Save. Spend. Splurge.
March 4, 2016

How to find your own personal style: Part One – The Journey

My personal style has evolved over the years.

CHILDHOOD

When I was a kid, I could not get enough of pink, white and purple all because I had read in the Sweet Valley Twins series that Elizabeth (my favourite, OCD, overachieving, academically-minded twin) was REALLY into those 3 colours and her entire room was decorated like that.

Yep.

As I got older, I got into the tomboy phase, where I only wore pants and refused dresses and skirts until I started high school. In my tomboy phase, I wore a lot of bright rainbow colours.

HIGH SCHOOL

Once I hit high school I went into this awkward style phase of growing into being a young adult, and through it all, I turned into a bit of a punk goth (very light) mixed with being a little tight & trashy (a young teen’s attempt at trying to look attractive and mixing it up with showing skin, albeit not much by today’s standards).

COLLEGE

Fast forward to college and I was starting to experiment with patterns, loud prints, bright colours, and everything NOT solid, muted or neutral.

I did however, refuse to wear sweatpants to school and as I entered business school, I went from loud bright prints to stuff that was a little more safe and boring. You know, sweater sets and jeans.

My first working years were this awkward classic but still young-ish college look and frankly I was trying to find myself.

Wardrobe-Closet-Clothing-Personal-Style-3

CURRENT WORKING STYLE

Currently, my personal style is back to being more classic with an edge.

For instance:

Classic stripes in a cobalt and white stripe top over a pair of pants with some hardware (zippers).

But one of my all-time favourites is this South of France inspired 50s look:

Or it is usually a classic outfit of a jacket and jeans with a statement necklace:

I’m slowly phasing out skirts and things that are mid-thigh, anything too tight or flashy, and bright colours/rainbow-brite patterns except in accessories.

But how did I arrive at this “style”? How did I figure out that this was my PERSONAL style?

Coming up in Part Two: How I found inspiration

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9 Comments

  • Marie-Josée
    May 1, 2016

    I love the styles you showed via those pictures. Very stylsih! Especially the 50’s inspired skirt ourfit. I have had the same style since adolescence – love, classic, comfy clothes: striped French sailor sweaters, twin-sets, basic tees with well fitting jeans or pants, bright and colourful necklaces to spruce things up. I also own brightly coloured leather purses (red, hot pink) as accessories. I find the French really nail it, and look well dressed even in jeans, by pairing them with a striped sweater such as the one above, or a well fitting t-shirt and a beautiful scarf. I am overweight and I struggle to find well cut and stylish clothes. I can easily find well cut twin sets or work pants, but struggle to find week-end wear. I don’t understand why designers think that huge flower prints or geometric patterns look good on big women. I think they’re fine on a spring or summer dress or perhaps a bright and bold skirt, but for heaven’s sake, NO ONE who is overweight looks good in a blouse or top sporting huge flowers, circles etc. I am slowly beating my battle with the bulge and am now wearing a little more tight fitting close, instead of styles chosen to hide my big apple shaped body. I don’t own a lot of clothes and wear about 10 tops in rotation at work. I also own three pairs of work pants including a pair of jeans. I rev things up with my extensive collection of costume jewelry necklaces.

    Reply
  • The Asian Pear
    March 20, 2016

    To be honest, my personal style isn’t hard set yet. I have days when I’m more gothic, some days I’m very casual and bohemian, other days I’m more sophisticated. I do know that I tend to like different textures and materials. And whatever I wear, it’ll always have a gothic look to it as I tend to vibe toward black, empire waists, lace detailing and silver hardware.

    Reply
  • Corianne
    March 13, 2016

    My style now is sooooo different. In high school it was jeans and tshirts and lots of bright colours combined with black. At uni I experimented with hair colour and much less colour and more black, still mostly jeans with some dresses thrown in. Coming back from China and during my master degree I really lost the jeans and at the moment I wear mostly dresses. I own 2!! pairs of pants, a black one and dark-purple one. I have lots of dresses, for all occasions (work, casual, formal). Dominant colours are black, dark green and navy though I have more brighter ones as well, but nothing pastel (ugh). I still colour my hair but it’s been the same for about 4 years now (a very natural looking red people can’t believe is fake).

    (This was a fun exercise!)

    Reply
  • save. spend. splurge.
    March 9, 2016

    Sweet Valley Twins shaped my life I think. That and reading manga.

    Oh thank you 🙂

    Reply
  • Ramona
    March 4, 2016

    Back in the 90’s we were doing very bad financially. My grandparents and father had small incomes and I was in highschool. I would purchase stuff that was comfortable and could be worn many times (jeans, hoodies etc.) since they couldn’t afford to buy me too many items. So I’d have 1-2 pairs of jeans to wear and few blouses/tees.

    Weird enough, as I started earning money myself, I kept this ‘functional’ style to the date. I don’t own skirts or dresses, still wear jeans and short pants (during summer). I’m clearly not an example when it comes to being stylish 😀

    Reply

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