Pretend you are a researcher conducting an experiment: keep an open mind, be sure to pay attention to every detail, snap pictures on your phone, and take lots and lots of notes.
Your goal here is to refine and improve the list you created during your inspiration session and end up with a comprehensive inventory of all the things you love plus lots of helpful details about how you like to wear individual pieces, your favourite combinations, fits to avoid, and so on. Try on as many pieces as you can get your hands on, but don’t buy anything just yet.
A word about finding clothes to try on
The best place to conduct your style experiment is a big department store, city centre, or any place with lots of different stores and brands for you to sample. If you feel iffy about trying on stuff without actually buying something, remember that you do have the intention of buying something eventually, just not today. It’s your right as customer to fully compare all your options before you make an informed purchasing decision. And once you have found your style and a brand that aligns well with your specific likes and dislikes, the store will be glad to have you.
Alternatively, you can ask friends and family to let you browse their wardrobes and sample a few of their pieces. And if several of your friends are also currently working on their personal style, you could even host a swap party, where everyone brings a selection of their own clothes for the others to try on.
How to assess your pieces
Whether it’s a concrete piece like a pair of lace-up ballerina flats, a colour combination like peach and sand, or an overall aesthetic you want to try out, throughout the experimentation phase, you’ll inevitably come across some things you love right off the bat, some that you like but don’t love, and others that just aren’t working. Here’s what to do in any of those scenarios.
YOU LOVE IT
Awesome! Write down every detail you can think of that makes this look work and don’t forget to take a picture of your whole outfit so you have something to refer to later on.
YOU HATE IT
If you instantly hate something you’ve been really excited to try, it may feel like a total deal breaker, but, really, this is where the fun begins! Remember, building great outfits is a skill. And by trying something new, whether it’s a colour, silhouette or overall look, you are venturing out into unknown territory. In other words, you can’t expect to nail it on the first try.
Let’s say you’ve been wanting to re-create a look you repeatedly found yourself drawn to while collecting inspiration: a high-waisted maxi skirt worn with a cropped top. So you find two pieces in a shop and go straight to the dressing rooms to try on your ensemble, expecting to have found a new go-to look … but then, once you catch the first glimpse of yourself in the mirror, you just feel disappointed. The whole outfit looks wrong, shapeless, and not at all like the modern seventies look that you were going for.
Should you scrap your maxi-skirt-plus-cropped-top idea for good and accept that that look just doesn’t suit you? Not yet! Try the following instead.
Isolate the problem
This is key! Figure out exactly what element of the colour, combination, silhouette, and so on isn’t working. Be super specific about this. Because chances are, the problem isn’t the overall idea you are testing (in this case the maxi skirt + cropped top combo) but the execution. Perhaps the cropped top is too long or not fitted enough to create the specific silhouette you are after. Perhaps the construction of the skirt doesn’t fit the individual contours of your body. Perhaps the fabric is too thin and clingy. And maybe you just don’t like the colour of the top or the zip detailing on the skirt, and it’s distracting you. These are all things you can easily fix just by finding different pieces to create your look.
But what if the problem really does lie in the specific idea you are testing? Then you have two options.
OPTION 1 Tone down the intensity
If something really isn’t working, the easiest way to still incorporate some of its overall vibe into your look is to simply wear it in smaller doses or in a toned-down format. For example, if going full on rock chic isn’t your thing after all, you could try pairing your regular basics with a studded clutch bag and/or a leather jacket.
See here for some more examples of how to tone down the intensity of something, depending on what type of element we are talking about.
OPTION 2 Scrap the idea
As you work through your list of ideas, you’ll inevitably come across some elements or looks that you just cannot make work. Not everything that you love conceptually will translate well into outfits that fit your life. And some things you may just love on other people but not on yourself. And that’s okay; no hard feelings. Simply make a note of it and move on.
YOU LIKE IT … BUT DON’T LOVE IT
Almost! Perhaps something about your outfit looks a little off, or you are just not crazy about it. In either case, you can follow the same process here as for looks and elements you hate: isolate the problem and fix it, see if you like it in a toned-down format, or scrap it. Chances are, if you like 80 per cent of a look, a little tweaking can easily turn that into 100 per cent.
How to translate an overall aesthetic into an outfit
Test-driving an overall aesthetic, whether it’s something that’s relatively defined (like a grungy nineties look) or your own concoction (like ‘beachy retro chic’), can be a little trickier than simply trying on a specific piece or colour, because it involves an extra step: figuring out how to translate that overall vibe into a wearable outfit.
