Five tips to help you find your personal style

Finding or re-inventing your personal style can be a tedious process. And this is to say the least. Worse, it could be a frightening place to be especially as not so many people know how to go about “finding their personal style”. To begin with, not a lot of us knew there was such a thing as a “personal style” to begin with.

So how can one go about this in a way that’s simple, non-confusing, and very efficient at the same time? We’ll find that out in the five steps which we will be discussing.

However, before that, let’s briefly define what personal style is.

Personal style is the way a person expresses themselves — sometimes in relation to their religion and beliefs — through their choice of clothing — accessories, hairstyle, etc — and how they put an outfit together.

Most times in the fashion industry, the word “style” is used interchangeably to also mean personal style.

Now, back to the main focus of the day; the five steps to take in finding your personal style:

• STEP 1: Look Out For Inspiration

Inspiration is the best first step to take in finding your style. Look out for icons (celebs) or anyone really whose style is similar to what you’d want to imitate.

Remember that sometimes, your style icon could be someone from the past as well. The most important thing when choosing a style of inspiration is that the chosen style speaks to your taste.

Platforms like Pinterest makes this search more efficient as you can create a Pinterest board with all inspiration looks and store your style inspiration posts in a dedicated Instagram folder as well.

In addition, also pay attention and note to the pattern of style your style inspiration often wears. Is this person often in a two-piece? Does this person mostly dress casually? Is there a particular texture of clothing material they lean towards? Are there partial to a particular kind of colour? These questions will help further determine if your source of inspiration is truly a match with the intended style.

• STEP 2: Look At Your Wardrobe

Next, is to get practical. You’ll have to look through your wardrobe. A good place to start could be to do away with the clothes which you may not necessarily be too excited about anymore. Sort through your wardrobe to identify the clothes you’d want to give out and those you’d need to trash.

Next, with the clothes you have left, it’s time to identify which fit into the style you’re trying to build or refine. If you need to cross-check with your inspiration style board or folder, please do. Should certain clothes out of this lot not fit into the style you’re trying to build, it might be fair to bid that clothing item farewell.

Your wardrobe is now ready to acquire new clothes and accessories.

• STEP 3: Create A Personal Style Moodboard

A mood board is an arrangement of images, materials, pieces of text, etc. intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept. However, with the presence of technology, certain applications cater to a mood board needs.

This means that you do not necessarily have to use a magazine or book to create your mood board. Instead, you could make use of the features provided by the application.

As earlier indicated, Pinterest is a perfect application to create a mood board for your Style Finding Project.

• STEP 4: Shop Wiser For Functional Wears

Your wardrobe is set to acquire new clothes and accessories. However, it is important to tread wisely when shopping. Always indicate what pieces of clothing you want to purchase and crosscheck that they tick off the pieces on your Style Inspiration board.

Try to shop less emotionally, and go for functional pieces suiting your style type.

• STEP 5: Test Out Your New Style

It could feel overwhelming trying out your new-found style and this is completely normal. You can, however, start from a safe place. Try out your new style little by little.

For instance, you can style an outfit (in your new-found way) once weekly while incorporating your previous styles the remaining 6 days of the week. Work up the number of days that you dress in your new style until you’re comfortable to go all out.