6 Steps to Discover Your Personal Style and Love Your Clothes

11 Ways To Figure Out Your Style When You're All Over The Place

I remember when I would open my closet and chaos would come out. I'd have every kind of persona stuffed into there: festival hippies, minimalist women, vintage Doris Days, and '60s college girls. When you're trying to find ways to figure out your style, it can be a long, frustrating process. There are just so many trends to dabble in, so many personas you identify with, and so many looks that catch your fancy — how is a person supposed to pick just one? While you don't necessarily have to just choose one type of woman you want to be and then put blinkers on when it comes to the rest of them, you do have to choose a prevailing theme to your wardrobe.

But how do you narrow that down? Well, like all projects you would roll your sleeves up for, it takes research, planning, lists, and a lot of trial and error. You have to have enough patience to allow yourself to try on things and discard them, as well as figure out what makes you feel the most "you." But in the end, you'll have a cohesive wardrobe that makes you excited to dive in every morning. Here are 11 tips on how to figure out your style.

1. Find Your Style Icons

You don't need to do this soul searching alone. Instead, pull ideas from others to get a handle on what your style is. So first thing is first: Find out who your style icons are. Lifestyle writer Jamie Krell from lifestyle site The Everygirl wrote, "Jot down the names of your favorite style icons and do a bit of research via Pinterest, Google, or Instagram to gather inspiration from their looks." Having all their looks in one cohesive spot will add like a guide when it's time to step in front of the closet and dress yourself.

2. Pull A Common Theme From Those Icons

People don't usually just stick to one style when it comes to their wardrobes — some are minimalist but edgy, others are punk but vintage, and so on. To figure out what themes you enjoy the most (so you can stick to them when you shop,) study those icons on your Pinterest boards and pull out what they all share in common. Krell explained, "Create a list of your five favorite celebs or bloggers, do a quick search on each of them, and pin the images and outfits that most resonate with you. Finished? Now, write down all the elements they have in common. Chances are, the characteristics you write down most frequently are the ones you most relate to, and the vibe that makes you the most comfortable." It'll help make your preferences clearer.

3. Actually Write Down Those Adjectives

It's not just enough to realize what elements you like the most — you need them tangibly in front of you when you go shopping so you stick to your new style vision. Fashion writer Kat Collings from Who What Wear recommended, "Pick a few words to describe the vibe of the looks. Are they ladylike, modern, edgy, bohemian, or classic? Settle on a handful of words that feel true to your style, and write them down for future reference, as they will help you clarify and define your look." Say you're feminine/minimalist. Having a piece of paper in your purse that says that when you go shopping will help you ignore all the crochet festival pieces that catch your eye and the flamboyant vintage dresses. It'll be like a chaperone.

4. Take Pics Of What Works

If you feel fabulous and like yourself in a certain outfit, catalog it! It'll help you recreate similar looks in the future. Collings advised, "You know those special days when you walk out the door feeling like your most stylish self? Snap a quick picture for future reference." Not only does it highlight the look you're going for, but it can inspire future looks.

5. Clean Out Your Closet

It's going to be hard to stick to a streamlined look when you have a bunch of pieces that act as outliers stuffed onto hangers. In order to make your outfit-building go according to plan, clean out all the pieces that no longer fit your new look. InStyle offered, "Edit out pieces that don't fit the criteria. Anything borderline gets the cut, including pieces you only feel brave enough to wear once in a while." This way you'll be less tempted to mix and match in a way that doesn't fit into the categories you've outlined.

6. Choose A Palette

Do you like warm neutral tones? Black and whites? Poppy summer shades? Busy patterns? Choose your palette and your closet will become easier to mix and match. Style writer Katie Van Syckle from The Cut wrote, "I will also find a color palette that I’m going for and work within that color family." If the core of your wardrobe follows those hues, it'll all be more cohesive.

7. Find Out Why You Like Certain Pieces

Say you have a favorite dress or shirt in your closet. There's a reason it's your fave, and it can hold some key answers for you. Van Syckle offered, "If you know you like something, try to figure out why." Does it reflect your personality? Why does it make you feel beautiful? Comfortable? Outgoing? Figure out what parts of it you like (it's baggy, long, colorful, etc.) and find other pieces that follow that vibe.

8. Experiment On The Cheap

If you're unsure of a trend or a style but still want to give it a go, make sure to do it with your wallet in mind. If you want to try culottes or a patterned suit, pick it up at cheap fast fashion stores so it doesn't become high risk. Krell advised, "I learned to experiment with the latest fashion trends the smart way — I would hunt for trendy deals at discount places like TJ Maxx and Forever 21. I would only splurge on staple pieces: leather boots, a great handbag, a nice coat." So if the style doesn't work on you after all, you're only out 20 dollars and can move on to other experiments.

