“Having great style is having a sophisticated sense of your own self-expression.”

First of all, if you are wondering why you should define your style, consider the power of branding. Companies or individuals with a strong brand communicate a clear message about who they are and what they represent. This leads to trust and recognition from others.
Truly defining your style involves all aspects of your lifestyle, so although your wardrobe is an important component of your style, you can apply these ideas to your lifestyle, interior, or any decisions you make on what to buy or own.
Now, there is no wrong way to start, but this post contains the start of a methodology to help you see your style in a new light.

1) Find Inspiration

Inspiration will help you to think outside the box to what your style could be. Whether we like it or not, most of us have an understanding of style based on our immediate resources and how we have been marketed towards. Exploring what inspires you on a deeper level expands you past all of this.

I recommend creating a Pinterest board for your personal style. This will provide the simplicity of adding or deleting images as your style becomes more cohesive. For an idea on how this might look, click here to check out my style board.

Start really broad and source images of everything that inspires you: current fashion images, fashion history, past and present interiors, paintings, artworks, and sculpture, images of nature or cityscapes, street fashion, make-up or hair, images of artists and musicians you love, and places you want or have travelled. The goal is create a mood around what your style is and could be.

As you hone in on the key elements of your style, you may decide to add or delete images. Again, the point is to broaden your thinking around your style.

2) Consider your values

Defining your style is equivocal to adopting a point of view. If you are true to your values early on, it will only help in making decisions that are congruent with what you care about in the world. Changing old habits or thought patterns in place of new ones may be quite challenging, so having an outline of what matters most to you will help give a sense of purpose.

For perspective, I will share my own values. Of course, I am not perfect at this, but if given two options, I will always opt for the one that is more in line with these. I encourage you to journal these out and even include a reason why it matters to you.

My values:

Shop from brands that aim to contribute positively to the world.
Shop for items with care for creativity and uniqueness
Research before I buy
Shop with intention and always question if I really need the item
Make sure what I am buying is 100% in line with my aesthetic or if different is it pushing my aesthetic in a good direction.
Opt for the choice that is better for the planet: environmental or humanitarian

3) Start to determine the key points of your style

It is your call how strict you want to be in each area, but having guidelines helps to build a cohesive wardrobe.

Here are a list of ways to define your style:

color palette
silhouette
mood
use of prints/ textures
signature makeup look
signature hair style
items you need for your lifestyle
Minimalist vs Maximalist
use of accessories and jewelry

4.) Declutter

Go through each item you own, but be aware what is working for your style and what is not. Just like editing, if you throw out or donate items that are not working then you will be left with a much clearer picture of what is working. I recommend anyone interested in developing your personal style do this, and I do it with most of my personal styling clients with their wardrobe. It is the best way to hone yourself in to the best version of you.

If you are interested in digging deeper to define your personal style, I recommend you check out my ebook Define Your Signature Style for an in depth look at these topics and much much more

Now, I would love to hear from you. If you could pick one thing to define your style, what would it be? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

This website is FOR YOU to feel empowered in your own self-expression, so even little comments will help me to curate the right topics.

How to Start Defining Your Style