Nailing down your personal style is key to never wasting any money, time and energy whilst shopping for clothes. The same way, having a list of ingredients and a recipe helps you cook a great dish, having a clear idea of your colour palette, favourite shapes, materials, size and overall styling guarantee a seamless approach to dressing.
This mini guide is an introduction and works well with my other article showing you how to build a capsule wardrobe. You should definitely know your personal style before you attend any sales (especially during Black Friday). Having some direction really helps to keep a cool head when prices are low.
The idea is to express who you are, your taste and creativity through your clothes. These things tend to vary over time, but you’ll definitely be able to define the backbone of it. I personally had a lot of fun finding out mine and I hope you’ll enjoy following this step by step guide.
You need:
- Time across several days or weeks
- A soft measurement tape
- A notebook or WordDoc/Notes or whatever you use to record things
- Access to your wardrobe
- A good playlist (you can use mine) and snacks
- Your phone on airplane mode
Analyse your closet
Open your wardrobe and take out a) your favourite clothes and b) the clothes you wear all the time. Set aside the ones that are both a) and b). They’re the rare gem in your closet fitting both your taste and your lifestyle.
In the a) pile, you’ll probably find intricate pieces that are difficult to style and pieces that have one great element you love (the colour for example) but that never really worked for you (the piece is too tight, itches, has an awkward hem, etc.).
Looking into both pile, try to answer these questions:
- What materials and shape are the clothes you wear all the time?
- What are the main colours, prints and shapes of the clothes you prefer?
- What type of collar, hem length, sleeve length, and waistline do you seem to prefer wearing?
Discover your fit
Grab your most well-fitted clothes, the ones that you always feel very comfortable in. Lay them flat on the floor and measure them with your tape taking notes for each piece. Measure the overall length, shoulder to shoulder, pit to pit, sleeve length, waistband, etc. of your trousers, t-shirt, shirts, jumpers, skirts, dresses… and keep this info somewhere. Double the number to get the measurement. This may seem like a hassle now, but will be a time saver and particularly useful to shop second-hand.
Also note what sizes you usually buy. Sizes vary from brand to brand. Take a note of the shapes you tend to prefer: baggy, loose, fitted, skinny,…
Find inspiration outside of your closet
For this step, you need to take a moment for yourself and remove all distractions. Put your phone away (unless you’re reading this on your phone), grab a pen or keyboard and open Pinterest or a similar platform as well as 3 to 5 fashion brands you often buy from. Save all the images you are instantly attracted to. I would aim to save between 80 and 100 images to have enough to play with later.
Meanwhile, answer the following questions:
- How do you picture your dream self being dressed?
- What would you buy if you had an unlimited budget to spend on clothes?
- What would you wear if you could wear anything?
- What accessories, shoes and styling would you be rocking?
You can save images from the brands’ look books in a folder or Pinterest board. If a couple red carpet dresses or runway looks catch your eye, feel free to add them. We’re not buying anything, we’re just fashion-dreaming so don’t hold back and save as many ideas as possible.
We often buy a piece of clothing, not necessarily because we like them, but because we like how the professional stylist has styled it on a professional model whose job is to make it as attractive as possible.
Edit your folder
Leave that folder simmering for a couple of days before going back to it with a fresh pair of eyes. Then remove anything you feel so-so about. Keep only the looks you really like and organise them in subfolders by category. Then, name categories according to the folder’s content. Avoid leaving any photo loose in the wild. You can create as many subfolders as you want.
Channel your inner-stylist
An outfit formula is a combination of several pieces of clothing and accessories that are paired together. We call it a formula because it’s replicable and helps you (re)wear your wardrobe. For example: denim + striped top + flat shoes is one my favourites.
A colour palette is a combination of colours that your eye likes next to each other. For example: fuchsia + red + white is one I enjoy.
The name you gave to your subfolders can help you figure out both outfit formulas you like and colour palette you are instinctively attracted to.
Look into each folder and answer these questions:
- What colours or colour combinations are the most present? What are the main, secondary and third colours you see in most looks?
- What type of clothes did you save the most?
- What are the most common clothes combinations (i.e. outfit formulas) you can spot?
- What prints did you save? What’s their size, shape (round or square) and how are they styled?
