Finding Your Personal Style
Finding your personal style is more important than just trying to find cute clothes that speak to who you want to represent. Determining what fashion outfits speak to you best can then help you save time, money, and most importantly prevent unnecessary waste.
Chances are if you are reading this, you may be one of the many households that has a closet full of clothes that you don’t feel drawn to wear. Don’t worry as you’re not alone.
In fact, a relocation and removal company named Movinga did a fascinating study on over 18,000 heads of households in 20 countries. In fact, a relocation and removal company named Movinga did a fascinating study on over 18,000 heads of households in 20 countries. The study discovered that a majority of consumers around the world are extremely disconnected about how much they own versus how much they wear in their closet. In fact it was found that 82% of clothes in Americans’ closest were untouched in the last year (Marjorie van Elven).
With 82% of clothes being left unnoticed in our closet, this pushes the issue even more that we need to start putting value behind the clothes we are buying. If we purchase with intent and not on a whim we can prevent ourselves from being another statistic of Americans’ who aren’t using what they’re buying.
Go On Pinterest & Search Up These Styles
Let’s be efficient with your time, shall we? Don’t go on Pinterest searching up ‘outfit ideas’ or ‘Fashion‘ when that is just going to lead you into a conglomerate of styles that you may or may not like. Searching Pinterest or Google this way can lead you to finding an outfit you like, but no description to tell you what the name of that look is. So I went ahead and did the work for you!
Follow the list below to search on Pinterest (or Google) to see what styles draws you in
Add ‘outfit‘ to the end of each keyword below & make a save the outfits you like on a Pinterest Board.
- Academia
- Geeky Chic
- Cottage core
- Girly Glam
- Hot Goth
- Country Chic
- Country Girl
- Tomboy
- Boss Babe
- Girl Boss
- Retro
- Hip Hop
- Streetwear
- Preppy
- Casual
- Fashion Dresses
- Chic
Did you search up most of the style categories above? Perfect! Now take a look at your Pinterest board and see if you notice a pattern in the outfits you pinned. Did you find you liked multiple styles? That’s great! Having multiple styles can make it easier on you when finding authentic clothing that matches your look when shopping in stores or online. Trust me when I say you’ll seldom find all of the clothing pieces in one shopping trip.
Shopping Day In Your Own Closet
Remember what I said about 82% of Americans’ having untouched clothes in their closet? Chances are you have some outfits building up dust too, so let’s put those clothes to use! Turn on your music, pull out your clothes, and have a fashion day! Now that you have a clearer idea of your look, see if any of your current clothes could support this style. You’ll probably find a treasure or two that you forgot about you’ll be thrilled to find!
Find old clothes you don’t like? Sell them or donate them! Sell your clothes on Instagram, eBay, or donate to your local thrift store or to a friend. Follow this article by Gathering Dreams which gives great tips on selling your clothes online.
Try On Your Personal Style In A Local Store: Don’t Shop Online Just Yet
Hear me out: This is the point where you know what style you think you like, but now you have to try it on to see if you like the way the clothes look on you. There are many looks / styles I absolutely love to gawk at on Pinterest, but I don’t get the same happy vibes when I see the clothes on me personally. Highly recommend you go into your local store to try on clothes and see much you like the clothing pieces on you personally. You’re not going to find exact matches to what you find on Pinterest, but look for items that get you as close as possible to what you pinned on your Pinterest board.
Why to not shop online when you’re first starting out:
Shopping online can either save time or waste your time and your money for that matter. When you’re in the beginning stages of finding your style, you’re than likely more going to face the following setback:
- Forget to return the items you purchased
- Buying cheaper items because it’s hard spending $$$ on a piece you can’t try on first
- Purchase items that aren’t accurate in sizing (sometimes sizing charts lie)
- Run into scam websites that waste your money
Use The 5 Second Rule When Clothes Shopping
You’ve got a busy schedule with work and life, so wasting an hour in a dressing room is not an efficient way to spend your time. A simple tip is try on the outfit and ask yourself if you get that love at first sight feeling in the first 5 seconds. If you do then you found a piece that you will actually grab when searching through your closest for an outfit. If you’re humming and hawing about whether you like the outfit then just walk away. It’s really that simple and this is why:
When you’re in a clothing store a majority of your senses are being engaged such as touch, sight, smell, and sound. When you enter in a store there’s perfume in the air, the lighting is set up to make you look fantastic, the fabric of the clothes are soft to the touch, and there’s the latest hit single playing in the background.
Therefore, if you’re not in love with your outfit now when the stage is set to make you feel like a million bucks then you will definitely not like the outfit when you get home. I have no problem with stores doing their best to sell their products, but just know in the back of your mind that the store is doing everything to make you feel great so you’ll purchase something.
Know What A Scam Fashion Website Looks Like
If you absolutely cannot shop locally then the only other option is to push forward with shopping digitally. You may find yourself having to branch out from the normal websites you typically shop at to find the right clothes. However, you will want to always proceed with caution when trying out new websites!
When talking with friends and family, it’s always shocking to see how many people get scammed by websites where the delivered products don’t match what you see advertised in the picture. My number one tip I use to avoid scam sites is to see if there is any branding pattern in the product pictures. If there’s no branding pattern in the photos then I walk away from the deal. This is because the scammer probably stole photos from a wide variety of other websites to then put on their own fashion site. If some product listings have photos of models wearing the outfits but other random photos do not then a red flag is going up in my mind.
We’ll be going into detail on the topic of do’s and don’ts to avoid a fashion website scam in an upcoming blog post, but the number one tip is still to ask yourself is the photos look like they were taken with one brand in mind. If the product pictures look like a conglomerate of different websites collaborated onto one platform then know the site owner more than likely stole the photos and isn’t going to sell you the read deal.
Enjoy The Journey To Finding Your Personal Style
If you found your style all in one or two shopping trips than that really is amazing! However, don’t be discouraged if you found it was harder than you expected to hunt down the perfect look for you. It’s going to take time and money to build up a wardrobe that won’t only get 50% of your attention. To give you a bit of perspective, I found the style that was right for me when I was 16.
However, I didn’t find all of the pieces that completed my look until I was around 22-24 years old. I even had to sew the outfits I wanted to wear since the stores (online and locally) just didn’t have the style I was searching for.
So embrace the journey to finding a look that makes you feel right at home! <3
Comment down below with any struggles you’ve dealt with trying to find a clothing style that best suites you.
Love, Love! <3
Cailey Maclean
