“How do I find my personal style?”

“Do I need to have a style?”

“Why should I even care?”

These are the million dollar questions. Most people find themselves overwhelmed with inspiration, references and ideas about what they desire their personal style to be that they give up before they can even get started.

Developing your personal style is very similar to creating a piece of art.

Think about it - you are the blank canvas and your desired colours, fabrics and materials are the paint. Before you start creating, you need to imagine the possibilities and surround yourself with different colours, textures and silhouettes to determine what you are drawn to. Then, you start creating to see how everything could fit together in a cohesive painting.

“Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how-to road map to style. It’s about self expression and, above all, attitude.”

— Iris Apfel

It is important to temper your expectations. Finding your personal style, like any artistic endeavor, can take years to hone. People who dress well do not just snap their fingers and wake up one day with perfect style. In fact, they have spent years experimenting with different looks, trends and had their fair share of cringe-worthy moments. Even myself, as a fashion stylist can attest to this.

I had a very pivotal moment in my career, quite early on. I was working on a magazine editorial for a well known news anchor and I had arranged for them to come into the boutique that I was borrowing the clothing from for the feature. This was a new client and it was important to me that they had a proper fitting and had input on the clothing and direction.

As I asked my client how they felt, the boutique manager pulled me aside and said, “you’re the stylist, you TELL them what to wear”. I gently explained to her that in my perspective, if the client did not love the clothes, or see their personal brand reflected in them, it would be evident in the images.

The woman was very curt and continued to tell me that I did not know how to do my job. To this very day, a key performance indicator is how delighted the client is with the clothing and how they radiate confidence and excitement looking into the mirror.

This leads me to the only rules I recommend you follow:

Make your own rules.
Know your proportions and dress for them.

Make Your Own Rules

One of the most basic (and important) style rules is to know who you are and who you want to be. When you look in the mirror, you want to see yourself and what you stand for looking back. When you have a strong sense of who you are, and what you want to wear it will be much easier to cut through the noise, say no to trends and select what you like. Follow your gut on what you like and what you want to wear.

Ask yourself the following questions:

What do you already like about how you dress?
What would you like to change?
Do you have any style influences?

Know Your Proportions

Have you bought an outfit that looks fabulous on a model or your friends only to not quite hit the mark when you try to recreate it?

The reason is simply because our body structure, silhouettes are all different.

We are all different in sizes, forms, shapes, curves and height. Having a good knowledge of your body structure will help you dress well, choose the right clothing that balance and add value to your body.

The first step is to get the tape out and learn your measurements. Not only will this be extremely helpful in determining your body type, but you will have them on hand when you set out to go shopping.

How to Take Your Body Measurements

To determine your measurements, you'll need a flexible measuring tape. If you don't have a flexible measuring tape, you can use a piece of string and a tape measure or yardstick.

How to measure your bust or chest: Measure your bust/chest by bringing the tape all the way around your back at the fullest part of your bust/chest. The tape should be parallel to the floor. If you have a friend available to help you, lift your arms up while they take your measurements.
How to measure your waist: Your natural waist isn't necessarily where your pants hit: It's the narrowest part of your midsection, above your belly button and below your rib cage. To take your waist measurements, wrap the tape around this part of your torso, keeping the tape parallel to the floor.
How to measure your hips: To take your hip measurements, wrap the measuring tape around the widest part of your hips (this usually does not correspond to the top of the hip bone), keeping the tape even and parallel to the floor.
How to measure your shoulders: To take your shoulder measurements, ask a friend for help. Stand up straight and relax your shoulders. Have your friend stand behind you and measure across your shoulders between the points directly above your armpits.
How to measure your inseam: The inseam is the length between the uppermost part of the inner thigh to the bottom of the ankle. This measurement has more to do with your pants than your body, so grab a favorite pair of pants and measure from the crotch to the hem.

Putting it Together - How to Determine your Body Type

Look at your measurements you recorded and you will be able to ascertain your shape from the above diagram and resources below.

Oval shape: If your waist area is widest, and there is little or no waist indentation, your silhouette is an Oval.
Triangle shape: If your shoulders are narrower than your hip/thigh, then you are a triangle.
Inverted triangle shape: If you have an inverted triangle body shape, you have broad shoulders and an upper body that is wider than your lower body.
Rectangle shape: If you have a rectangle body shape, your bust and/or waist are about the same width as your hips.
Hourglass shape: If you have an hourglass body shape, you have a defined waist and roughly equal bust and hip measurements.

From these resources, it is my hope you discover new insight into the types of garments that will work best for your frame. And, as you make your shopping list and refine your mood board, I encourage you to pay attention to this. I guarantee it will streamline the process and increase your joy in rebuilding a coveted wardrobe.

xo, Sarah