What is personal style and how to identify yours |

Fashion and style are not the same thing! There is a big difference and the main one is that fashion speaks to the collective, it is more comprehensive, while style is individual, as it is directly linked to our life, our experiences and our preferences. Hence the denomination personal stylethe style of each person, each individual.

Therefore, those of you who think you don’t have style, who always say, “that it’s too basic”, who don’t have the time or opportunity to look at your own style, stay and follow this text until the end!

Clothes and accessories are part of our non-verbal communication and translate our style. Personal style is our trademark, it reflects who we are to the world!

Personal style: types

We all have style, in fact a set of styles and we show it not only through our clothes, but also through our behavior, our communication and even the decoration of our home, after all, our home is an extension of our being.

Your personal style should be a natural projection of your inner self, in addition to being aligned with your goals and life purpose.

We tend to think that the stylish are only those people who carry a lot of fashion information when choosing their looks, but having style is not exclusive to them.

If you’ve ever done an internet search on style, you’ve probably come across the seven universal styles, this is the best known and most used methodology in image and style consulting, which was developed by Alyce Parsons and published in the book Style Source.

The author talks about seven ways of seeing the world and divides it into inner essence (what is intrinsic, which would be our sensory aesthetic preferences) and outer expression, which would be the reproduction of these preferences in our personal image.

The first set of styles is made up of the styles that form the base, Traditional, Contemporary and Natural, with more timeless and easy to coordinate visual universes:

traditional or classic

Communicate conservatism. Her clothes are discreet, with straight and well-built lines.

contemporary or elegant

Communicates sophistication. His garments are well finished, impeccably cut and with simple lines.

natural or casual

Communicates practicality. Her garments are uncomplicated, easy to maintain, and focus on comfort.

On the other hand, the Romantic, Sexy/Magnetic, Dramatic/Modern/Urban and creative are the “seasonings”, which add variety and personality:

Romantic

Communicates delicacy. Her clothes are delicate, she values ​​fluid fabrics and a waisted cut.

sexy or magnetic

Communicate exuberance. Her garments value and highlight the shape of the body.

Dramatic, modern or urban

Communicates strength, power. Her clothes are structured, asymmetrical, with a modern design.

creative

Communicate originality. Her clothing pieces are exclusive, she makes use of overlays, mixes of prints and colors.

Therefore, although we have traits of more than one of these types, one of them is dominant, and the others are complementary.

As much as you have the same set of styles as your friend, your cousin or your neighbor, you would hardly have the same wardrobe, because the intensity that you will carry in one of the styles will possibly not be the same as the her, in addition to the influence of other personal characteristics, such as physical type, color palette and the day to day of each one, is the sum of all these characteristics that make our personal style unique.

Our personal style doesn’t change, it matures, but it may be that at a certain point a complementary style becomes more apparent.

But regardless of naming, the most important thing is to recognize your standards and think about what role do you want to play with the clothes you are going to wear, what is your image intention?

I’ll give you an example: you’re leaving for work, let’s say you’re a lawyer and you have a court hearing that day, regardless of your style set, a lawyer has a more formal dress code, and going to a court hearing, you should consider what you need to communicate through your image, I would say strength, authority, credibility, competence.

Lines, colors, shapes, textures and proportions are processed by the brain as messages. The vertical and horizontal straight lines are immovable and, therefore, express strength, power and conservatism, whereas the inclined straight lines are dynamic and the curves are emotional. Cold colors inspire distance, while warm colors bring you closer.

The most fluid fabrics and soft textures are more welcoming, accessible. While more rigid and structured fabrics distance, they communicate a message of authority. Following this reasoning, it is easier to choose pieces that have or communicate these attributes for your personal style.

On the other hand, if you were getting ready to go out with friends on a Saturday night, or even to meet your crush, your intention will be different, as well as the role you will play in that meeting, you will no longer be a corporate person, but individual, in which case you have complete freedom to express your personal style.

Exercises to identify your Personal Style

moodboard

An exercise you can do at home to identify your personal style is to create moodboards. Literally translated it would be “mood panel”. Many times, we are unable to translate some feeling, taste or emotion into words, but we are able to choose between one image or another.

The moodboard can contain photos, illustrations, textures, colors, objects, shapes, phrases and inspirational words that translate its essence.

You can build one with only your preferences, with everything that represents you, and you can build another one with everything that doesn’t represent you. Much more than a playful process, visual representation helps to organize ideas and works as an exercise in self-knowledge.

Try on your garments and take notes

Another exercise you can do at home is trying on your clothes. ABefore trying it on, take a good look at yourself in the mirror (with great affection), preferably wearing only your underwear, and notice your lines, shapes and volumes, what you like most about your body and could value it.

I suggest you start with the pieces that are most difficult to use and pay attention to the characteristics of these pieces, what bothers you? the pattern, the fabric, the color, the print… finally, notice what you don’t like and try to build patterns with the following pieces.

Afterwards, try on the pieces you like the most and do the same, notice which features of those pieces you like. You can take pictures and take notes, it helps a lot.

And regardless of the rules, everyone can do everything, but not everyone needs everything, remember that wise phrase our mothers used to say when we were kids, you are not everyone!