“How would you describe your style?”

That’s typically the first question I ask a new client during our initial consultation and in most instances, the response includes a lot of hemming, hawing, gasps, long breaths, forehead scratches, sighs and finally…

“I don’t really have a style.”

With so many style choices and options available for us to choose from, no wonder it can sometimes be overwhelming to choose just one. But do you really have to? Do you have to pick one style?

Well, depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer. I’m under the mindset that you can have more than one style. My style personality fluctuates from time to time and that’s perfectly fine with me.

So, with all of the various styles out in the world — preppy, bohemian, grunge, goth, hipster, girly, conservative, etc. — how do you even begin to define your style?

I think there are a few of questions you can ask yourself (it’s perfectly fine to talk to yourself, I do it all of the time) to help put you on the golden brick road to owning your style. Let’s start with the first one today. I’ll save question two for next week.

1. What do I gravitate towards?

Do you have a closet full of white collar shirts or casual blazers? Do you tend to buy the same type of wardrobe piece over and over again? There is no wrong answer. If your answer is yes, that is totally fine. It just shows that you know what you like, but dig a little deeper. Why do you like that one item so much? What is it about that item that makes you keep going back? For example, if you have 17 casual blazers in your closet, (meaning you wear them outside of work) is it because you think it makes you look polished? Does it cover up body parts that you’d prefer to deflect attention from? Do you like the flexibility of blazers? You can pair them with jeans, a tutu, a dress or pencil skirt…that’s a lot of flexibility! After you interview yourself about why you gravitate towards certain wardrobe items, write down a list of adjectives that describe that item. Hold on to the list and I’ll tell you what to do with it next week…that’s called a teaser! Oh, and if you don’t tend to gravitate towards one (or more) specific items, next Monday’s post is for you too…that’s called a double teaser!

Here’s to starting this style identity journey together.

See you next week! 

xoxo,
shannon b.