Definitive List of 44 Different Types of Fashion Styles

Formal wear or office wear is a traditional Western dress code for the most formal occasions. From beautiful dresses that standout to business attire.

Names of Women’s Dress Styles in English

For many years the dress has been a staple in women’s wardrobes. Different styles of dresses have been designed to either emphasize a beautiful woman’s assets or conceal her shortcomings, and there are different styles for various events and occasions. In this age of emancipation and feminism, dresses have undergone significant changes, but they have never gone out of style.

Today I invite you to take a look at the names of different styles of dresses in English. There’s a tremendous variety among these dresses: short dresses, knee length dresses, loose-fitting or form-fitting to your body shape. Some have ruffles and a high neckline, some are long sleeve and some sleeveless, and some are basically just large t-shirts! You’ll probably prefer some to others based on current fashion trends and your own personal style.

This subject will be helpful to those who work in the world of sales and fashion in the international market, and also for those who love to go shopping in other countries.

Basic Styles of Women’s Dresses

• Classic
• Folkloric
• Business
• Sport
• Casual
• Elegant
• Formal (evening)

Popular Styles of Women’s Dresses

1. Culotte dress
2. Babydoll dress
3. Wrap around dress
4. Kimono dress
5. Bubble dress
6. Tutu dress
7. Polo dress
8. Shirtdress
9. Sundress
10. Sari
11. Sack dress
12. Tunic dress
13. Sheath dress
14. Shift dress
15. Trumpet dress
16. Smoked/layered dress

4 English Idioms with the Word “Dress”

1. Dress up

To wear formal clothes, usually for a special occasion

For example: Don’t forget to dress up for Megan’s birthday party. It should be fancy!

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2. Dressed to the nines

Dressed very elegantly; dressed very fancy, with attention to every detail

For example: Clare was dressed to the nines to impress the jury.

3. Dressed to kill

Dressed very elegantly and stylishly, often with the intent of impressing others

For example: Sam was dressed to kill when I saw him last week at the conference.

4. Give someone a dressing down

To strongly and angrily reprimand someone

For example: Dad will give me a dressing down as soon as he finds out about my bad marks at school.

Finally, I’d like to mention that many style experts recommend giving some consideration to your figure and body type when choosing a dress. That’s a good idea, isn’t it?

It’s best to know ahead of time which types of dresses are best for your figure instead of grabbing the first dress you like and then being disappointed that it doesn’t look right on you.

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Definitive List of 44 Different Types of Fashion Styles

What are the best fashion styles and how to choose yours? Fashion is a very popular art form, aesthetic, vehicle for self-expression, and creativity, especially in lifestyle, apparel, footwear, and accessories.

There are so many different types of fashion styles to choose from. It can be difficult and overwhelming to pick the right one for you. Your preferred style can depend on your budget, taste, lifestyle, activities, location, culture, and current season.

I love the minimalist fashion style, keeping it simple with a small selection of shapes and colors. I do my best to protect the environment with a low-impact wardrobe, a strong focus on sustainability, classic, durable, and timeless pieces of clothing I can wear for a long time.

Here is a list of different types of fashion styles for inspiration and to help you create a different outfit every day.

Panaprium is proud to be 100% independent, free of any influence, and not sponsored. We carefully handpick products from brands we trust. Thank you so much for buying something through our link, as we may earn a commission that supports us.

Artsy style

The Artsy fashion style might be for you if you like art, or prefer to avoid conformity and standards. If you want your clothes to reflect your opinions and choices, wear highly visual artsy pieces.

Shirts, hoodies, jeans, boots, and jackets are trademarks of the biker fashion style. This style is sexy, flashy, glamourous, versatile, and casual. You don’t have to ride a motorcycle to rock it.

Boho style

The Boho chic or Bohemian style is made of summer, casual, modern, and stylish outfits. It takes inspiration from various free spirits, bohemian, and hippie influences, with colorful, natural, and handcrafted clothes.

Interested in building a bohemian-inspired wardrobe? Use our selection of the cutest and cheapest boho clothing brands that help you create stylish everyday outfits and enhance your best features effortlessly.

The business casual fashion style typically includes shirts, blouses, skirts, dresses, jackets, sweaters, or blazers. It’s considered casual wear with elements of lounge and informal wear.

Discover the best business casual clothing brands that help you look stylish and appropriate at the office without breaking the bank.