9. Play Up Your Favorite Features

I, for example, feel unstoppable when I wear a dress or jumpsuit that highlights my tall frame. I walk with more purpose, I feel beautiful, and I become more "me" strutting around in a column dress or floor-skimming bellbottoms. Figure out what your favorite feature is and go to town choosing pieces that highlight it. Collings pointed out, "Whether it’s your toned back or your hourglass figure, wearing clothes that play up your best assets always looks stylish, no matter what is currently trendy." So if you feel bomb-tastic showing off your cleavage, your back, or your legs, make sure to choose pieces that do just that. It'll be a game-changer.

10. Keep Less In Your Closet

Better style doesn't come from having more options - it actually gets more defined when there's less to choose from. Van Syckle explained, "I don’t want to have to sift through 20 things I know I’m not going to wear to get to the three or four cute things. If you get rid of everything that you don’t wear and narrow down your look, then getting ready is super-easy and then you are more likely to go out and buy more of that look and get better versions of it.” You'll realize the pieces you truly love and get variations of that to continue to build your style.

11. Dress For Your Lifestyle

Do you love gowns but live in a small town? Adore small dresses but live in a perpetual winter? While those might strike your interest, they won't ever leave the closet because you'll never get the chance to bust them out. Or are you trying to make it as an artist? Or settle into a more laid-back personality? Or are you trying to be more conident and outgoing? Then let your clothes help remind you of your goals. When creating your style, don't just nab things that spark your interest, but also keep your lifestyle, your dreams, and your self-improvement in mind. Krell explained, "Consider the persona you want to present to the world. You want your style to reflect your personality, but it also has to make sense in your field of work, your overall lifestyle, the city you live in and aligned with your long-term goals."

If you keep these tips in mind, figuring out your look will be so much easier!

Images: @aclotheshorse/Instagram

How To Find Your Personal Style – 12 Best Fashion Tips

If you are trying to learn how to find your personal style, then you are definitely on the right page because we are here to help you. Today, in this article, we will tell you how to go about it. Finding your unique style can sometimes be tedious, but with some prior exercise, you will undoubtedly ace it. Well, honestly, everybody has a personal style; it just needs to be identified and shed some light on it, so it reflects on you in the best way possible. You need to know your likes and dislikes and find out all the underlying aspects you might usually consider unimportant. Based on the insights you gain, you can give your personal twist to your looks. So, scroll down and find out how to do it.

Tips To Find Your Personal Style

1. Know Your Body Type

Knowing your body type is probably where everything starts. No, not because a body type dictates what you should wear, but because you know what kind of clothes would look naturally good on you. It’s more like identifying your strengths and building on them.

2. Scan Your Wardrobe

Skim through your wardrobe and spend a day with your closet. Look at clothes you’ve bought over the last few years, the clothes you’ve repeated the most, the unopened pile, the impulsive purchases, stuff that you one day want to wear or fit into, etc. All of them have stories to tell, and needless to say, the most repeated clothes point towards the style you prefer.

Stylecraze Says Try to create a capsule wardrobe (a collection of basics) you can mix and match to create some elegant looks.

3. Gather Your Looks

Go for a little walk down the memory lane, and make a folder with pictures from the past – photos of yourself that you like the most, dresses you often wear, etc. That gives you an idea of what you want, which means you should probably reconsider your closet, chuck everything you do not need, and build further according to your style. Work on adding to those looks, and how you can align them with the current fashion trend. Like adding a scarf, a piece of jewelry, boots, etc. After all, it can be quite boring to wear the same kind of clothing.

4. Think About Your Style Icon

Who is that one person alive, dead, celebrity or not, that you look up to as ‘your personal style icon’? That tells a lot about who you are, what you like, and who you want to look like. Well, more often than not, it does. Are you all about elegance and LBDs like Audrey Hepburn, classy and an absolute diva like Beyonce, eccentric like Lady Gaga or a girl next door like Emma Stone? Whoever it is you might like, your style icons can help you find your style.

5. What Inspires You?

What defines you? Bohemian chic, yogini, classy and feminine, athletic or casual? This probably is the easiest way to find your style. We all have an innate affinity towards a particular style, sometimes we kind of know it, and sometimes we need to hear it from someone – either way, think about it. Do you like throwing on a pair of jeans, a plaid shirt, converse shoes and go for light makeup, etc., to meet a friend, or are you all about being prim and proper? That should decide your future purchases.

