How To Find Your Personal Style
We’re Trying Something New//
Everything has been way too heavy: the world, politics, my existence. I need a break! But I've neglected my baby (this blog) for too long! So I made something for you!
It's not my usual diary entry (those are coming soon! I promise!), but it is something. In all my glory, presented to you by my fashion degree, here is my little how to on personal style, a guide if you will. Something that was once bullet points in my notes app is now a full-fledged article? Presentation? I don't know! It's something!
One of my goals for this blog is to start integrating different content, besides my diary post, and there's never going to be a better time for something as lighthearted like a ‘how to find your personal style’ article! So please, relax and enjoy.
Look out for a new (on-brand) Blondie post coming soon! But until then......
Personal style: Everyone has it, and no one really ever seems to stop looking for it. It sets us apart from others and helps signal to those with whom we identify. Style is an important part of life, its an important part of my life. I spent four years studying fashion, two of which were spent studying styling. I've spent a better portion of my life learning this art, mastering it, even helping others with their own personal style in exchange for money.
Somewhere between starting college and moving to Colorado, I created a notes app 'how-to guide' on how to find your "personal style." This is a grown-up version of that, one that I put together in one day instead of doing the laundry list of things I had to do (One of those things literally being laundry… The bane of my existence.)
Here are my steps on how to find your personal style. (Cheesy… I know. I gaged a little typing that.)
Step 1: And how does that make you feel…
What is and what is not? That's the question when it comes to personal style. The key question I ask myself when trying something on is "How do I feel in this?" A question of nuance but one that is very important to figuring out what is for you and what is you simply trying to fit into a box. So before we start building your closet and figuring out your staples, let's first figure out who you are as a person and how to reflect that in a style that feels comfortable to you.
Let’s Break It Down.....
Choose three to five outfits that make you feel like your best self (If you don’t have images, find examples that are close enough.
As we can see, I wear a lot of fucking black…
Now lets break your outfits Down Into Words!
Break down your style into words. Look at the silhouettes and colors. Can your outfits fit into a subculture or a period in time? What kind of material are you leaning towards? Sometimes, it helps to have a “not” section, things you don’t identify with.
Now lets break it down more! Get your hot list down to ten words. Look for repeats, words that mean the same thing, see if you can summarize or group them, compartmentalize!
It also doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else but you so don’t over think this!
Then take it one step further and break it down into five words. These are the five words you would use to describe your style as a whole!
Step 2: Who are you?
So, we've broken it down; now you have to actually understand what all of this means. In this section, we’re going to look at color palettes ( & patterns), clothing silhouettes, and accessories! I think it's important to note that there are a bunch of things you can take into consideration when figuring out your style, such as what season you are or your body type; I prefer to live in a world where I only focus on the things I can control. Personal style is simple that, personal.
Take what works for you and leave what doesn't....
What the fuck are color palettes?
I'm so glad you asked! There are so many different definitions for a color palette, varying on what subject is in discussion. For today's topic, a color palette is the colors that primarily make up your wardrobe. Some have other names for it, this is what we are calling it today…
I like to live my life in a world of neutrals with with a lot of pinks and greens. Some people live their lives in a state of earth tones, and some only live in the color black. To figure out what your color palette is, look at your closet, look at your jewelry, hell, look at what color your towels and sheets are (You can learn a lot about someone from their towels and sheets.) You will find your answer pretty quickly.
The most important thing to acknowledge here is what colors you gravitate towards. This will allow you an understanding of what colors you'll actually wear.
Here is my color palette and some of the people’s in my life!
Patterns!
Patterns, just like colors, go in and out of trends, but some just seem to have a grasp on us. For the sake of this presentation, we going to include fabrics with patterns as I mentally catergoize them together.
When I look in my closet, there are absolutely no patterns, as I am not a pattern girlie, but if you look at my roommate's closet, it's covered in stripes. I am, however, a texture girl; everything I own must have a nice texture to it or it won’t be worn; I especially gravitate towards thick textures like leather and high quality cotton, super into denim, too. The classics.
Take a look around your closet, or look at the things you wear the most. Are they covered in flowers? Is there a certain weight to them? What about your shoes and bags? Do they have any consistency?
For the sake of getting my point across, let me give examples. I will be using my roommate and me as a comparison. Below, you will find the top most common textures and patterns in my wardrobe and hers.
silhouette ( and I don’t mean shadows!)
I found a Tumblr post (and lost said Tumblr post) that explained this perfectly. It said something along the lines of, don't worry about finding a brand you like; worry about finding clothing silhouettes that fit you well.
Silhouettes make one t-shirt different from the next; silhouettes are what define a boot cut from skinny. I wear mostly crew neck shirts, they not only conceals the fact that I have no boobs, but are also the perfect length for all my dainty little necklaces that I only save for t-shirts. As I've gotten older, I've moved away from some silhouettes, transitioning from high-rise pants to the more sophisticated form of mid-rise.
When you understand what shapes you feel best in, the easier shopping becomes especially thrifting, and the more money you can put towards high-quality items instead of just shoving it all into the brands that are good at marketing. Plus, it makes trying things on much faster and takes a little of the body dysmorphia out of the equation.