Casual wear

Casual wear is a fashion style appropriate for everyday use. It prioritizes comfort and leisure making it simple to look stylish. This is a relaxed and informal style very popular today.

From leggings and sweats to dresses and jumpers, these cute and casual outfit ideas will ensure you look fantastic and feel comfortable for every stop on your journey.

Casual chic style

Casual chic is an elegant and easy-going fashion style with classic and feminine clothes. It’s a perfect combination to look stylish and laid-back with timeless and sophisticated pieces.

Discover our selection of the best casual and chic outfits you need to wear to look perfect and even stand out.

Classic fashion style

Classic fashion is a style that lasts several seasons up to many years. It emphasizes simple cuts, shapes, and silhouettes to create elegant, timeless, modern, and classy looks.

If you want to build a classic wardrobe, take inspiration from these stylish, beautiful, and timeless outfits.

Cosplay

Cosplay or costume play is difficult to ignore today. This fashion style is trending in huge communities around the world. It’s inspired by pop-culture and made of costumes and accessories representing specific characters.

Inspired by ballet, jazz, street dance, hip hop, tango, and salsa, dance clothes are very successful worldwide. Dancewear is a fashion style perfect to wear casually, in the ballroom, to exercise, or at home.

Elegance

The elegant fashion style displays unusual effectiveness and simplicity. Elegant outfits are high-quality, chic, classy, sophisticated, timeless, and smart. They compliment your features perfectly.

Evening wear

Evening wear encompasses a fabulous selection of elegant evening dresses, nightgowns, sleep shirts, and formal wear in many styles and colors.

To look charming and fashionable this festive season, we’ve selected some of the most affordable and sustainable evening dresses.

Exotic fashion is a clothing style centered on colorful, rich, attention-grabbing clothes. It’s often composed of vibrant colors, prints, or embroidery.

Flamboyant

Borrowed from French flamboyant (flaming and wavy), this fashion style is characterized by exuberance, confidence, and stylishness. Flamboyant clothes are extravagant in color or design.

Formal clothing

Formal wear or office wear is a traditional Western dress code for the most formal occasions. From beautiful dresses that standout to business attire.

Garconne

Modern, simple, and elegant fashion style from France. It includes classic shapes, clean cuts, and androgynous silhouettes.

Girly is a very feminine fashion style to adopt to feel young and cute. It includes dresses, skirts, blouses, with lots of features such as laces, flounces, or ruffles.

Girl next door fashion style

Keeping things simple is how you dress like the girl next door. Often classic and timeless, the girl-next-door look is made of comfortable and easy-to-wear pieces, as well as cool accessories.

Part of the gothic culture with gothic fiction and goth music, the gothic fashion style is beautiful, dark, and steampunk. It emphasizes strong, modern, and mysterious aesthetics.

Grunge is an alternative rock genre. It’s a hybrid of punk and metal inspired by rock music. This fashion style is casual with jackets, boots, jeans, crop tops, beanies, and sweaters.

Haute couture

High-end designers and fashion houses often make exclusive custom-fitted garments for celebrities. It’s an expensive fashion style with beautiful and truly unique creations.

Italy is home to some of the most fabulous and luxurious clothing brands on the planet. Discover our selection of the most prestigious Italian luxury fashion houses.

Hip hop clothing

Hip hop style is made of street clothing inspired by the popular music genre. It’s the fashion style for those willing to stand out from the crowd and break trends.

Kawaii style

Kawaii is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It’s associated with a pop-culture aesthetic of unique pieces with pastel colors. Kawaii fashion is very lovely, charming, and childlike.

Lagenlook clothing

Lagenlook means layered look in German. It’s a popular way of dressing from Europe. This fashion style involves many layers of uniquely shaped clothing worn on top of each other.

The loungewear fashion style focuses massively on comfortable clothing with sweatpants, sleep pants, lounge shorts, jumpsuits, harem pants, leggings, sweatshirts, and cardigans.

Buy from any of these sustainable loungewear brands that make high-quality and affordable garments under high social and environmental standards.

Maternity clothing is made of comfortable, stylish, and flattering pieces such as dresses, jumpsuits, swimsuits, shorts, skirts, pants, and shirts, perfect to wear during pregnancy.

If you are looking for cute, affordable, and sustainable maternity clothes, read our list of the best maternity brands that every woman needs to know to look fashionable and feel comfortable during pregnancy on a budget.

