“We live in a world of self-defined brands”—Kenneth Cole
Being stylish and being fashionable
are very different things. Fashion is a universal thing. Style is an individual
thing. Anyone can be fashionable if they know the current trends and where to
shop, but not everyone can be stylish. For example, tight skirts with crop tops
may be in fashion, but by wearing them you may not look very stylish. Style is
more about what you look good in, feel good in, fits your personal tastes, and
fits your character. In my humble opinion, having style is much more important
than being fashionable because style tells the world a story—the story of you. Our
first perceptions of anyone are based on how they look because, unless you are
blind, only meet people online/on the telephone, or are a hermit, sight is the
first sense we use when meeting a person. It is important then to give an
accurate representation of yourself in that first moment. It would be awful for
someone to assume that you are an uptight business woman when in fact you are a
natural, bohemian type simply because you chose to wear a pant suit. Sure pantsuits
may seem appropriate for a fancy occasion, but if you aren’t a businesswoman
working in a tall building who drinks black coffee for breakfast you are essentially
lying to the whole world by wearing one. This is just one example. I have
countless, but hopefully you get the point. While it is sad, because we aren’t
supposed to judge a book by it’s cover and all that, the truth is that everyone
does it any way. While I don’t want to generalize, I think it is safe to say
that pretty much everyone makes snap judgments of others based on what they are
wearing. So since people are going to make decisions on who you are before they
even talk to you, you might as well represent yourself correctly.
Developing your style can be a
long, hard process requiring a lot of internal reflection and consideration of
life choices. Kind of like going through rehab. Defining your style is like
creating a brand for yourself. You go through the same steps as a designer does
when creating his or her latest line. This is not something that can happen
over night. It takes time, most people spend a lifetime defining and refining
their style and most don’t even realize what they are doing. But if you want to
be conscious about it, here are few simple steps:
Figure out what it is that inspires
you. You probably know what your likes and dislikes are and whether or not you
are aware of it, these things inspire you in a multitude of ways, including
what you wear. Whether it is books, movies, time periods, flowers, food,
architecture, other people, etc., what inspires you will shape what your
“self-defined brand” looks like. Example:
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| This is a mood board that I made for a class that I think does a good job at representing what inspires me |
You then decide on your color
palette–what colors you like and look good on you. If you had an honest mother
or sister or friend, or stranger, you have probably had the experience of being
told that a particular color makes you look ill. If not, either you are blessed
with magical skin and hair that looks good with everything, or you have never
been in an honest relationship with anyone and I am sorry for you. Most people
have their “go to color”. A color that looks fabulous on them and that they
just adore. For my sister it is grey, for me it is pink (that basically sums up
the difference in our characters).
The next step is to figure out what
kinds of clothes are good for you. As I have said countless times and will most
likely reiterate over and over again, not everyone looks good in the same
thing! I like dresses, skirts, flowy blouses, cardigans, high-waisted trousers,
and high heels. My best friend would never be seen in any of those
things—preferring jeans, t-shirts, baggy sweaters, boots, and leggings. That
doesn’t mean that one of us is more stylish than the other. This step includes
determining what silhouette looks good on you, what you find comfortable, and
what fabrics you like.
I think that if a designer made a line that was a representation of me, it would look a lot like this:
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| This is part of my midterm for fashion business. FUN right?? Well it has a color palette, clothing examples, and fabric swatches |
After that you can figure out what stores and brands work for you. Urban Outfitters does not work for me, but Kate Spade does (too bad I have no money and can’t actually buy anything from her…I can dream though). Then you can stock up your wardrobe and walk around advertising yourself correctly.
The most important thing to
remember is to stay true to who you are. Not only will buying a biker jacket
when you are a quiet librarian give the whole world the wrong idea of your
character, it will probably be a waste of money. If it doesn’t fit who you are,
you will probably never wear it, so why buy it? I have to remind myself of that
every time I am tempted to buy a pair of leather pants.
Xoxo
Justice
