Welcome back for part 3 of the Discover your Style Series! Today we’ll be talking about refining your Style, naming your Style, recognizing what you wear a majority of the time, and creating outfit recipes you want to wear. At this point in our series, we are starting to seriously narrow down on our style goals!
Over the last few months you have been solidifying your inspiration, what silhouettes work, what colors, patterns, and outfit recipes work for you. Are you identifying what works best for you, what styles you admire but maybe aren’t a good fit for your personal style?
This process can be overwhelming and that’s why we’re taking our time, tackle the items in this month’s post slowly and give yourself room to edit and make changes as you go.
Let’s start with naming our style…
- Naming your style – I find naming my personal style incredibly empowering. It gives voice to how I express myself and I hope you feel as excited about naming your style as I did.
- Choose your 5 favorite pieces from your wardrobe.
- Consider the materials your wardrobe is made of, the colors, the details, the prints.
- Casual – tee shirts, knits, sneakers, neutral tones,
- Romantic – pastels, florals, ruffles, lace, embroidery, highlights waist,
- Edgy – dark neutrals, leather, distressed denim, lace up, metal details, bold accessories, adventurous style
- Classic/Preppy – stripes, patriotic, straight fitting, clean denim, neutral accessories, pleats
- Glamorous – bright & bold, sparkles, body con, trendy
- Boho – earthy, embroidery, native styles, generous cuts, beading & fringe
- Next chose your favorite accessories and use these same questions
- Which word would you choose to describe your first 5 pieces?_______________
- And the word to describe your 2nd set of pieces?____________________
- Smash your 2 descriptors together to get the name of your own personal style!
- Choose your 5 favorite pieces from your wardrobe.
I call my style Naturally Elegant; my closet is composed of mostly natural fibers and materials as well as my overwhelming earthy tones. And elegance for my everyday put-together look that elegantly goes from day to evening. Fair warning, I’ve been trying to pin down the name of my style for a very long time. You may need to write out your key words and see how they feel on you, kind of like your clothes.
Now, we’re going to move on to a Lifestyle Analysis. Based on the average consumer’s consumption of clothes, it’s a fair guess that our clothes are more than things to cover our bodies, they are used to express our personalities and to be functional for the activities we participate in. Having a closet with clothes we love is important but we also need clothes that are functional for the activities in our life. Now, we need to understand the activities we participate in and the clothes necessary to do those activities well.
First you need to identify all the activities you participate in over the course of a few weeks and how many times you do that activity. For example: I go on a hike, walk, or run once a week with or without my dog and exercise occasionally throughout the month. Maybe 4-6 times a month. But I go to work 4 days a week and need casual but appropriate clothes.
Second, lump similar styles together & add those numbers together. Example: Workout clothes 6, Work 16, Lounging 4, Professional wear 0
Third, analyze your wardrobe. Does it align with the activities you participate in regularly? Do you have a ton of work out clothes but only go to the gym once a week? Or perhaps you have a handful of ball gowns but don’t attend black tie events? Are their areas of your life that your wardrobe is under represented? Or like those ball gowns, over represented?
Don’t get rid of anything just yet, we’ll do an in depth closet detox next month, seriously get excited!
Outfit recipes are my favorite recipes, after taco recipes of course! But what exactly is an outfit recipe? How do you know what recipes you like?
May snow! 
Day 10
Outfit recipes:
Dress + Vest + Ankle Boots
Dress + Denim Jacket + Mules
Jumpsuit + Pullover Sweater + Ankle Boots
Loose Top + Unbuttoned Layer + Statement Hem Denim + Flats
Button Down top + Boyfriend Jeans + Flats
Get the idea? I picked these images to illustrate the recipes, simple but some of my favorites for easily getting dressed in the mornings. Layers are a frequent addition to my outfits, cause I’m usually cold. And I love flats and sandals in the spring & summer but you’ll usually only find me in boots or clogs come winter. Get adventurous with styling and create new recipes to try, the first time I saw I could wear a dress over jeans, I thought it was a fashion crime. Now it’s one of my favorite cold weather looks! Let me know in the comments some of your favorite outfit recipes! Need more ideas? Let me know!
Want more help to discover the clothes you love and why? Get a copy of my in-depth workbook stylishly YOU, this 80+ page workbook guides you through a closet inventory, a 30 day style diary and thoughtful questions to help you discover your style outside of trends and what the big box stores are telling you to buy.
Stylishly Shelby 