Military fashion style

Military clothing offers distinct colors and shapes. With khaki and sand camouflage shirts, cargo pants, warm parkas, jackets, and coats, the military fashion style is comfortable and highly functional.

Minimalist fashion

Minimalism is all about simplicity, going back to basics, and your wardrobe-essentials. Remove what is superfluous to make every item in your closet a winner.

Keep things simple and dress realistically without being too complicated with the best affordable, ethical, and minimalist clothing brands.

The urban modern fashion style incorporates contemporary looks. It can be minimalist as well as street-inspired. It’s often associated with today’s fast-paced city life.

Modest clothing

Modest fashion or modest dressing is a trend of less revealing clothes for personal preference. Modest clothing is very feminine and specifically designed to show less skin.

Nerdy and geeky

The nerdy and geeky style used to be unpopular but it doesn’t mean overly obsessive or introverted anymore. This clothing style is now widespread with a passionate pop-culture community.

Preppy fashion

The preppy fashion style is most similar to the classic style with a simple look but with more bold colors and prints. It’s made of sportswear, casual lifestyle apparel and outdoor gear.

Punk rock

Punk rock is a style of clothes inspired by the music genre. David Bowie is a great inspiration for the punk rock look, known for its bright colors, prints, and jackets.

Rock style

Heavily inspired by rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, rock style can be chic, modern, glamourous, edgy, and alternative. It also combines influences from metal, punk rock, and gothic rock.

Sexy fashion style

The sexy style is all about showing off your best features. Mostly casual and trendy, sexy clothes offer a very seductive, hot, and sensual look highly effective to grab attention.

Streetwear style

Streetwear is a fashion style including casual clothing and sportswear. It’s heavily influenced by hip hop, surf skate, punk, and Japanese street culture.

Check out our selection of the best affordable and sustainable streetwear brands.

Activewear, workout clothes, and gym clothing make the sportswear fashion style, popular outfits designed to transition from exercise wear to casual wear.

The large majority of sportswear manufactured today is made of petroleum-based materials, which are highly polluting. Thankfully, many environmentally friendly alternatives exist.

Buy from apparel companies that don’t sacrifice sustainability for style, comfort, or performance. Are you wondering where to shop for high-quality workout clothes? Then, refer to this extensive list of sustainable activewear brands.

Summer clothing

Summer wear, cruise wear, vacation clothing, and travel clothes are ideal for traveling and relaxing, on vacation, or during leisure activities. They are perfect to say cool in hot weather.

Here are some of the cutest and cheapest summer dresses to easily create everyday looks that flatter your figure in the warm season.

Surf skate style

Graphic tees, sneakers, baggy pants, and hoodies are part of the surf skate fashion style. These are functional, loose, and comfortable clothes for maximum freedom of movement.

Swimwear style

Swimwear and beachwear include fashionable clothes of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Versatile outfits help you transition from beach to street with style.

The best swimwear brands manufacture high-quality, durable, and timeless beach styles using sustainable and transparent processes, as well as ethical production practices.

Traditional fashion style

Traditional clothing refers to clothes with significant inspiration from the culture and identity of a specific ethnic group. A traditional style is an important part of every region’s history.

Trendy fashion

Every clothing piece that follows trends is trendy. By nature, trendy clothes are fashionable, up to date, and in style. They are influenced by or express the most recent fashion looks.

Vibrant style

The vibrant fashion style refers to anything rich, bright, loud, striking, and brilliant. This style is full of energy, enthusiasm, spirit, and confidence. Designs and colors are various and exciting but often only worn by minorities.

Vintage fashion

Old vintage clothes can be found in resale shops, thrift stores, and vintage stores. When an item is at least 20 years old, it is genuinely vintage or antique.

Buy second-hand clothes online to save time and money and access a large variety of unique styles that help you relive old trends and craft fabulous outfits that nobody else is wearing.

Wild West style

Inspired by the period with the same name, the Wild West genre is a country, cowboy, and Western aesthetic from America. This fashion style is very distinctive and unique.

Was this article helpful to you? Please tell us what you liked or didn’t like in the comments below.

About the Author: Alex Assoune

Alex Assoune (MS) is a global health and environmental advocate. He founded Panaprium to inspire others with conscious living, ethical, and sustainable fashion. Alex has worked in many countries to address social and environmental issues. He speaks three languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools.

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