My personal style breakthrough during COVID-19 was my very first blog post and I’m finally getting around to expanding on that post. One of my goals with this blog is to help women build a wardrobe full of clothes they love to help them dress confidently. While I love sharing outfit ideas and fashion tips, I think understanding and defining your personal style is one of the biggest factors in revamping your wardrobe.
I spent years and tons of money buying clothing pieces I saw on other people only to realize later that they weren’t my style and they didn’t feel like me. Once I developed my personal style, I drastically cut down on the amount of money I waste on clothes that I won’t end up wearing. I’m still influenced to buy clothing from time to time, but I have a fuller understanding of why I like one piece over another and how to fit it into my style.
What Is Personal Style
Personal style is the way you express yourself through your clothes. I believe that everyone has a personal style, even if you don’t think you’re fashionable. Some people are born with style (or seem to be) but others have to learn it. I am definitely in the latter category and I’m guessing you are too if you clicked on this post!
There are a few personal style “types” that you can find on the internet. I’m not going to go over all them here because I don’t want you to box yourself in to one of them. A few examples are classic, romantic, natural, bohemian, and edgy. There are more than that and some people even go into sub-categories, but I’m going to focus on personal style in this post, not style types.
How To Find Your Personal Style
Step 1
Start by answering the questions below. This will give you an idea of what you actually want to wear, rather than what you think you should wear.
- What would you wear if you had no dress code or cared what others think of you?
- Do you like any pieces that you currently own? If so, what are they? If not, why not?
- What types of outfit combinations do you like? Examples: jeans and a t-shirt, blouse and dress pants, skirts, dresses, suits, etc.
Step 2
Take a picture of your outfit every time you leave the house for 2 weeks. If you get dressed to stay home then you can take pictures of those outfits, too. Then answer these questions. If you don’t feel comfortable taking a picture of yourself, you can lay your clothes on the floor and take a picture of them.
- How did you feel about your outfits? Confident, sad, excited, depressed, etc.?
- Which pieces did you love and which ones did you hate?
- Did you repeat items, patterns, and colors? Write down which ones and whether or not you liked them.
- What type of outfit combinations did you wear?
- Do you hate everything you wore? I hope not but it could happen.
A few takeaways from my collage above. I like the colors blue, burgundy, black, white, gray, and a little bit of brown. My go-to outfit combination is skinny jeans, a basic top, and a jacket or cardigan. I prefer to wear basic tops and bottoms and use my accessories to add interest. Comfortable shoes are non-negotiable. Materials that I like include denim, faux-leather, cotton, and suede.
Step 3
Create a vision/style board. You can do this on Pinterest, make a digital file on your computer, or create a physical board.
- Using some of the words from your answers above, search for outfits that you like. Examples: skinny jeans and sneakers outfit. Floral dress. Leather jacket. Tip: use the words “street style” at the end of your search terms to ensure you’re getting real world examples and not cleverly-disguised ads.
- Save (or print) the pictures that you are drawn to.
- As you save outfits you can make notes of what you see and then repeat this exercise to get a larger sample size. Example: I didn’t know I liked leopard print until I completed this exercise but it kept coming up in the images I was pinning. So I decided to try out the pattern and ended up loving it!
- Write down what you see. Colors, clothing cuts and styles, types of jackets, shoes, pants, skirts, dresses, etc.
Owning Your Personal Style
Like I mentioned at the beginning, don’t try to fit yourself into one of the personal style “types” if you don’t want to. Those are good places to start if you feel totally lost, but I want you to realize that you can fit into multiple types or none at all. As you develop a sense of your own personal style you might even give it a name. I like to call my style “East Coast Joanna Gaines”. You may find that you have different styles for different parts of your life. I need business casual items in my wardrobe for my office job so my style for work is slightly different than my casual style. I don’t have a name for that one because I haven’t actually been back to the office for over a year but it leans more classic than casual.
It’s also important to experiment. I always suggest trying out a new trend or style by buying secondhand. If you notice that tie-dye print is popular and you want to try it, look for a secondhand item and see if you can work it into your wardrobe. I also suggest sticking with neutral colors or basic silhouettes when trying a new trend. For example, a basic tie-dye t-shirt with 2 colors is a lot easier to style than a multi-color tie-dye dress with a whole bunch of other things going on with it. Don’t go too outside of your comfort zone when trying a new trend (unless trying new things IS your personal style!).
Why Your Personal Style Is Important
Knowing your personal style makes everything easier (clothing-wise, that is, I can’t speak for the other parts of life!). You can clean out your closet knowing you’re only keeping the items you love. You can shop with confidence and ignore the flashy items that the retailer is trying to sell to you. Having a closet full of clothes that feel like you makes getting dressed a breeze. This is why finding your personal style is the first step in building a wardrobe you love.
If you have a name for your personal style, let me know what it is in the comments!
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