- Look at recurring: collar shapes, hemline lengths, sleeves type, materials, details…
You should end up with a list resembling a grocery list with random details and colours. Take time to polish it until you have a coherent list of 3-7 outfit formulas you can confidently say you like and 5-6 colours that would work across all of them.
Examples of outfit formulas
Formula 1
Long short in a cotton like material
Matching long double-breasted blazer
A basic t-shirt underneath (with a round neck)
Flat shoes
This look is mostly one solid colour or has all-over tiny prints like flowers or dots
It’s the most represented looks in my folders
Colours: red/pink/off white (alone or together)
Formula 2
Mid-rise dark blue denim short (without rips or embellishments)
Striped French-style t-shirt (i.e.Marinières) either red/white or blue/white.
Flat ballerina pumps (always black in a leather like material).
Straw hat
Formula 3
Midi-length flowy wrap skirt or dress
T-shirt (vintage looking with a band or something quirky on it) with red, pink or both in the design
Gold jewellery (without gems)
Flat sandals with multiple straps (beige or gold)
This is the least represented look in my folders
Don’t worry if you don’t know the exact names of clothes, prints, and shapes. Just try to describe them as much as you can. I use this special fashion dictionary which is great if you want to get super technical.
It’s time to get real
We all have different lifestyles and your clothes need to fit yours, not the other way around. Match your outfit formulas, ideas and colour palettes with real life scenarios. Remember that you need to take the weather and your main life activities into consideration here. Is any of your outfit formula compatible with working from an office 3 days a week?
Adjust your outfit formulas accordingly and keep a small “dream folder” where you can store all those inspirations that don’t make sense right now, but could be useful for when your living circumstances will change.
Example of how your plan to ‘dressing for real life’ could look like:
- Working from the office: 2 days a week / WFH – 3 days a week
- Holidays: a long weekend in July (city trip) ; 2 weeks in August (hiking)
- Volunteering: 3 hours a week (on my feet non-stop)
- Special events: 2 birthdays, 1 wedding, 5 other TBC celebrations
- Working out: 3 times a week (including swimming pool)
- Taking care of baby/dog/business/dismantling systemic racism via social media: full time
Creating outfit formulas with your clothes
Every time you manage to create one of your outfit formulas using only your clothes, take a selfie and store it on your phone for future reference. Bag 6 (Hidden treasures) from the wardrobe clearout guide will play a role here with forgotten basics suddenly finding a new life.
If you haven’t done a wardrobe clear out yet, I recommend doing it now whilst you are knee deep into your closet. Keep track of the pieces you don’t have to create each outfit formula and set aside clothes that don’t fit any of your outfit formulas.
Do they have something in common? Could they create an additional outfit formula you never thought of? Could they offer a variant of an outfit formula you like?
Make 3 shopping lists
- A list of the most urgent, essential pieces that are missing to create your outfit formulas. Try to describe your missing items in as much detail as possible. Bring this list with you to the next sale for example.
- A list of the medium priorities. The clothes that are missing right now, but you can live without. For example, if you prefer navy blue crew neck jumpers, but you only have black ones, it can wait. Save money for these and invest in good quality versions in the future.
- A list of low priority pieces that are things you kinda recognise as being your style, but need to try on first. For example pieces you’ve only seen in your folder but never actually worn in real life.
Sum it all up
Having a 1-2 pages document with the main information you’ve gathered so far is really useful. I personally keep it on my phone.
Your personal style document can include the following:
- Measurements of your best clothes and sizes you usually wear
- 3 to 7 outfit formulas by importance (with accessories)
- Favourite fits (length, waistline)
- Favourite materials per category of clothing
- Favourite colours per type of clothing
- Favourite details (collar, sleeves)
- Favourite prints
- Shopping list 1, 2 and 3
Out of sight, out of mind
In order for all this work to make sense in the long run, you need to keep your clothes and outfit formulas very visible at all times. I tried the app Save Your wardrobe, a tool that helps you track, plan and wear your clothes. It takes a long time to set it up, but it can really help if you often forget you have this or that.
Your personal style
Let me know in the comment section if these tips have helped you define your own personal style. What other tips do you recommend?