The easiest way to do this is to choose two or three inspiration images that best convey the overall vibe you are trying to re-create, put them side by side, and try to pick out just a few concrete elements that stand out, like a colour, a specific piece, or a silhouette. What do all the images have in common? What one thing really signifies that overall feeling that all the images share? Then, build an outfit around those elements.
Extra challenges
Want to score some brownie points? Complete these extra challenges as part of your style experiment:
• List three things you love on other people but think you could never pull off yourself. Go on a mission to make them work on you by trying out lots of different versions or toning down the intensity.
• Go into a store that you consider to be totally not your style and challenge yourself to find one complete outfit that you would actually wear.
Are you uncomfortable or just out of your comfort zone?
As you experiment and venture out into new style territory, you may at times feel a little nervous and unsure about new pieces, cuts and colours, especially if the new style you are test-driving is bolder or more out-there than what you are used to. If you are trying to revamp your style, feeling out of your comfort zone is actually a good sign, because your comfort zone may have been safe but it didn’t make you happy. If something truly is your style, it’s just a matter of time until you warm up to it and feel great. In short, being a little out of your comfort zone is natural and nothing to worry about. But at the beginning, it may feel dangerously similar to feeling just plain uncomfortable with something because you truly don’t like it, and you may end up dismissing a great piece that could have been a new wardrobe favourite.
To prevent that, you need to learn how to tell the difference between being out of your comfort zone and feeling uncomfortable because a particular piece or outfit just isn’t working.
Feeling out of your comfort zone has nothing to do with your personal style and everything to do with your confidence levels.
Essentially, when you are out of your comfort zone, there are two forces pulling you in opposite directions. Your (much more objective) eye for style is telling you, ‘Yep, I love it, let’s wear it,’ but your confidence centre is telling you, ‘Hm, I don’t know, isn’t it a little too risqué for work? I’ve never worn all white before … Isn’t my bum a little too much on display? Will people stare?’
Fortunately, con
fidence levels vary on a day-to-day basis, and so one way to reduce the chance of low confidence distorting your perception of a new piece is to simply complete your style experiment on days when you are already in a good mood. Don’t go faux shopping if you’re not feeling well, you’re stressed or you’re exhausted. Instead, pick a day when you can relax, after you have got a good night’s sleep and had time to do your hair and make-up. Make sure you feel good before you hit the shops. An overall positive attitude is going to make it much easier to not let those nagging (and completely unnecessary voices) get in the way of you and great style.
A second way to distinguish between being out of your comfort zone and simply not liking a piece is to trick your confidence centre into shutting down temporarily with a little thought experiment. For example, let’s say you have always been a jeans-and-T-shirt kinda gal but are now trying on a simple dress for the first time and feeling really strange. Ask yourself, if a fairy godmother gave me total confidence and zapped all my body hang-ups, would I wear this? Or, if I moved to a new city and had the chance to completely reinvent myself, would I wear this? If the answer is yes, you can feel optimistic that this type of piece aligns well with your unique aesthetic and you will eventually get used to it and wear it with pride.
Playing pretend helps you move past your natural but temporary insecurities to get down to what really matters: your true feelings about that dress. It sounds silly, but it really works. Try it!
And don’t forget: you don’t have to dive right into the deep end and dress head-to-toe in black leather and studs, even if that’s what you ultimately want. You can start by dipping your toes in and slowly easing into your new style – by wearing a single edgier piece with your go-to basics, for example.
Create your own rules: Building a fit and fabric guide
You already know I am not a fan of fashion rules that tell you what to wear based on your body shape, colouring or answers to a handful of multiple-choice questions. But I do believe rules can be helpful – as long as you set them for yourself. For example, one of my personal style rules is that I don’t wear tops that aren’t fitted around the waist or don’t look good when tucked into pants. This is not because of my body shape, but just because I’ve learned from experience that I just always prefer some definition around my hips or waist. Now that I know that, I can safely skip things like empire-waist tops or long-line chunky knit sweaters while I am out shopping, which saves time and energy.
Having rules is especially helpful when it comes to fabrics and fits, because these are hard to get right, can make or break an outfit, and on top of that, strongly depend on your personal preferences. But again, to uncover your personal preferences, you first need to do a fair bit of experimenting. And the experimentation phase is the perfect opportunity to do just that!
