Finding your own style is not a simple thing: it means having a deep knowledge of yourself, having understood your own needs, having learned to love yourself – at least a little bit – and to value yourself for who you are, aiming for the best of yourself themselves but without distorting themselves.
But how to do it? Here are my 10 steps that will allow you to find your style by yourself.
What is the style?
There have been a lot of answers to this question over the years.
Yves Saint Laurent used to say that “Fashions decline, style is eternal”.
In fact, style is something that defines us for a period longer than a single season.
It is something that can fit our “I” perfectly for years, that defines us in a unique way and that changes very, very slowly.
Style is not interested in fashions and trends, style is interested in eternity.
How to find YOUR STYLE. HERE ARE THE 10 STEPS
1. You must know your personality and what you love.
Are you a romantic woman? Or are you instead combative and aggressive? Are you a big fan of sports and the gym? Do you like classic style and hate jeans?
Try to think and write – putting these things on paper is a fundamental step, they must not remain only in your head – everything that defines you as a person : values, passions, experiences that have marked you and that have taught you something, activities you love, hobby.
2. You need to know what your life routine is.
What life do you lead? Are you a busy mother divided between work-home-kindergarten? Are you a single, super sports freelancer? Or are you a creative and do you work in that area? The things you do influence your style a lot.
Make a note of your usual activities for a couple of weeks – eg, work, gym, dinner with friends, Sunday lunch with grandparents etc and write them down on a table like this.
For each of these “occasions of use”, telling us to Carla and Enzo, you will have to define your own style and create special mini-capsules . Try to reflect if you have any constraints for these proposals, eg perhaps as regards office clothing you must always wear a suit or a uniform.
Example: I love sequins, feathers, crystals. However, I do a job where I always have to be dressed in a serious and rigorous way: therefore, I buy very few garments of this kind and, instead, to give a touch of glamor to my outfits I play a lot with accessories.
3. You must know the shape of your body.
Knowing the shape of your body well is essential to understand with which garments you will be valued and which ones will not suit you.
Having a clear awareness of the shape of your body will also help you clean up your wardrobe, because clearly all those non-donating items will have to be eliminated.
An example about me: I really like caftans but those large and rectangle shapes do not enhance my silhouette which, to look proportionate, always needs to have the waistline highlighted. So, during a “clean up” of the wardrobe, some I donated, others I just eliminated.
4. Define your colors.
There are colors that can make us look gorgeous and bright – and even take us away a few more years – and colors that can make us look ugly, old and dull.
Color analysis is one of the fundamental steps of image consultancy : it is carried out, in a place illuminated with natural light, with special colored sheets that are placed next to the face of the client without make-up. All this is used to define the client’s tones and undertones and to build her own personalized color palette.
Without getting into technicalities and based on your everyday experience, you will have realized that there are colors that look good on you and colors that every time you wear they tell you “but how are you beaten today” .
So what are these colors? Try putting yourself in front of the mirror one morning, without make-up and with your hair pulled back, and try on a bit of your clothes … which colors are you good at? Which ones do you feel close also spiritually? Which colors don’t flatter you? You can eventually get help from a friend too!
To be clearer, I always give you an example about myself : I love the powder blue color. On me it is horrible: it makes me look sallow and very tired in the face. So, I avoid it like the plague. If I really want to give it to myself, I choose it for garments from the waist down – skirts and pants so to speak – so that it fits well away from my face.
Another example: the black color is the basis of my wardrobe . It’s not a color that makes me stand out particularly but I don’t want to give it up. So I add light and color to the face with accessories: earrings in golden gold or colored crystals, a nice scarf or a pashmina in bright colors that fit me well, a multicolored necklace. Got the trick; -)?!?
5. Create a moodboard with the style you love.
A moodboard is nothing more than a notebook containing images of outfits that inspire you.
It can be paper, with images cut from a magazine, or virtual, that is a folder on your PC where you save and keep the photographs that inspire you. Or even a Pinterest board.
In this moodboard, you will save different images depending on your occasions of use identified in point 2 . So you will have different outfit images for the office, for the gym, for free time etc.
When you have collected a little for each type, try to observe them one by one and define:
if there are recurring colors
if there are recurring shapes and maybe you have only cut out outfits with palazzo pants or skirts
if there are recurring fabrics, maybe you prefer shiny fabrics or maybe you have a preference for masculine and rough ones
Write down all these things and then compare them with the garments that are good for your body type (point 3).
