So I wrote another post on this topic back when I first started this blog. Reading back over it, while there are some decent points in there, it comes off a little too close to the blind leading the blind. Having spent the intervening two and a half years refining my own style the a point that I think it is now actually personal, I think it’s time to take another stab at the subject.

Start somewhere

The way it is talked about, it’s easy to think that having a style amounts to just choosing from one of a handful of predefined style labels. You know the kind shit I’m talking about – from “Americana” or “normcore” to “Scandinavian minimalism” or “The Saint Laurent Paris Aesthetic”. All of these “styles” have their own key pieces, styling cues, and do’s and don’ts, and having one as your style essentially just means following these guidelines. In my opinion, that’s practically the antithesis of personal style. I feel like if you’re conforming to an externally-prescribed standard, your style is fundamentally not personal.

Don’t get it twisted – there’s nothing wrong with taking that approach. Indeed, picking up a “prebuilt” style is basically a fast track to dressing well, since you’ve got the benefit of an external source of wisdom advising you what works and what doesn’t – it just isn’t personal, since you’re following someone else’s rules instead of your own. I said something along similar lines in my last post, but I failed to realise that I myself was drinking the same Kool-Aid; I had basically just picked my at-the-time favourite prebuilt style, and somehow convinced myself that it was totally personal to me.

Having said all that, the prebuilt styles can still have their place in personal style development. Personal style doesn’t just happen – it’s very much something that continually evolves and develops over time, and realistically that means you need somewhere to start from. Choosing a prebuilt style that you like as your starting point is a totally reasonable approach – just avoid getting too entrenched in that particular style’s “rules” about what you should and should not wear. You want to view it as a jumping-off point, not a box you must stay within.

Find inspiration

To go anywhere with your style, you need some kind of direction, and that means finding inspiration. Inspiration can come from anywhere, but I think it’s helpful to pay attention to a variety of sources. That can mean a mix of runway shows, bloggers, subcultures, movies, celebrities, and even just people you pass on the street.

One thing that I think is often overlooked but really important is that inspo doesn’t need to be a “final product”. Even an outfit that you would never wear as is can be a fantastic source of inspo; whether it’s a certain colour scheme or silhouette, or the overall mood or vibe, you can extract elements that you like from a look, even if the overall thing isn’t your jam. Honestly, I’d say that that kind of thing is more useful from a personal-style perspective than just like… a perfectly-executed outfit that you could copy verbatim. The former forces you to recontextualize the elements you like into an outfit that still feels you, rather than just straight-up copying someone else’s outfit, which, again, isn’t that personal.

Opening up to more abstract or indirect inspo also just really expands your options. Runway shows are a good example. I think it’s fair to say that many newcomers to fashion find runways to be inaccessible or even pretentious, because when viewed through the lens of everyday outfits, most runway looks are way too intense and over-the-top. But that’s missing the point. By taking a step back and looking at a show more holistically, you can appreciate the overall vibe or mood that the designer is communicating: from Haider Ackermann’s vagabond luxury, to Ann Demeulemeester’s gothic romance, to Balenciaga’s banal garbage. On the flipside, you can also do the opposite, “zooming in” to look at the finer details of each look: a beautiful shade of red; an interesting neckline; a really, really long belt. You can then pick out the vibes and details you like, and possibly get inspired to work them into one of your own outfits to capture a little bit of that influence.

The same approach applies to any source of inspo, not just runways. Any outfit that looks in some way cool, from any source, can be a source of inspo. Even if it’s totally incompatible with your life, or it’s not authentic to you, or you couldn’t pull it off – none of that shit matters. You’re not looking for outfits to copy; you’re looking at ideas to build on, and twist into something that really does work for you. You can even look at shit totally outside of fashion; the intricacies of an old fireplace, or the coziness of a sloppily-made bed, or, like, a sunset – if it makes you feel something, there’s inspo to be had.

Experiment and refine

All that inspo doesn’t mean shit unless you do something with it. That means experimenting.

If you see some sick inspo or just have a cool idea of something to wear, just try it out. Step outside your comfort zone, wear shit that you wouldn’t usually wear, and see what sticks. Will every experiment be successful? Hell no, you’re definitely gonna end up looking like a dick from time to time. But that doesn’t matter. Arguably the biggest step forward you can make in forging a genuinely expressive personal style is accepting that it’s okay to look like a dick. If you never take any risks, you’re always going to stay with what you already know looks good, which was presumably discovered by someone else – and that is not personal.

While the possibility of failure must be embraced, it’s also very important to recognise it when it happens; when experimenting, the key is to be always looking to improve. Sometimes, you look like a dick because you tried out an idea that turned out to be terrible – but other times the idea might actually be solid, and you just need to improve your execution. Be your own critic – does the fit you’ve put together captures the vibe you were going for, and the magic that inspired you to try it in the first place? If it doesn’t, why doesn’t it? Look for the weak points, and find ways to improve them.

Other perspectives can be useful too. If you have friends who are into fashion, get their thoughts. If you don’t, rest assured that there is no shortage of strangers on the internet willing to break down exactly why your outfit is absolute garbage. Figure out what’s holding the fit back, figure out if and how it can be improved, and try again.

Ultimately, the whole experience should be fun. Some shit will work, some shit won’t, but the failures can be fun and the successes push you forward.

TL;DR: Don’t box yourself in to one style label; get inspired, try out a bunch of shit, and see what sticks.

If you like my outfits, you can find more of them on my Instagram, @usuallywhatimdressedin. If you’d like be notified of future blog posts, you can subscribe to the usuallywhatimdressed.in mailing list below:

