Wear pieces with purpose…

Honest style has substance. It is the clothing you love, the pieces you love to wear, and and how you love to wear them. It’s not necessarily a reflection of the trends, although it can be! The key to developing your personal style is to be inspired, self aware, brave, and continue evolving by being adventurous. The art of dressing is, and should be a joy!

“Style is very personal. It has nothing to do with fashion. Fashion is over quickly. Style is forever.”

— Ralph Lauren

How To Develop Your Style

Develop Your Style | Be Inspired

If you’re finding yourself a little stuck in a rut with your style choices lately, and maybe you’re not sure how to branch out, or perhaps there’s nothing in your wardrobe that excites you anymore, the first step is to find inspiration! Style inspiration is everywhere, but the key is to look in places that mean something to you. First it’s important to identify what styles are for you, and how you want to show your personality. That will determine the places you can look to be inspired! For me, style is about artistry, fun, and colour. I get a lot of my inspiration from nature, flowers, and beautiful places. Fine art and music inspires my style choices too, whether it’s a particular colour that I fall in love with for a season or a type of fabric. Whatever it is, follow that notion and explore what brings you joy to find your inspiration!

Develop Your Style | Be Self Aware

Although style is visible from the outside, it comes from within. Style is not only personal and meaningful, it’s also a reflection of you, and who you are! How would you describe yourself? How do you like to present yourself? What values are important to you? I touch on these things more in another article I wrote called ‘The Freedom of Fashion’ which you can read here. Once you have your list of at least three traits or statements you would like to make with your fashion choices, start connecting these to a mood board or outside sources of inspiration such as Pinterest. For me, it’s important to be timeless, classic, vibrant, professional, beautiful and cute!

Develop Your Style | Be Brave

Style isn’t always easy, especially when you would like to develop your own look! It can be scary to wear something that no-one else is wearing at the time, or to feel like you are ‘breaking the style rules’. It’s important to remain steadfast and true in your execution of how you create your own style, and once you identify what is important to you and who you want to be, allow yourself to be brave in embracing what brings you joy. For me, my vibrant and simple aesthetic can sometimes feel a little quirky, and I can find myself second guessing my initial choices. Connecting your style choices back with who you are, what it means to you and what you love can encourage you to be brave when dressing up!

Develop Your Style | Be Adventurous

Style doesn’t end with your outfit today, tomorrow, or next week. Your style will continue to naturally evolve along with you! Keep pushing yourself to try new things when you are out shopping. Different colours, styles, fabrics, accessories, allow yourself the freedom to experiment without judgement. Play with your current wardrobe, and brainstorm unusual ways of matching your pieces to create new looks with what you already have! A great way I use to do this is to rearrange and tidy my wardrobe by reorganising everything, allowing me to see what I have with a fresh perspective! You can try arranging your wardrobe and accessories by colour, shape, fabric, or season. Perhaps you have the perfect match for an outfit that never occurred to you! Maybe that pair of shoes you have been neglecting would work perfectly with a favourite dress, whatever the options, and whatever your wardrobe, developing your style doesn’t require a new wardrobe, it just requires a new way of looking at yourself, and the world.