Below you’ll find a list of the most common fabrics, materials and fit elements, such as sleeve length, necklines, and so on. As you go along and try on lots of different clothes, take a moment to assess how much you like both the fabric and the fit of the piece you are currently trying on and make a note of it in your style file. If you already know for a fact that you hate or love some of the things on the list, feel free to enter that before shopping, but for everything you aren’t 100 per cent sure about, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
Fabrics and materials
• Angora
• Cashmere
• Chambray
• Chiffon
• Corduroy
• Cotton
• Denim
• Faux fur
• Faux leather
• Fleece
• Knits
• Leather
• Linen
• Mohair
• Polyester
• Raw denim
• Rayon
• Satin
• Silk
• Spandex
• Suede
• Tweed
• Velvet
• Viscose
• Wool
Fits
NECKLINES
• Boat neck
• Cowl neck
• Crew neck
• Deep V-neck
• Halter neck
• Scoop neck
• Square neck
• Sweetheart neckline
• Turtleneck
• V-neck
SLEEVES
• Cap sleeves
• Dolman
• Half length
• Off the shoulder
• Raglan
• Short
• Sleeveless
• Spaghetti straps
• Strapless
• Three-quarter length
WAISTLINES (TOPS AND DRESSES)
• A-line
• Drop waist
• Empire
• Fitted, but not tight
• Loose fitting
• Slim fitting
• Straight
• Tailored
DRESS/SKIRT LENGTH
• Above knee
• Knee length
• Maxi
• Mid length
• Mini
SKIRT TYPE
• A-line
• Fitted
• Full
• Pleated
• Straight
TROUSER LENGTH
• Ankle length
• Full length
• Hot pants
• Knee length
• Mid thigh
• Short
• Three-quarter length
TROUSER TYPE
• Boot cut
• Boyfriend
• Chinos
• Flared
• Harem
• Pleated
• Skintight/legging fit
• Slim fitting
• Tailored
• Tapered
Congratulations! You’ve done the work and spent time in dressing rooms sampling new styles, fits, and materials. You are now ready to take all that information and weave everything into one coherent story line: your personal style.
After completing your fieldwork, you are now hopefully at a place where you have a pretty good idea of what kinds of cuts, colours and combinations you love, how you like things to fit, and what overall style you feel most comfortable in.
This chapter is about synthesising all those findings and turning everything into a detailed profile of your ideal style.
Regardless of what’s currently in your wardrobe, having a clear picture of how you ideally would like to dress is a good idea because it gives you a concrete road map that you can use to tweak, upgrade or overhaul your wardrobe step by step.
Style profile overview
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to put together a style profile that consists of two parts:
• Part 1: A mood board that expresses the overall feeling of your style
• Part 2: A written summary of the key qualities of your style
Why two parts? Because your style profile needs to fulfil two crucial criteria: it has to be inspiring and practical. The mood board covers the visual, bigger-picture perspective of your style, while your written summary acts as a road map for implementing it.
One word before we get started: at this point, it’s totally natural to feel a little intimidated and worry about whether you are even ready to pinpoint your personal style, much less write a detailed profile of it. But remember: when it comes to personal style, nothing is ever set in stone. In a few years you will probably shake your head at some of your current favourite pieces. Your style is ever evolving, but that doesn’t mean there’s no point in building a wardrobe that you love right now. Developing a great sense of style is all about practice. So don’t worry if you aren’t 100 per cent sure you’ve discovered your personal style yet. Even if you don’t end up implementing every little part of your style profile or change your mind about some things, aiming for a c
oherent overall aesthetic will already do wonders for your wardrobe and help you train your eye for style. Bottom line: Even if you don’t feel completely ready yet, simply give it your best shot, and revise it as you go along.
Ready? Okay, let’s go!
Find the pattern: A first sketch of your personal style
Before you start working on the two parts of your style profile, it’s important that you understand the overall feeling of your style and its main components.
Now, hopefully, during your style research and fieldwork, you already noticed patterns among your favourite pieces, colours, materials and silhouettes. Perhaps you were drawn primarily to structured, minimalist outfits, clean lines and jewel tones. Or you noticed you love everything with a romantic vintage vibe from floral patterns to lace detailings. Or maybe you discovered you feel best when mixing two styles that don’t have much in common at first sight, like a sporty, urban look with a touch of punk.
If so, this step will be easy for you. If you didn’t notice any patterns, now is your chance to look over all of your different likes again and figure out how everything fits together.
The Curated Closet Page 5