How to: Find Your Personal Style

 

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The other day, one of my best friends asked me to write a post about how to find your personal style, so here it is, as promised.  Hope you'll like it.

 

Every day, you wake up and somewhere during your morning routine, you decide what you're going to wear that day, how you're going to present yourself to the world.  Maybe you're minimalist - a t-shirt, jeans, and a jacket and you're out the door.  Or maybe you're more extravagant - obsessed with layering, making sure everything and every colour complement each other perfectly.  Or maybe you're a chameleon, one day you're the girliest girl, the next you're taking fashion cues from the guys, playing up your androgynous side.  Or maybe you have no freaking clue what your personal style is.  Maybe I can help with that. Or not, that's up to you.

 

I was only able to properly define my personal style a few weeks ago, but I think the most important thing to do when you're trying to find your personal style is to figure out what you like.  When you're picking your outfit for the day, you're probably going to gravitate towards some pieces and the thing is, you have to figure out why.  Even if you learn that you what articles of clothing you like, whether it's a dress or jeans, or what colours you prefer on yourself, it's not as useless as it may seem.  This is also really effective when you go shopping.  Make a mental note of the little things you start to learn about yourself over a period of time, and eventually, you'll be able know what your style is pretty quickly and easily.  And once you know that, developing your personal style is simple enough.  All you really have to do is put some effort in planning what you're going to wear because if you continue to wear what you like, your style will be distinct and one day, someone might be able to see a piece of clothing and think, "That is so insert your name here!"  I'll dedicate a whole post on that if you would like me to.  And that's one of the many reasons why I find fashion so fascinating.

 

 

 

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Personally, I think that confidence is a pretty big factor in your personal style.  There are times when I'm walking down the street, or anywhere really, when I see someone wearing something completely outrageous, and I think, wow.  Not wow like wow-I-would-never-be-caught-dead-in-public-looking-like-that, but wow, I wish that fearless.  There are countless times when I'm deciding what to wear for the day and I will chicken out and decide not to wear something because I'm afraid that people are going to judge my choices, but like, in the end, I should be wearing, you should be wearing what pleases you, not everyone else but you.

 

Since confidence is a part of your personality, your personality as a whole - the bigger picture - is the main influence or factor in your personal style.  What you wear is how you express yourself and the way I see it, it's like a snapshot of yourself in an outfit, kind of like a first impression kind of thing.

 

 

 

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So figuring out what you like is key.  Once you figure that out, it's pretty simple figuring out what your personal style is because you can easily "classify" what you like in a certain category of what your style is.  I usually don't really like doing that, having strict boxes and categories of personal styles and having people force themselves into a specific box.  It might sound kind of weird, but I find that if a girl has a girly style is dresses really girly, and one day, she whips out her black studded leather jacket, people will look at her in this odd, judging kind of way as if to say, "You can't wear that.  You're girly.  That leather jacket is not girly."  Like, seriously.  So don't let the "discovery" of your supposed "personal style" keep you from experimenting or stepping out of the strict category of your "personal style."  Just because your style is, say "1950's vintage" doesn't mean you can't follow what's going down the runway and apply it to your wardrobe every once in a while.  Anyway, that's the end of my little rant.

 

All in all, the main thing is figure out what you like.  That's pretty much my best and only advice for you.  And dress for yourself, not for anyone else.  Don't let what other people are wearing force you into thinking that that's the right or only way you can dress.  Everyone is different so there's no reason why we should go around copying another person's style.  Sure, there is a right and wrong place to wear things, like nothing too revealing or what not at school, at your workplace, at a family dinner...  But just because everyone at your school is wearing Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts doesn't mean that you have to as well.  Well, unless it's your school uniform, which is highly doubtful.

 

I hope this has helped you in some way, but if it hasn't, I'll be doing a quiz/questionnaire type thing soon to figure out your personal style.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

- J