You may find yourself in the situation of:
– have a match between what you like and what suits you and in that case you have bingo!
– have a total discrepancy between clothes you like and those that fit you. In this case there are two things to do: either you don’t care , because maybe you have a strong spirit and you don’t care about how you are, or you try to meditate on what you have chosen.
What do the images you have chosen represent for you? Did you like the dress or the model / the mood of the photograph? Because it happens to me that sometimes I like the style of photography or the lifestyle that represents the image and not the dress
Example taken from my experience: I love California and I’m crazy for California-style photographs with sun, denim shorts, hippie maxi-dresses and long hair. Too bad that I live in the mountains , where there is winter for 8 months a year, I have cellulite – but let’s not tell anyone – and therefore no shorts in the summer – and with too hippie clothes you look like a gypsy woman. Got the concept?
So try to redo the moodboard with the garments that fit you well : eg if you have a lot of breasts look for images that you like where there are sweetheart or Madonna necklines that enhance it.
6. Describe your style based on your mood board .
Based on the images you cut out and the descriptions you made, how would you define your style? Classic and conservative? Rock? Refined and minimalist? Write what comes to mind. Example on my look. With regard to:
– the work: my style is minimalist, with very defined garments from a sartorial point of view, clean lines and a color palette essentially based on black / white with a touch of color for the accessories. Although there are masculine touches, such as the use of flat brogues, it is always a feminine style.
– free time: for the weekend my style is hippie chic: that is, flared jeans worn with silk blouses and refined ponchos in wool or cashmere, soft floral dresses worn with soft maxi-cardigans, palazzo pants in velvet or satin. As for the colors, for free time I allow myself powder pink, burgundy, green, tobacco, red.
How to find your style: take action
7. Check your wardrobe .
Once you’ve done this prep work, it’s time to take action. Open your closet and check the clothes you have. How many of these:
– do they fit your personality?
– are they perfect for enhancing your body?
– do they have colors that suit you?
You need to be very critical at this stage and don’t be afraid to eliminate:
everything that does not suit you;
all the things that don’t make you happy to wear;
anything that doesn’t fit you perfectly. However, I keep small stocks of outfits one size more, in case it gets fat. But they must be very small in number and must be placed in an inaccessible area of the closet. Not among all the other clothes you wear on a daily basis.
all things broken / ruined;
all the things that don’t fit your personality perfectly, even if still in good condition. This is not to say that you have to throw them away: you can sell them, give them away, try to build different outfits ..
8. Create new outfits .
With the clothes you’ve kept, try making some new combinations.
When you find an outfit you like that reflects your definition of style you found along the way, take a nice selfie in front of the mirror. This will serve as a reminder when “you have nothing to wear” ;-).
At this stage you may find that you don’t have basic items for your style in your wardrobe: for example, if you define yourself as rock, you can’t not have a leather or eco-leather jacket.
Write down all the things that match your style that you miss and keep this list in mind when you go shopping. It will help you to buy only what you need and not to buy clothes that do not fit you and are not related to your style.
9. Complete your look with shoes and accessories.
The right accessories can really make a difference in an outfit . Just imagine how the classic little black dress can look different when worn with:
– pastel colored ballet flats, Chanel jacket and pearl earrings
– biker jacket in black leather, slingback shoes in black leather and studs.
Also make a selection of your accessories and keep only those that reflect your style and that enhance you. For example: yellow gold looks terrible on me. I have therefore eliminated all the jewelery in yellow gold.
As for the bags, you will need to distinguish those suitable for your different occasions of use
10. Last thing: have fun and add to your wardrobe only what is strictly necessary
If you have followed all the steps given here, you should have
– written a text dedicated to who you are and what you love
– compiled a table and identified your lifestyle
– understood the shape of your body
– defined the colors that suit you
– created your own moodboard
– defined your style
– tidied up the wardrobe
– created new outfits
– rearranged accessories and bags
All these things you’ve done don’t throw them away but keep them handy! They will help you during the seasons to understand if certain fashions or trends are for you and if it is worthwhile to invest money in certain outfits or not.
Season after season, you just need to integrate your basic wardrobe with two or three pieces of fashion – that is, destined to be quickly surpassed – without spending a lot of money.