Why You Should Find Your Personal Style
About a year ago I was purging my closet of clothes that didn’t anymore or weren’t my style and I quickly noticed that everything I was getting rid of were impulse buys that I got because a super cute influencer looked really good in it and I wanted to look like her.
Around the same time Eric and I got serious about paying off our debts and it was mildly soul crushing to see how much money I wasted on clothes that were headed to Goodwill far too soon.
I’m not at all a fashion girly, I’m just sharing the process I started a year ago
Using Pinterest to Find Your Style
I decided to start curating my personal style on Pinterest instead of being inspired on Instagram. Here’s the thing, the Pinterest algorithm will show you ideas that are new or 15 years old as long as it is relevant to your search. Where as my most viral Instagram post (21M views) had a shelf life of about 6 months before it started to fizzle.
In essence, Pinterest will show you styles that you genuinely like and Instagram will show you what’s trending.
How To Find Your Style on Pinterest
Step 1: Start Pinning
Start with a really generic search. “Women’s fashion” and pin the outfits you like to a board called “My Style”. You can search for patterns or staple items that you know you love. Personally I love jeans and a shirt so I searched that. The more you pin, the more Pinterest will figure out the patterns in your preferences and start it will show you more and more pins that fit.
Step 2: Find the Patterns
Once you have 30-40 pins of outfits you like on your board, go look at your board and find the patterns. For me, I quickly saw that I gravitate to denim, solids, stripes, cotton or linen, and leather belts. And not once did I pin athleisure or graphic tees. You can see my pin board here if you’re more of a visual learner.
Step 3: Clean Out Your Closet
Now that you know the look that you are going for, purge your closet. You will feel better and more confident when you wear clothes that you actually like. Don’t get rid of so much that you don’t have anything to wear because building a wardrobe that you LOVE is going to take time and patience. But donate the items that have been sitting collecting dust or you try it on and always take it off because you don’t like the way you look.
Step 4: Body Types
I read this article after I did steps 1-3 and maybe I should have read it before, I don’t know. However, this article about dressing your body type is so good. It will help you determine your body type using measurements and then it tells you what silhouetts to use to dress you body. My very elementary understanding of all this is this
Style = the fabrics & prints
Body Type = the cut of the fabric
So the style choices for a shirt might be a button up vs neutral vs graphic tee but all three can be a v neck which is is how they cut the fabric and plays more into dressing your body type.
Step 5: Shop
Building your closet to include pieces that suit your “new” look will take time. I have an ever-growing wishlist. Determining my style was step 1, building a wardrobe is step 5 and will be very slow going
The items in step two that you noticed you pinned over and over are the items that are worth investing in. That means finding the perfect denim jeans or basic tee that always makes you look put together. Quality can be pricey. My rule of thumb is to look at the materials that an item is made of. My goal is 100% natural fibers, but for budget items I will settle at 65% natural fibers.
And if your like me a year ago and have no clue what natural fibers are let me list them for you:
- cotton
- linen
- silk
- wool / cashmere
I shop a lot less than before because I now have a specific look I’m going for, but I’m also willing to spend a little more if I know it is a piece that will last me years
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