Over on the Colette Pattern's blog Sarai has put together a series on defining your personal style. More specifically, she's working on a resolution of her own to streamline and perfect her wardrobe. As such, I figured I would follow along and post responses to her weekly posts and work through some of the exercises.
This week's focus is on looking past trends and outside influences to determine what are our core fashion related values and ascetics. The exercise is to answer the questions about our personal history, philosophy, culture, community, activities, location, and body.
HISTORY:
To a certain extent a lot of my fundamental fashion values solidified pretty early on even if I didn't understand what they were or how they influenced the way I saw things. I've always liked people who look put together. I used to envy the girl on the playground who was in a dress and shiny mary janes. I'm not a fan of sportswear; the whole pajama bottoms in public fad went right over my head. Because money was a factor in my wardrobe choices, dressing more properly was a big deal for a long time, but also a real struggle. As for changes in my taste, they've become more focused on muted colors and simple shapes and patterns. All in all the biggest changes have come as a result of major influences in my life shifting I went from a hippie wannabe/free spirit, to proper business student, to 'I own clothes? welcome to my couch', to where I am now which mainly involves throwing on clothes to wear to work haphazardly, while agonizing what to wear if I leave the house on the weekends.
PHILOSOPHY:
I really dislike fast fashion. I don't buy many clothes and those that I do tend to be secondhand, but a lot of my feelings about my wardrobe are heavily influenced by the larger fashion world. This leads to a lot of frustration and desire to own more things, which I know isn't what I want. Ideally, I'd like to look good, have a versatile but small wardrobe containing mostly secondhand or ethically produced items. I'd prefer to do this cheaply, but I'm trying to let some of that go since I know realistically that I'm more likely to settle for a cheap alternative (and end up buying more) than splurging a bit on the piece I really want.
CULTURE:
Growing up in a more rural area and going to college "in the middle of nowhere" definitely influenced my love for more outdoorsy type clothing: plaid, jeans, and hiking boots. It also made me realize how important practical clothing is. Fashion is nice but being warm and not falling on your face is even nicer. Both these places also instilled a sense of modest in me, club wear and flashier clothes don't appeal to me. I don't want my wardrobe to give off that kind of hard vibe, nor do I want to draw that much attention to myself.
COMMUNITY:
I touched on this a bit in the history section, but I would like to add that keying more into European fashion instead of US fashion trends has really changed the way I look at my wardrobe. It's really put a damper on the desire to go out and buy things because most of the things in the stores here aren't what I want. They're too flashy, too edgy and not constructed in a way that's flattering to me. Fashion vlogs (and to some extent blogs) have really helped key me in to this as well; I don't have to settle for poorly made items or pieces that aren't made in a way that doesn't fit my body. There's no reason for me to be looking like a scarecrow in an oversized shirt.
ACTIVITIES:
There are definite subsets in my wardrobe for various activities. Ideally I would like to integrate these to some extent, but as I'm not particularly happy with one subset or another I've left this alone. I have clothes for work, which I wear only to work because heaven forbid I ruin something or wear it out faster and have to replace it. I have clothes for leaving the house for nonwork related things. This is mostly summer clothes since I work longer hours in the winter and to some extent the fall making my need for a winter wardrobe minimal. And I have clothing for lounging around the house, which are mainly pajamas, although there are a few dresses.
LOCATION:
It's hot in the summer and freezing in the winter so there's not a whole lot of overlap in my wardrobe. I suppose a good pair of thermals would help change that, but with temperatures in the summer that pass 100 and a cold sap in January for a week or two that could push minus 20, there's a real line between what's weather appropriate.
BODY:
I can't wear heels. I need shoes with proper support. In short, I'm incredibly picky. Heels and shoes as a whole are the biggest issue with my wardrobe. I would love to wear more dresses, or even skirts with blazers but feel incredibly underwhelmed (and underdressed) standing around in a pair of mary janes. I do love boots though, so clothes that go with boots definitely are a plus, particularly since I prefer leggings to pants for most of the year. Being skinny also impacts the clothing available to me mostly because I'm stuck shopping in the junior's section if I want to buy anything off the rack. I've gained some curves in the last couple of years but even that doesn't make clothing designed for teens look properly mature. Another issue would be my ever fluctuating pants size. I don't wear many skirts or dresses anymore because they're either not comfortable (too tight) or they're unflattering (or the skirt is falling off). Because of this there's a bit of dissonance between what I want to wear and what I actually wear.
