How to find your personal style

Fashion shows, magazines and advertising: like beauty, fashion is in the eye of the beholder. We live in full-blown information overload. We can get inspiration from celebrities every day on social media, to emulate their look. The downside of having so much information at our fingertips, though, is that we may all end up looking the same, mercilessly losing our originality. Having so much input from different sources is always good training for our sense of beauty, though, this is getting refined way more than was the case 15 years ago, for instance, when it was a lot less obvious. This aesthetic sense pushes us to find more and more inspiration, until a few questions spontaneously surface: what is my style? How can I find it? And, do I really need to label it? Here we are, with a few ideas to help you answer these questions, in case you are wondering.

Keep on reading after the gallery

1 Select your information sources 
Sexy, Kardashian-like styles are predominant online, but is that really what you think you need? Think about your taste — and keep in mind that luckily it will evolve over time, so the way you dress now is most likely not how you’re going to dress in five years, or even six months for that matter — and act upon that. Don’t set yourself any limits and don’t be afraid. Think about who you are, try to imagine where you want to go, and who you want to be… It’s not that hard, come on!

2 Analyze your closet
Stand in front of your closet and have a close look. You might find it packed with white t-shirts, or knee-length pleated skirts, or maybe high-waist jeans. There’s nothing wrong with that, actually the reason why we point this out is that if something shows up a lot in your wardrobe, you could choose it to become your stable piece — that is, the garment that defines your style, giving you self-assurance. If your closet is overflowing with t-shirts, it’s probably because you feel very comfortable wearing them, so don’t throw them away, quite the opposite, in fact! Try to understand why you like them, but also whether they flatter you. Lots of celebrities have key garments that define their style. Think of Emmanuel Alt, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris: she always wears beautiful jackets. Inès de la Fressange, Roger Vivier’s muse, always wears flats. Chiara loves leather jackets, she owns lots of them and wears them both in summer and wintertime. Have you found your stable piece? Good. That will be the starting point for building your style.

3 Hunt for inspiration 
Social media aren’t enough. Read books and magazines, watch movies and music clips, documentaries, surf the web… Try to understand what you really like, and make it compatible with you and your lifestyle. It could be the main character of the last movie you watched, who wore a wonderful lipstick you fell in love with; it could be the sneakers you saw in a 90s pop video: if you see something that could perfectly match your outfits, go and look for something similar, and then interpret it according to your taste.

4 Be fearless 
Sometimes you might not pull off the outfit you had planned — that’s life! Don’t be too hard on yourself. In the end, it’s just a game. Be daring, challenge yourselves, try out stuff and then change it around. What matters is to feel beautiful and comfortable with what you are wearing. If you feel comfortable, you will look confident, and others will perceive that. Don’t forget that you are dressing for yourself. Learn not to care about other people’s judgment!

5 Money can’t buy style
Don’t think that large amounts of money will help buy cool. Sure, having a high budget can help, maybe to buy prettier apparel, or even just to have the chance to buy more stuff. Still, that doesn’t mean that anyone with a budget has dress sense, actually, the looks of people with a big budget can often be lacking in the personality department. Whatever your budget is, use it to make your look unique: go to markets, go rummage in your mum’s closet, and ask for her permission to borrow anything that might work for you. Swap clothing you don’t like anymore with your best friends. Another good idea is to invest in some classical pieces that can build the basis of your wardrobe, today and in the future.