Finding Your Personal Style
Still searching? Who isn't?
So many people have asked me about my personal style. I wondered: how can I convey my personal style to a group of people who know me, as well as to those who don’t? What do I want to say about my style? What do I want people to know about it, even when I don't have to use words?
I believe my style is the perfect culmination of who I am as a person. You can see both sides of my personality reflected in my outfits at all times. No matter the event, I stay true to who I am, what I love, and where I draw inspiration from.
Drawing inspiration is incredibly important for evolving personal style. As you mature, you begin to discover who you are, what your likes and dislikes are, and you can easily source inspiration based on these preferences. So, I’ll break down the ways to find your personal style, and you can share your thoughts with me.
WHO ARE YOU?
You are someone important, and drawing on your favorite features when figuring out your personal style is essential. An important question to ask yourself is: What do you want people to know about you when they see what you are wearing?
Other questions you can ask yourself are:
What are you doing day to day?
Finding an outfit for your daily activities can feel challenging, but having an idea of how you like to feel in an outfit when doing your daily tasks can be helpful. For example, when I have to study for a final, I can never wear sweatpants. I wish I could, but I have to be in jeans because then I feel put together and ready to conquer.
What is your go-to outfit?
Do you prefer wearing leggings and being comfortable, or are you a jeans lover? Know what you like and capitalize on it. Why change what works? Instead, let's add some more personality to what you love and feel confident in.
Do you like it, or does it feel bland to you?
If you like what you have going on, fantastic. If you don’t, that’s also fantastic. How can we add to what you are wearing daily? How can we spice up something that is worn regularly so it doesn’t feel like the same outfit over and over again?
Let’s say, for example, your go-to is a white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Here are three different ways to style it:
Going to work? Throw on a blazer.
Going to class? Rock some denim-on-denim by adding a denim jacket or vest.
Going to class or work but don’t want to wear what I suggested above? Try a cardigan over the shoulders and ballet flats.
Going to drinks or dinner? Add a pair of kitten heels, a cool bag, and some jewelry.
FINDING INSPIRATION
Do you have someone you look up to for style advice? Whether your answer is yes or no, that’s okay. Personally, I love drawing inspiration from random places, like interior design, my colleagues, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. Believe it or not, when I want to be inspired, I go through a saved folder I have on TikTok with 300 videos of outfits I want to try and recreate for myself.
Some of my favorite outfit inspiration comes straight from the workplace. I love seeing how my colleagues style their outfits in different ways. The same piece could be worn eight different ways by the same people at work. Just from that, I find a ton of insight on how to style the pieces in my closet.
Another great place to source inspiration is from people you may know or follow on a platform. I don’t really follow any creators closely on Instagram, but here are a few people I love finding inspiration from: Hadley Greene, Lilly Sisto, and Denna. Each of these girls has an incredible way of piecing together outfits with items that I have in my closet but would have never thought to pair together.
The last place I find inspiration is through the media. Fashion magazines, tabloids, and movies are great places to find style. A lot of style icons were born within the pages of Vogue or in the minutes of your favorite movies. Next time you are watching, ask yourself what you like and what you don’t about what you are seeing.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. When you are walking to school, sitting at work, or even getting your nails done, notice and admire the personal choices of others, and ask yourself if you would wear that. There is no room for judgment with personal style.
My aesthetic will look completely different from the person next to me, but that doesn’t matter because we are both expressing who we are. It is not about judging other people; it is about admiring them for being outspoken about what they want to wear, even if it is different from what you would choose for yourself.
SOME OF MY FAVORITE OUTFITS
Still thinking… “okay but I need some photos, I am a visual learner.” I have put my favorite outfits together. They are not perfect, but I think they are so awesome.
TRIAL AND ERROR
We all fail, all the time. No one is perfect—trust me. There are some outfits I wish I could forget that I wore, but I am happy that I don’t. Why? Because they helped me create the looks I am wearing today. You cannot buy style; it is something that comes through many fabulous and failed statements. But that is the risk we have to take to receive the incredible reward.
We won’t all find our style at the same time. I wish I could tell you that it was as easy as putting on one bad outfit and realizing, “Wow, I won’t wear that again,” but it’s not. It is a more tedious process, one that requires attention to detail and awareness of the world around you.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Now that you have an idea of who you are as a fashionista and a few places to source inspiration, we can work on putting it all together. Play around in your closet; it should be a place where you can let your imagination run wild. Pair pieces that you would never think to wear together. Let go of the embarrassment, because no one will remember what you wore, but they will remember how confident you were and how expressive you are as an individual.
Style is about being yourself. For some, that is easier said than done. From a young age, I have been pretty open, honest, energetic, and expressive about who I am and what I like, and I let my outfits show that. I don’t always love what I put together, but everything is a work in progress. The beauty of knowing who you are and finding places to spark inspiration is that you get to be yourself. At the end of the day, you find your personal style by finding confidence in yourself.
There was a time when I thought too much about what other people thought. At that point, my personal style suffered. I remember it clearly—the outfits I wore because I thought that was what I should be wearing. I wasn’t dressing for myself; instead, I was dressing to fit in. When I finally grew out of this phase—a phase that at least some people have experienced themselves—I became free to dress as I pleased. Maybe this is just me, but when someone tells you they love your outfit, that compliment means the world to me. Not because someone recognized me or thinks I look cool, but because I am in an outfit that portrays a part of my personality, a part of who I am.
AND JUST LIKE THAT…
you are on your way to finding your personal style.
xx,
sunshine