This week's focus is on looking past trends and outside influences to determine what are our core fashion related values and ascetics. The exercise is to answer the questions about our personal history, philosophy, culture, community, activities, location, and body.
HISTORY:
To a certain extent a lot of my fundamental fashion values solidified pretty early on even if I didn't understand what they were or how they influenced the way I saw things. I've always liked people who look put together. I used to envy the girl on the playground who was in a dress and shiny mary janes. I'm not a fan of sportswear; the whole pajama bottoms in public fad went right over my head. Because money was a factor in my wardrobe choices, dressing more properly was a big deal for a long time, but also a real struggle. As for changes in my taste, they've become more focused on muted colors and simple shapes and patterns. All in all the biggest changes have come as a result of major influences in my life shifting I went from a hippie wannabe/free spirit, to proper business student, to 'I own clothes? welcome to my couch', to where I am now which mainly involves throwing on clothes to wear to work haphazardly, while agonizing what to wear if I leave the house on the weekends.
PHILOSOPHY:
I really dislike fast fashion. I don't buy many clothes and those that I do tend to be secondhand, but a lot of my feelings about my wardrobe are heavily influenced by the larger fashion world. This leads to a lot of frustration and desire to own more things, which I know isn't what I want. Ideally, I'd like to look good, have a versatile but small wardrobe containing mostly secondhand or ethically produced items. I'd prefer to do this cheaply, but I'm trying to let some of that go since I know realistically that I'm more likely to settle for a cheap alternative (and end up buying more) than splurging a bit on the piece I really want.
CULTURE:
Growing up in a more rural area and going to college "in the middle of nowhere" definitely influenced my love for more outdoorsy type clothing: plaid, jeans, and hiking boots. It also made me realize how important practical clothing is. Fashion is nice but being warm and not falling on your face is even nicer. Both these places also instilled a sense of modest in me, club wear and flashier clothes don't appeal to me. I don't want my wardrobe to give off that kind of hard vibe, nor do I want to draw that much attention to myself.
COMMUNITY:
I touched on this a bit in the history section, but I would like to add that keying more into European fashion instead of US fashion trends has really changed the way I look at my wardrobe. It's really put a damper on the desire to go out and buy things because most of the things in the stores here aren't what I want. They're too flashy, too edgy and not constructed in a way that's flattering to me. Fashion vlogs (and to some extent blogs) have really helped key me in to this as well; I don't have to settle for poorly made items or pieces that aren't made in a way that doesn't fit my body. There's no reason for me to be looking like a scarecrow in an oversized shirt.
ACTIVITIES:
There are definite subsets in my wardrobe for various activities. Ideally I would like to integrate these to some extent, but as I'm not particularly happy with one subset or another I've left this alone. I have clothes for work, which I wear only to work because heaven forbid I ruin something or wear it out faster and have to replace it. I have clothes for leaving the house for nonwork related things. This is mostly summer clothes since I work longer hours in the winter and to some extent the fall making my need for a winter wardrobe minimal. And I have clothing for lounging around the house, which are mainly pajamas, although there are a few dresses.
LOCATION:
It's hot in the summer and freezing in the winter so there's not a whole lot of overlap in my wardrobe. I suppose a good pair of thermals would help change that, but with temperatures in the summer that pass 100 and a cold sap in January for a week or two that could push minus 20, there's a real line between what's weather appropriate.
BODY:
I can't wear heels. I need shoes with proper support. In short, I'm incredibly picky. Heels and shoes as a whole are the biggest issue with my wardrobe. I would love to wear more dresses, or even skirts with blazers but feel incredibly underwhelmed (and underdressed) standing around in a pair of mary janes. I do love boots though, so clothes that go with boots definitely are a plus, particularly since I prefer leggings to pants for most of the year. Being skinny also impacts the clothing available to me mostly because I'm stuck shopping in the junior's section if I want to buy anything off the rack. I've gained some curves in the last couple of years but even that doesn't make clothing designed for teens look properly mature. Another issue would be my ever fluctuating pants size. I don't wear many skirts or dresses anymore because they're either not comfortable (too tight) or they're unflattering (or the skirt is falling off). Because of this there's a bit of dissonance between what I want to wear and what I actually wear.
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