6. What Are Your Favorite Colors And Combinations?

Are you all about prints, colors, and everything vibrant? Do you like muted and minimal grayscale outfits? Or, are you all about understated elegance with a slightly mellowed down palette which mostly is about pastels or other softer hues? Take a minute and think about it. If you are looking to have a signature style, colors play a huge role in helping you decide.

7. What Accessories Do You Prefer?

Do you like one chunky piece of neckpiece or huge earrings, or both? Is fine jewelry your thing? Or, a bare neck with studs on your ears, and a watch? Accessories are a big part of this puzzle and speak a lot about your personality. Look at your jewelry box or your Pinterest boards, and see what all you use the most and stuff that you’ve always been hesitant to try. Usually, this will be in alignment with the other things we spoke about till now.

Stylecraze Says You may experiment with layering accessories of different lengths and sizes. Try neckpieces of different textures, colors, bangles, and stacked rings. Mix and match to find your unique style.

8. Do You Have Any Ideologies?

Do you believe in slow fashion? Are you all about using cruelty-free products? Is fashion your thing, and you like being up to date with the latest trends? Understanding this will help you broaden your horizon while narrowing your scope. Even if you are going trying to try the minimalist lifestyle and see if you can work with a capsule wardrobe, this helps you to a great extent.

9. Look Into Your Shoe Closet

Sometimes, working backwards helps. What are your go-to shoes? What do you wear every single day? Do you like flats? Ballerinas or pumps? Boots or Uggs? Flip flops or sneakers? You ultimately have to match your shoes with your outfit, which means one size always does not fit all.

10. Your Favorite Brands

Do you believe that the quality of clothing is proportional to the brand value? Believe that branded clothes enhance your personality? Or, you don’t care as much about the brand and more about how it looks on you? Do you prioritize a brand or style over comfort? Having favorite brands usually is a big cue to your style, so think about it.

11. Have At Least One Signature Garment

Do you reach out to a scarf to put together an outlook? Or throw on layers like a chambray or plaid shirt, denim jacket or a shrug? Wear specific type or color of jeans or trousers? Are you all about V-neck plain T-shirts or cashmere sweaters? Have one signature piece of clothing type in your closet, which you think completes you, your outfit, I mean.

12. Connect The Lines

Everything should be concurrent with each other and mapped along to arrive at a personality type. Some of us have a particular type while some of us are flexible. On the flip side, some of us undermine ourselves and continue to wear the same baggy shirts and leggings without exploring our options. The point of this exercise is to take a minute to think, scan your closet, and analyze your wardrobe – and by no means just stick to your comfort zone. It is also for you to go out there and try new stuff while making sure you find your personal style after all!

Finding your personal style is so essential to your identity. Understanding your likes and dislikes can help you determine your sense of fashion and style. If you are struggling with finding your personal style, start by understanding your body type and going through your wardrobe to get an idea of your preferences. If you need inspiration, think about your style icon and favorite brands. Once you have gathered all this information, organize and reflect on it to get a better idea of who you are. We hope this article helped you understand how to find your personal style.

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6 Steps to Discover Your Personal Style and Love Your Clothes

Figuring out your personal style is the first step in creating a functional wardrobe you love.

When you can clearly define your personal style, getting dressed becomes easier and fun and you’ll save a ton of money.

Discovering your personal style seems easy enough, but start to dive into it, and you’ll quickly realize it can be confusing and overwhelming.

Have you ever sat down and thought about what kind of clothes and outfits you like?

Probably not, because as busy women, who has the time?

For many, myself included, there comes the point in life when we end up with less of a style and more a closet full of clothes we accumulated over the years.

How to Find Your Personal Style

The decades after I graduated from college were a series of personal style trial and error.

I fully embraced late nineties style with my low-rise jeans and mid-drift tops, not so much a personal style as a required uniform for frat parties and college life.

After graduating, I remember trying to look like a “grown-up” or my version of one. Thankfully, that was a quick phase, and I spent most of my twenties and early thirties experimenting with different styles, all while having babies and building a business.

While I’ve always understood the fundamentals of dressing, like proportion and fit, navigating it personally is very different.

As we age and watch our bodies change, it took me a minute to understand that what worked in my 20’s and 30’s doesn’t work on my body at 40 after three pregnancies – no matter how much I work out.

At my core, regardless of my age or size, I’ve always loved classic American style. As a young girl, I worshiped Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrara. I dreamed of growing up to exude their effortless elegance.

But it wasn’t until my late 30s and now at 40 when I felt like who I am as a woman and my personal style match. Like they are finally meeting at the same point.

Because for years, I was convinced what I liked was boring. So I bought things because:

I thought I should like it.

It was on sale.

I was just happy it fit.

Or all of the above – sound familiar?

Maybe that’s the beauty of aging, the confidence you get in being able to say, this is who I am.

Today, we’ll talk about how to find your personal style based on what worked for me and the strategies we used to help clients over the years so you can feel confident showing up as who you are in the world.

How to Find Your Personal Style in 6 Easy Steps

What Styles Do you Want to Live In?

When I worked with clients, the first step in our process was to figure out her style.

I created a client questionnaire, which included a section that asked them to think about women with a style they admire. It could be anyone, from a celebrity to someone they worked with.

It was an easy first step to get a sense of what the client liked.

To start this process, ask yourself, who do I think always looks great?

This is like a brain dump; it can be anyone with any kind of style. THEN, take that list and narrow it down to those styles you want to try to recreate.

For example, I adore Diane Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter. I appreciate their bold, wild, and unique style.

But do I want to dress like them?

No.

Readers often tell me they get stuck here because they like everything. And I get that!

It’s a lot like when you’re in the process of decorating your home. You can enjoy all kinds of styles, but what do you want to live in?

Can you like more than one style? Sure!

And that’s what makes your style unique. It’s how you combine those elements in your unique way.

I narrowed my list down to three:

Gwyneth Paltrow

Oliva Palermo

Carolina Herrera

What do they have in common? They all share a classic American style with some modern elements that feel relaxed and casual.

Who’s on your list?

Create a Personal Style Vision Board

Of course, we don’t have the resources (budget, stylist, make-up artist, etc.) to dress like a celebrity. So we want to create a visual to help guide us.

This step is by far my best, most well-received tip. We go through this process in detail in our Free Wardrobe Challenge.

It’s the most effective way to break down the difference between styles you appreciate and how you want to dress every day.

AND it helps you build a wardrobe you love quickly and easily.

Spend some time on Pinterest. Create a personal style board, and “pin” all the looks you like. Then, and this is important, go through them and edit them down to only the ones you love.

You may have pinned all different styles. But remember, there is a difference between appreciating a style and wanting to live in it. So the pins you keep should only be the ones you want to live in.

After you gather a few dozen pictures, look for cohesive elements.

Do you prefer:

Pants or skirts?

Silver or gold?

Mixing prints and patterns or monochromatic?

Romantic or tailored pieces?

What colors show up over and again?

You’ll quickly discover there is a thread of commonality within the looks you keep.

Having clarity around your preferences is the first step in understanding your style and making better choices in the future.

Once your board is together, use it as a guide while shopping. Before you purchase, ask yourself if that piece will help you create the look you are going for.

Edit out the Clothes that No Longer Serve You

Armed with your Pinterest board, do a quick edit of everything in your current wardrobe that doesn’t get you to your ultimate style goal.

Quite literally, stand in your closet with your Pinterest board open and see if your current wardrobe reflects what you like.

Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t. That’s generally the takeaway.

Follow our tips on how to organize your closet in 60 minutes.

Be ruthless. You’ll feel lighter when you get rid of items you don’t like, need, or use

Figure out Your Signature Pieces

As you look at your favorite styles, try to determine the pieces that keep showing up.

For me, my signature pieces ended up being dark skinny jeans, an animal print flat or bag, a crisp button-down, white tee shirts, a tan boot, and better jewelry and, for work, sleek dresses and neutral-to-me pumps.

These pieces work as an anchor for your style. They are the items you can always count on to ensure your outfit “looks like you.”

Wear it Three Ways

Our wardrobes and style go off the rails because we don’t put the proper time and strategy into shopping. We need to be intentional about what we bring into our closets.

A simple tip to follow when building your wardrobe is only to buy something you can wear three different ways.

The pieces that meet this criterion are what should be your core wardrobe pieces. These will help define your personal style and make it easier to get dressed.

Of course, you’ll buy items that you can’t wear three ways, but they should be few and far between.

Trust Your Style Instincts

As you move through discovering your style, you’ll start to feel more confident in your choices. It’s essential to trust your instincts.

Don’t talk yourself into a purchase you’re not thrilled to make.

Stop wear something because someone told you to.

Avoid buying something just because it’s on sale.

The process of building a wardrobe and curating your personal style takes time.

Try not to feel overwhelmed by everything you might need. Write a list of what you could use to pull some outfits together and only purchase from that list.