Style Sense Series: Lesson One, Defining your Personal Style

** Calling all aspiring Personal Stylists, Image Consultants, Fashion Stylists and Personal Shoppers! **
Over the next few weeks, we’re going be talking about how to develop your ‘sense of style’. In this video, Lesson One deals with ‘defining your personal style as it is right now’. So, if you’re up for a challenge, then grab yourself a quiet half hour, and come join us for these simple Style Steps!
The first thing we’re going to do is take a close look at your current wardrobe. Place some of your personal favourite clothes on your bed. You might find that each of them has something in common or a general theme… Whether it’s that they are elegant, sophisticated, clean-cut styles, or perhaps they’re feminine and figure hugging, or maybe even androgynous… Whatever the theme might be, it’s obviously one that speaks to you on some level. Becoming aware of what you naturally gravitate towards, helps you to define your own sense of style.
If you have time, try on each item, and ask yourself the following questions…
How does the piece feel when I wear it?
Where does it fit most closely to my body?
Does it hug certain curves or drape over any aspects of my figure?
Does it flare at the hips, or under the bust, or do the lines hang quite straight?
Does the fabric lie flat, or are there any features like flounces, ruffles, ribbons, sequins, pleats, ruching, appliqué or other embellishments?
Is it one of our neutral colours like grey, navy, camel, black or white?
Is it a warm and muted autumn tone like bordeaux wine, shaded spruce, chocolate or mocha brown?
Is it a clear and bold winter colour like sapphire, vibrant purple, or cherry red?
Is it perhaps a distinctive spring colour like coral, apple green, or cornflower blue?
Or maybe it’s from the dusky summer palette, with colours like mulberry, aubergine or smoked violet!
Is it a solid colour, or does it have blocks of colour like we saw in many designs from the 60s?
Does it feature a pattern of any type?
Are there vertical stripes, horizontal, diagonal, slim lines or wide?
Is there a symmetrical or asymmetrical pattern?
Maybe it has a floral motif or a dramatic animal print?
The next thing we’re going to consider, is what your clothes say about you, and defining how you want other people to perceive you. Having a sense of style, also means knowing what’s appropriate for different occasions. Think about the different roles in your life & jot down the different situations you typically repeat each week. Think about how you want to appear, and most importantly, how you want to feel for each of these situations.
And finally for this week, it’s important to also ask yourself what you don’t like about your current wardrobe so you can set some style-related goals...
Would you love to be more adventurous with your choice of colours?
Would you like to have more variety in the types of clothes you choose?
Would you like your clothes to fit you better, or be more flattering?
Would you like to experiment with layering and accessorising?
Would you like to have a greater choice of shoes and boots?
Would you like to start investing in better quality items?
Would you like to declutter your wardrobe and weed out any items you no longer wear?
It’s exciting when you start to visualise what you’d like to achieve!
In our next video, we’ll look at how to find inspiration that will help you to develop your sense of style and become more confident in expressing yourself through your clothing choices.
Credits:
The images of clothes used in this video (for the purpose of demonstrating different colours) are available to purchase from www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk.