Define Your Style |

5 Tips for Defining Your Style

A friend and I recently had a conversation about personal style, and how it always seems like an endless pursuit, and a steady stream of purchases. It made me wonder what I was trying so hard to ‘buy.’ I’ve noticed I tend to spend the most time browsing online , and the most money on clothes when I start to lose sight of my personal style.

All my browsing and shopping made me realize it might be time to dig into my personal style a little deeper.

WHY?

Style definition is important, but is it necessary? For me, the answer to that is yes. Defining my style helps me ‘settle in’ and stop doing the things I mentioned in the opening paragraph. There is a peace that comes in hitting your personal style stride. It is always a good idea to try new things and experiment, but part of defining your own style helps you know when to experiment and when to hold back. Instead of falling for every trend (and purchase) you can more readily identify what will and won’t work for you, and carve a more clear style story for yourself.

After pinning and planning and brainstorming, here are my best working tips to help you (and me) define personal style.

1 // Start with your headspace.

Why do you want to define your style? I shared my reason above, but yours may be different. Dig into your motivations and root out the unhealthy ones. Are you trying to project an image? Or are you trying to feel more like yourself in your clothes? Are you chasing a fantasy life? Or do you want your outfits to better match your personality? If we are struggling with pursuing style for less than stellar reasons, now is a good time to get to the bottom of our motivations. Clothing can feel like a bit of a superhero cape, but we also have to put in the hard work of taking care of ourselves too.

2 // Study those who have well-defined style.

This is probably my number one tip. Be a student of fashion and study those who do it well. But you have to be careful, studying one person too closely can heavily influence what you like. You can even start to imitate their style rather than listening to your own voice. So please do this one with caution. Study those who you admire, but do it lightly, and study a handful of folks at the same time.

Some of my favorites to study and follow: Alicia Lund, Lindsey Holland, Maddie Greer, Caroline Ventura and Haley Nahman

My favorite place to track style I admire is on Pinterest. I have boards for each major fashion season (fall/winter and spring/summer) and I post to them regularly. From those main boards I like to drill down even more, creating a board of favorites or outfits to wear this week. It’s a great way to distill down what is inspiring me.

3 // Train your own voice.

Once you have a handle on knowing what types of styles you admire, it’s time to sharpen your own inner style voice. This is probably the most effective part of discovering your own style. After all, your style should represent you, not your version of someone else. Start by identifying what you know you love, love to wear, that transcends trends, etc. Something you bought on a whim, purely on instinct, but it remains a steady staple for you. Or something you bought after careful consideration that has been a closet hero for years. Take pictures of your favorite items individually and create a photo album on your phone. Look at them all together. What kind of feeling or essence do they convey?

The second part of training your voice is taking a shopping break. I know this is hard, but it’s important to stop the inflow to your closet when you’re trying to figure out what to do with the current ingredients. It takes time to get to know what you already have and how it works into your style. I have often found participating in style challenges like a 10×10 are a great way to dig deeper into my personal style because they force me to get creative using what I already own.

4 // Know what works for you.

Take the time to focus on what is working well. Mentally re-visit outfits and items you love to wear and deconstruct what you love about them. Talking about how to ‘flatter’ our bodies isn’t necessarily important in today’s fashion-verse, but I think it’s important to know what we like on our bodies and what we don’t like on our bodies.

For example, I know I don’t like tops or sweater that have too much volume around the shoulders. They make me feel too wide at the top, and my overall outfit shape will always feel off balance. Eliminating what doesn’t work makes it easier to find what does work. Another example: colors. Last fall I took a color course, and that helped me figure out why I always felt unsatisfied in light gray. For years I’d wear the color, and then wonder why my outfit felt ho-hum. It turns out the color is too light and cool for my coloring.

5 // Name it.

Now that you have a good idea of 1) outfits you like on others, 2) items you love from your closet, and 3) outfits that work for you, think about ALL of it, and put names to the styles. It’s okay if these names are totally opposite or even in contrast to each other. This is the recipe of your unique style.

The last time I put words to my style I came up with ‘casual-cool with a 70’s vibe.’ That was in the spring, and I think they still hold true. (Even if it might be the name of the style I’m aspiring to, rather than what I’m conveying.) They are good words to hold in my head as I’m building outfits each day.

In conclusion.

If you want to have satisfying style you have to put in the work. There are people out there who have an innate magic that makes them really good at styling. If that’s you, then you don’t need any of this advice. But if you’re like me, and you have to work at this, you are who I’m writing to. Results come with hard work. We got this.


Images via Pinterest.

19 thoughts on “5 Tips for Defining Your Style

  1. Great post!
    Putting these steps together creates an overview which is very helpful.
    I have always struggled with my own style and have always been imitating instead of listening to my own voice.
    Now that I hear my own voice I’m able to listen to it and be more confident in my choices.
    And yes, knowing your colours is so important,
    The last few years I was imitating the whole grey, navy and black wave while beeing an autumn type.
    Now that I’m back with my own colours again I feel so much beter and so much more me….

  2. Thanks for this wonderful and helpful advice. I’m currently trying to find my personal style after having two kids and settling into a consistent weight! Haha.

    1. Jillian, postpartum is when I went through my first and biggest style discovery phase! Something about becoming a mom (a few times over!) and carrying babies (both inside and outside the body!) really lead to the need to figure this out. Best of luck on your journey! I think it’s something we are continually discovering and fine tuning. You’ve got this!

    2. Want to echo what Jillian is saying above. Funny enough, it was easier to dress myself when I was pregnant because I had limited choices!

      1. I found pregnancy dressing easier too! It was kind of like a capsule actually. And I knew all the pieces worked because they were kind of purchased around the same time frame, with my current tastes and body shape in mind. It honestly is WAY easier to get dressed with limited choices!

  3. Thanks for these pointers. I’m trying to figure out a new style after retiring a few months ago. Also since retiring, I’ve committed to thrifting much more of my wardrobe. I think the stopping shopping for a time would be really helpful to me right now. I appreciate your blog, and your practical advice.

    1. Hi Lisa, congratulations on your retirement! It’s so interesting how life shifts really affect what we feel like (or need to) wear! I love that you are committed to thrifting, there is so much good clothing out there waiting to be worn! Best of luck on your shopping fast and style discovery! xx

  4. What a great post. I’ve been working on defining my style for awhile and you’re definitely one of my favorites to study. I might just try the 10×10 challenge.

    1. Thank you for the kind words Tanika, that’s *super* nice of you to say. 😭 You should totally try a 10×10, it can get sort of tedious toward the end, but I learn something every time!

  5. Hi Andrea, I just purchased and took the color course in your post. Very enlightening! Explains a lot with my current wardrobe. Can you tell me which season you are? I’m drawn to the color choices in your outfits and was curious if your an Autumn like myself.

    1. Hi Sandra, I believe I am an autumn, but I did learn that I am ‘low contrast’ in my coloring, so super deep, saturated shades overwhelm me, which I think makes me a soft autumn. :)

  6. I’m in the middle of a style-shift, I think. It hit me all of a sudden that my clothes were just too 30s (not 1930s–that would be kind of cool, actually) All of a sudden, I was DONE DONE DONE with skinny jeans.

    I’m trying a November shopping fast and am proudly 15 days in (after I bought some wide leg pants–mostly thrifted)! Love your style and tips and I love to see how your style has changed (and that that’s ok!) I’m hoping this time around, I’ll find a more timeless style.

    1. Hi Ophelia! I am curious to hear more about your clothes being too 30’s, like they looked too ‘safe’ or something? Awesome job working through a shopping fast, I think that is always a huge help!! Best of luck as you continue to dive in!

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