thought about getting dressed this way before, I would encourage you to just start playing.
Open your closet and pull out something you love. Then find something you would never normally pair with it. Try it on. Add a shoe you haven’t worn in months. Put on a hat. Throw a jacket over it.
You might hate it.
Or you might accidentally discover your new favourite outfit.
Keep it simple or be extravagant. Wear the same colour from head to toe or mix prints that probably shouldn’t work together. Follow the rules or completely ignore them.
The goal isn’t to become someone who is obsessed with fashion.
The goal is to find what makes you feel like yourself.
Buying Less, Wearing More
Over the years, more and more people have been coming back to the idea of buying fewer, better-quality pieces.
This is something I believe in deeply with Dubuc.
We don’t need a new top released every fifteen minutes. We don’t need a closet full of pieces that are worn twice and forgotten about.
I want to create clothing that you can keep reaching for.
The same top that works with jeans and sneakers on a casual day can be styled with a skirt and heels for dinner. The skirt you wore one way this summer can become something completely different with tights, boots, and a sweater in the fall.
I want the pieces to have longevity—not only in how long they physically last, but in how long you continue to find them interesting.
That is what modern yet timeless means to me.
It doesn’t mean boring. It doesn’t mean basic. And it certainly doesn’t mean that everything needs to look the same.
It means creating pieces with enough personality to make you excited to wear them, but enough versatility that you can continue discovering new ways to style them.
Because when you find a piece that fits and feels just right, you don’t want to wear it once.
You want to live in it.
Make Your Outside Match Your Inside
Maybe that is ultimately what the art of getting dressed comes down to.
Not having the biggest closet. Not owning every trend. Not knowing all the “right” fashion rules.
It is simply about paying attention to how you feel and finding a way to express it.
Some mornings, I want to feel feminine. Some mornings, I want to feel cool. Some days I want to look like I just stepped out of an old Western film, and other days I want to feel like I belong in a rock-and-roll band.
All of those versions are still me.
And I think that is something worth celebrating.
We are not one-dimensional people, so why should our wardrobes be?
Your clothes can change with your mood, your plans, your environment, your age, your season of life, or simply because you woke up one morning and felt like wearing something different.
There is freedom in that.
So tomorrow morning, when you stand in front of your closet and think you have nothing to wear, maybe don’t look at it as a problem.
Start playing.
Pull out the pieces you love. Try something unexpected. Put together an outfit that matches the feeling you have inside.
And when you look in the mirror, ask yourself one simple question:
Does my outside match my inside?
If the answer is yes, I think you’ve found the perfect outfit.