How to Find Your Personal Style

Finding your own, individual style can be incredibly challenging! You might think the easiest thing to do is to pick one genre of clothes and stick with it, but it’s SO important to remember that as human beings we are multifaceted - we’re emotional, constantly changing, growing, etc., and it’s not always as simple as selecting one style to encompass all of that. Instead, finding things that you enjoy wearing more than others at different points of your life can help you feel the most comfortable in your “look” at that time. If you watched my recent video, you know I went through a TON of different styles to get to where I am. And honestly, even now my look continues to evolve, but it’s such a fun process to watch. With that said, I’m going to give you some tips for finding your own style that have helped me over the years!

1. Find style inspiration

Start by finding looks you like. Pull out pictures from magazines, and hop onto Pinterest and start pinning looks that inspire and excite you! Don’t worry about finding cohesive or consistent looks, just choose what you like and then go back and evaluate what you see on your list. Do you see a lot of bright colors, or did you choose a more muted palette? Are you drawn to more edgy looks, or more classic? Write down some words that reflect what you are seeing on your inspo board. For example, mine might say: Bold colors, vintage, fun, school girl, nostalgic, flowy, effortless, funky prints, 1960s mod, 1970s, retro, layered, simple accessories, bold lips, wavy hair, bohemian vibes. Remember that the words don’t have to all go together. For example, I have school girl, and bohemian vibes in the same list. Right now you are just narrowing down what inspires you and gets you excited. Do you want your look to feel chic, cozy, effortless, bohemian, classic, etc. - this can help you when you put together an outfit. If your outfit makes you “feel” any of the words you want your personal style to feel like, then you’re on the right track!

2. Evaluate your lifestyle

Think about where and how you spend most of your time (60% business casual for work, 30% at home, 10% out with friends, etc.) - this is where you need to be really honest with yourself. It’s great to have special occasion pieces that you love and enjoy, but it’s also incredibly important to buy clothes that you can actually wear on a regular basis. If the majority of your clothing can’t be worn in your everyday life, it might be better to limit the amount of clothing you purchase for special occasions to just a few things. Once you evaluate how you spend your time, you can figure out ways to interject your personality into whatever lifestyle you have. In a sense, you’re creating a personal dress code to fit your lifestyle - one that you feel great in but is also practical.

3. Start with what you have

Pull out all of your favorite pieces from your closet and look at them as a whole. What do you see? What themes, colors, and trends stand out? Think about why you’re drawn to each piece. Maybe you really like a dress because of the beautiful print or silhouette - maybe you want to try adding more prints into your wardrobe, or more silhouettes that are similar because your body feels good in them. Once you make note of what you like that you already have, you can start to build from there!

**Another important thing to note when it comes to starting with what you have is to think about the pieces you’re holding on to that just aren’t bringing you joy when you wear them. This is where it might be time to do a purge like I recently did. Go through and get rid of those items - they’re just crowding your closet and making it harder to hone in on your style and what you actually like. 

Start asking yourself why you’re holding on to them:

- Is it for sentimental reasons?

- Do you hope to one day be the girl who wears that piece?

- Are you afraid you might need it in the future and don’t want to risk getting rid of it now?

- Are you keeping it because you saw another girl wear it, and she looked great in it, but you never feel good in it even though you wish you did?

These are all great questions to ask. And for the record, don’t ever beat yourself up for struggling to let go of something - we get attached to things, so be patient with yourself, but also get really real and have the courage to let go so that you can make space for the new.

**Something I’ve learned is that not all trends are meant for me. For example, when everyone was super into neutrals, I thought I needed to wear them because everyone looked so good in them, but I always felt like they washed me out and made me feel kind of depressed. Once I figured out that bright colors brought me joy and made me happy when I wore them, I stopped trying to wear beige because it just didn’t make me happy when I wore it. The happier you feel in your clothes, no matter how different or weird they may be, the more confident you will ultimately be. You’ll be the girl that’s wearing the eccentric vintage fur collar coat to a party, and your joy will be seen as confidence, which will be perceived as a girl who has an edge on style and is one of those women who can rock anything she puts on!

4. Let your inner child dress you

This is a really fun tip you can try. Pretend you’re a little girl: Get in touch with your inner child and let her pick out your outfit that day. Don’t filter her choices and don’t second guess it. Just grab the piece you’re most excited about, put it on, and see how it makes you feel! One of the most liberating experiences I’ve ever had was when I did this - I realized that I was WAY overthinking my outfits every day. But when I was able to let go and let my inner child wear what she wanted, it opened up a totally new creative realm for me. 

5. Start an Outfit Photo Diary

One of the best ways to solidify your style is to take a picture of your outfit every day for 3 months. I say 3 months, but you might not even need that long to start seeing your style emerge, or you might need longer! What I love about this is that you get to look back at all your outfits and see which ones you liked and which ones you didn’t like as much. See which outfits made you feel great (and create more looks like that), and which outfits you didn’t feel good in (maybe get rid of those pieces or style them a different way). The more you do this the more you’ll want to experiment and get creative! Fashion should be fun! It’s a way to express your creativity and share a little bit of your personality with the world without using any words.

**Friendly reminder:

Remember your style doesn’t have to just be one thing - i.e., rocker, boho, or ‘90s grunge. You can wear as many styles as you want to! I used to feel like I had to stick with one style and that’s simply not true. Embrace all the styles you want to and over time you’ll begin to see that they all reflect a part of YOU. It’s kind of like a diamond with different facets - we can show a new side of ourselves with each style we decide to wear that day. 

6. Start creating your new looks

Once you get a better idea of your style, look at your wardrobe and see what pieces you’re missing. Don’t forget an incredible pair of jeans (every woman needs jeans that make her feel great)! Maybe you have a lot of really fun printed clothing, and you need a few solid pieces to build outfits around those printed pieces so that they stand out. Maybe you’ve realized that blue is totally your color and you want to add more blue pieces to your wardrobe. Or maybe you just need that one great fitted blazer that will bring your whole wardrobe together and give you extra miles on all your fun blouses. This is where you can start getting more strategic when it comes to purchasing just the right pieces to elevate your wardrobe and really show off your unique style. 

It’s okay not to “know” exactly what your style is, just wear what makes you feel the best even if you can’t define it with a term - see what you’re drawn to, and don’t be afraid to let go of things that don’t “feel” like you anymore. Finding your style is a process of trial and error and there’s no right or wrong answer, it’s just determining what works best for you and makes you the happiest. If you like wearing loungewear best, figure out ways to style your loungewear in your own unique way - you can’t mess this up because your personal style is about being YOU and no one else. Wear what makes you happy, wear what you feel amazing in, and don’t dress for anyone else but yourself (side note: if you have a business to run and clients who look up to you, keep it YOU, but obviously keep it professional). I hope these tips help you! Just know that I’m rooting for you - trust yourself, you’ll find the style that makes you happiest:)