Throughout our life, we go through phases of evolvement. One thing that has evolved through the years is my own personal style. Fashion allows us to express our individuality, unique personalities and creativity. Finding your own unique style is a crucial step to building a stylish, yet functional wardrobe. By knowing your own personal style, makes clothes shopping and dressing easier and more intentional. This post is a guide on how to find your personal style and be confident with it.
How to Find Your Personal Style
If you’re trying to find your personal style, I get it. It can be hard to find exactly what you like with the variety of styles and trends that are available in the fashion world. But I have a few tips to help you narrow down what your personal style might be, so you can dress confidently.
Finding Inspo
This might sound silly, but you can draw fashion inspiration from so many places. For instance, if you’re binge-watching a TV show, are there outfits that stand out to you that certain characters wear? If so, ask yourself why you might like that particular outfit? Is it the colors, the fit of the outfit or the silhouette?
You can also draw inspiration from magazines. If you find an outfit you particularly like, cut it out or print it out. Then, you can try to recreate that look with pieces that match your budget.
Narrowing a Color Palette
In my younger years ;), I thought I needed to wear every color under the rainbow. You know, mix it up and have a variety of colors in my wardrobe. But as it turns out, I really don’t like to wear all the colors. I like light and airy pieces, and don’t enjoy wearing too many dark colors.
About a month ago, I talked about finding your color season. It’s essentially finding a color palette that looks the best on you, based on your features. HERE’S the quiz I took, and I discovered I’m light summer, which really isn’t a surprise because I tend to gravitate towards light and bright colors.
Do a Closet Audit
As your sense of style evolves, you may not be wearing every piece of clothing in your closet anymore. If you haven’t worn something in over a year, it’s time to part ways with it. That way, you only make room for the pieces you absolutely love and will actually wear. When your purchasing new pieces to add to your wardrobe, I wouldn’t do any impulse purchases to fill in the gaps in your wardrobe.
I’d much rather invest in a quality piece than impulsively buy a piece that might be on sale, but that I don’t really, really love. So let the item sit in your cart for a day or two, and if you keep thinking about it, then it might be worth purchasing.
Create a Capsule Wardrobe
I’m big on having a capsule wardrobe for each season. You do not need a closet full of clothes to have a wardrobe you love. You just need signature pieces that you love to mix and match with your other capsule pieces, to create a variety of outfits. I have a whole series dedicated to building a wardrobe you love that you can find HERE.
Create a Mood Board
Good ‘ol Pinterest can help you out with this. Search different fashion styles on Pinterest to see what stands out to you. You can create a Pinterest board dedicated to outfits you’re drawn to. Make sure to find different outfits for different occasions like workwear, athleisure, casual and special occasions. That way when it comes time for you to wear certain outfits, you already know the types of clothing you like.
Know Your Body Type
Everyone has different body types. Knowing your specific body type and what looks best on you will also help you figure out the kind of clothes that look best on you. Are you more petite or taller? Consider shopping at stores that offer varying lengths in their pants and dresses.
Evaluate the Clothes You Wear Daily
Do you notice that you wear certain pieces of clothing daily? If so, what are they? Do you gravitate towards more loungewear because you work from home? Maybe you should consider investing in high-quality loungewear if you’re using these pieces again and again. Do you not often wear work pants? Maybe you just need one or two pair if you don’t wear those as often.
Choose Your Signature Pieces
Once you take inventory of your closet, ask yourself if you have the signature pieces of your closet that you may need for that season? For instance, in the fall and winter, some signature pieces to have are:
Once you have your signature pieces, you can start creating outfit ideas using these clothing choices.
What Your Style Says About You
Your lifestyle plays a part in your clothing style. If you work in an office with a business professional dress code, you’ll have more dressy clothes than a person who might be a PE coach at a school. So consider what you do on a daily basis when determining what you keep in your wardrobe.
Formal Style
A formal style is one that has a variety of trousers, blazers, sheath dresses and pumps. This style’s foundation is one of elegance and sophistication. With this style, you probably have to dress like this for work. And you also enjoy wearing more formal clothes on date nights. With a formal style, your casual dress might be a pair of straight jeans, loafers, a white button down and a fitted coatigan.
Feminine Style
A feminine style likes to play off dainty details like ruffles, bows, lace, eyelet trim, and light and bright colors. I have a very feminine and classic style. I try to stay away from overly trendy pieces that might be here for a year and gone the next. Feminine style likes traditional pieces that are generally never going out of style.
Sporty Style
A sporty style doesn’t always mean you’re constantly wearing athleisure wear. Although you do love a good pair of joggers and the perfect sneaker, you also like a well-fitting pair of jeans. A sporty style’s foundation is based on comfort and functionality. You want your clothes to keep up with your lifestyle and not hinder you from doing the things you love.
Casual Style
A casual style is a mixture of dressy and a more laid back vibe. You might work from home, which cuts down on you having to dress too formal. If you have a more casual style, chances are you have a good grip on the basics you love. And then you can easily style them multiple ways, depending on what you’re doing that day.
What Clothing Store Fits My Style
I rounded up my favorite retailers and boutiques to shop at in this post HERE, if you want a more deep dive into all my favorites.
As I mentioned earlier, I gravitate towards a light and airy color palette with feminine details like eyelet trim, lace and subtle ruffles. I don’t go too crazy with super trendy fads and stick to the classic pieces, mixed with a few on-trend pieces.
Here are a few of my favorites stores to shop at for girly and feminine style.
Petal and Pup
If you haven’t checked out Petal and Pup before, I highly recommend. They have a beautiful selection of feminine clothing. But they also carry more trendy pieces too, if that fits your own personal style better. Most of their dresses are under $100, making them an ideal retailer to head to when you need a dress for a variety of occasions.
& Other Stories
I discovered this brand not too long ago, and so glad I did because their pieces fit my style well! They have different designers from around the world that bring a different style to the retailers, but they have designers in Paris that design feminine and romantic pieces. They also have a sustainable mindset and sourcing practices, too.
Express
Express has a beautiful selection of neutral and blush tones, and you can find a lot of girly tops with details like swiss dots, ruffles, and eyelet. I love shopping at Express for workwear, elevated loungewear, and basics.
H&M
H&M is a great place to add a few trendy pieces to your closet. Their clothes are usually at great price points and have some great basics too.
LULUS
Lulus is another great go-to for event dresses, shoes and accessories. They also carry feminine tops and fun bottoms like faux leather skirts that are look-for-less options to some designer pieces.
Revolve
Some of my favorite brands to shop at Revolve are For Love & Lemons, Tularosa, and Faithful the Brand. Their pieces are typically going to be more of an investment, but the quality is great!
Nordstrom
I have been shopping at Nordstrom for years now. They have a wide variety of brands with varying price points. A few of my favorites are ASTR the Label, Endless Rose, English Factory, Rachel Parcell, LuLus and Free The Roses.
The majority of the core pieces that I’ve invested in over the years have been from Nordstrom (I share my most worn Nordstrom items, here). I also love shopping the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, each year!
Once you discover your own personal style, it oddly brings a sense of ease and contentment. What you choose to wear every day can boost your confidence and allows you to own who you are with your personal style choices.
How would you describe your personal style? Let me know in the comments below!
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