It's a trial and error process, as you'll have to try things on and see how they adapt to your everyday life. Below are some silhouette examples to get you started. (Not my images, I stole this off of reddit!)
Accessories ( The bowl of the perfect ice cream sundae)
We’ve kinda already been talking about accessories, but they deserve an entire section, so I’m going to give them an entire section.
Accessories go hand in hand with understanding your styles in clothing, but they are also an entirely different entity in themselves. For example, my clothes are very simple and classic in silhouettes and style, not a whole lot of personality going on with them, they are the vanilla ice cream to my sundae. But when I add my accessories, that’s where you begin to see Blondie come through.
Accessories also allow for me to play with the dichotomy of my style, which is what makes my style mine. I live for the tug of war between girly and edgy, living my life in baggy, boyish silhouettes while pairing it with pearl earrings and headbands. Or a cute button-up cardigan with ballerina flats, and my septum ring, and heavy jewelry.
Accessories are the bowl of the sundae, with out them, the ice cream (outfit) has no support. Plus the bowl sets the whole tone for the experience, doesn’t matter how good the ice cream is if its served in a boring bowl.
Just like you did with your clothes, look at your shoes, bags, sunglasses, jewelry, all of it! Anything you decorate your body with, including your wallet. What do they look like, and what is the common appeal of each. Break them down, and get back to me.
Step 3: Finding Your Staples
So, hopefully, by now, you understand where you stand when it comes to your style, which means it's time to start building your closet! Every style guild will tell you that to build a solid closet base, you will need a good pair of jeans, a pair of work pants, and a button-down shirt, at least that's what they will say for the most part, and while it is true, these are very good staples to have, they aren't going to be everyones best options for staples.
I wear jeans almost every day, and I love loose styles, so I have loose-style jeans in my staples. I love chrisp, white button-downs, so I have a chrisp loose button down as a staple. I love boots! So, I have boots as a staple piece. Are you getting what I'm saying?
The most important thing to remember during this section is that your staples should be geared to you and your lifestyle, and they should be high quality as these items will be getting a lot of wear as staples!
What are Staples in a closet?
Remember when I mentioned that most stylists follow a certain list of staples? Here is the list (or something like it):
It’s a lot! And while I agree with a good portion of what is listed, I do fear that it is single minded in its suggestions. Here are my suggestions instead (Let me explain!)
This is my (recommended) staple closet pieces; your closet’s foundation.
Your staple clothing is not meant to be sitting in your closet; they are meant to be worn, to survive all the trends you decided to participate in. So when I say simple or staple, I mean something that will be easy to build outfits from that fit your style!
So, while my staple t-shirt might be a simple white t-shirt (it is), yours might be a graphic tee or a pink ruffle tee; it doesn’t matter! As long as it works with your style!
You should also keep in mind what you do for a living, the activities you enjoy, and where you live. I work in fashion, enjoy indoor activities, and live in New York City. I do a lot of walking and endure cold weather; my staple shoes are black knee-high boots, my staple coat is a calf length pea-coat. Someone who hikes and lives in the Pacific North West is not going to want the same staples as me.
Step 4: Building your Closet
So you built your core closet, now what?A few things before we get into that, quick reminder, quality is everything. It does not matter how much money you pay or how well you care for something; if it is of low quality, it will not last. In an age of fast fashion and designer brands trying to get a fast dollar, you must understand what it means to be of high quality or slow fashion. You can't trust everyone these days, even those high fashion, off-the-runway brands, especially them.
When you're shopping for your closet, you should look for pieces that will age with you; that way, you're saving money and creating something that holds meaning. Also, having a solid, high quality core closet gives you more options and stability when you decide to bring a trendy, out-of-the-box piece into you closet.
More on that next....
Adding (Trendy) Pieces into your new closet!
You've got the foundation for your closet; now it's time to add some fun to it, and by fun, I mean things that are not necessarily going to be core pieces but that add a little spice to your closet, a risk!
At the end of the day, fashion is fun, and life is ever-changing. If you want to buy something that is out of the norm for you and you have the money to do so, who am I to stop you? We've all bought risky items and let them sit in our closet untouched. We've also bought items we thought would be a flop but ended up leading us to a new style that we never thought we would venture into. When it comes to adding pieces to your closet, all that matters is how it makes you feel because you can always sell it at the end of the day!
So that’s it. That’s all there really is to it. Personal style is like therapy, the more you understand yourself, the less work you really need to put into it. Styles change as you age, the world will continue to turn, but having an understanding of where you stand in your style now will help you learn how to keep you closet at least a little bit consistent so you don’t constantly feel like you have nothing to wear (which is still going to happen.) It will also help you lower your waste as a consumer and not give into over-consumption, which is the most important thing.
So go out and go forth and conquer, this is all I have for you. (For now….)
Like what you hear? Be sure to check out Blondie’s Spotify. You can also find her on almost all forms of social media under @blondiehasthoughts
Blondie
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Blondie is an artist, writer, and reborn fashion girl. She received a Fashion Design and Styling degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, later working for fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Nylon. She is currently on a hiatus somewhere out west, studying Cognitive Psychology to better understand the world and the human condition. Blondie can usually be found hosting her radio show, Airhead!, or in her room, making collage journals.
High Speed // January 2025