What Influences Your Awesome & Authentic Sense of Style?
If you are an avid pinner like me on Pinterest, a quick look at all your pins will reveal your preferences for house décor, outfits, food, shoes, pets, bags, cars, watches, travel destinations, eye wear, anything really. And when it comes to how we dress up, various things influence our sense of style.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, style is defined as
“a distinctive manner of expression, a manner or technique by which something is done, created or performed”.
It can be with how you talk, how you act, the way you carry yourself, how you generally go about your things in life etc. For the purpose of today’s post, the focus is on the Style of Dressing.
I bet some of your most memorable compliments are those honest ones where you were told that you looked good, dressed stylishly, looked elegant or even ‘slayed‘- and often those compliments didn’t come as a surprise to you because you knew you did look good. You and I both know that when you make the effort to dress well, you walk with a strut in your step and are confident. Style plays a big role in our day to day lives and each one of us has an individual style.
There are so many fashion styles- from the bohemian, trendy/chic, preppy, classic tailored clothing, casual, dreamy artsy, androgynous, tomboy, vintage to the rock punk and sporty styles. And I’m sure you have a style inspiration- that individual who often interpretes the style that appeals to you, the style you see yourself replicating effortlessly.
Personally, Olivia Palermo, Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, Masechaba Ndlovu, Victoria Beckham and Kate Middleton are some of my biggest style inspirations as these women always pull off clean minimal make up looks, casual but trendy, tailored and classic styles all at once. They look simple BUT elegantly chic at the same time and they almost always use accessories that make them stand out.
But what influences your awesome sense of style? Is it something inherent or something that is learnt, does our style get better as we grow older, does having a lot (or less) of money dictate our style or can you pull it off with/without the little money you have? Perhaps our sense of style becomes heightened as we age, as we become aware of what we like and don’t like. Today, I am sharing 8 factors that currently influence my dressing style. Let’s compare notes and see if we both share similarities.
8 factors that influence my style of dressing
- Comfort. This is the most important for me- clothing needs to be comfortable, shouldn’t be too tight and not induce anxiety.
- Functionality. For example, if I buy a pair of flat shoes, it should be able to serve dual purposes .i.e. in most cases, be perfectly suitable for work, casual outings and everything in between.
- Simplicity. I am not a big fan of frills so items that are simple, easy and practical appeal to me a lot.
- Colours. You won’t find a lot of colours when it comes to my clothing but my accessories are a different story because I go all out for colourful accessories, be it my glasses, bags, shoes, watches etc. Although I love black in all its hues and shades, I am now trying to incorporate more colours into my clothes as well (work in slow progress).
- My body structure. My height is 5.75 so I am drawn to clothing items that accentuate my tall body structure, especially my legs and long arms. I believe that regardless of the height or shape of an individual, if clothing is properly tailored and well fitting, it can help accentuate any body structure.
- Repeat per wear. This is not exactly about how costly an item is, but about how durable it is and how often I can mix and match it with other items in my wardrobe. Although I have had to splurge on certain clothing items/accessories, I find that these items are still in their original shape after 10-12 years of having bought them and will probably still be in the next 10 years. These are items I saved up for to purchase and for these type of items that are durable and versatile, my motto is always Quality over Quantity.
- Timelessness- This is closely tied to factor 7 in terms of a clothing item’s ability to be wearable, trend in or trend out, year in and year out.
- My need to experiment. Clothing has to be versatile for me so if I love a particular style of clothing, I can buy in 2 colours so that I can test it out further with other colours.
I have certainly worn things in the past that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing now, and I even cringe now at the thought of some of my past fashion mistakes. But that is the beauty of individual style isn’t it? It evolves. Mine certainly has in the last year or so as I find myself now drawn more to versatile monochromes, clean lines, colourful lipsticks, flat shoes, mid-heels (no longer high), tailored clothing and overt splashes of colour here and there. Maybe it will change later but at this present stage in my life, this is what I am loving.
Over to you now, what influences your own sense of style? Is it because of what you see looks good on someone else that has the same body type as you, or you just have an eye for it? Has yours also evolved over time or you believe you were just born with it?
Thanks so much for stopping by today. Till we chat again, have a fabulous weekend, keep shining, share the blog with your awesome tribe and take care of yourself XOXOXO
Image: Pixabay