A current, polished, pulled together and appropriate look is a prerequisite for being stylish. But there is another more subtle requirement: your style must also seem effortless. If it is forced, impractical, fussy and unnatural, you risk being dubbed a fashion victim.

“Effortless style” is a contradiction in terms because looking stylish actually requires some effort. Style icons Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Moss and Helen Mirren spent years honing their personal style. They did not miraculously wake up one day and look effortlessly stylish.

Achieving a stylish appearance definitely gets easier with practice, especially if you have a set of efficient and effective wardrobe choices. But irrespective of how well put together you are, your sense of style is still something you will need to maintain. You need to think about it on an ongoing basis as fashion, your body and your lifestyle change.

So how does one achieve an “effortless” sense of style? Is it about a look, or is it wrapped up in an attitude? What makes you think that someone is “trying too hard”? I have my own thoughts, but I’d love to hear yours first.