5 Style Lessons From Last Year
Last year was the first year I worked on curating my personal style, and I learned 5 key lessons along the way that make styling outfits in the mornings easier & simpler.
1. Decluttering is absolutely necessary.
I’ve found that the less stuff you have, the more dialed-in you are to your personal style. This is true for me, and it’s true for the people around me, too.
TAKE ACTION: Is it time to declutter your wardrobe?
I have some great walk-throughs on closet decluttering on my Instagram highlights here:
2. Quality & price aren’t always correlated.
Sometimes the higher price tag is just part of a brand name that’s not good quality. Right. now, I could take a Walmart sweatshirt and iron on a Champion logo and sell it for three times the price! The sweatshirt isn’t any better quality, but the branding confuses the buyer.
TAKE ACTION: Cover up the brand name of a clothing piece and ask yourself if you’d still pay the same amount for it.
3. Knowing your personal style is more important than being trendy.
Personally, I really like fun pops of color or pattern in pieces, but I’m not the Carrie Bradshaw type that can create a Fashion Week-worthy outfit every day. So, I really rely on the single pieces that make an outfit interesting.
I like pinks, purple, and reds; big, bold floral patterns; and mixing textures. By honoring these quirks, I’m choosing to love the most authentic version of myself and embrace what makes me unique.
TAKE ACTION: Take photos of your favorite outfits and create an album on your phone. Use that as your home base as you experiment with trends.
4. I don’t have the desire to create an original, stylish outfit every day.
…and this is part of my work, so I can only imagine how taxing it must feel to create outfits when it’s not your job!
This past fall season, I created a base outfit -(shown below) of a black silk blouse, a tweed miniskirt, black knee-high boots, and my everyday jewelry set. From there, I switched out multiple jackets and handbags to create different looks that still have lots of personality & mood.
It was so easy to get dressed in the mornings with these outfits that I’ll definitely be duplicating this idea for every season in 2022.
TAKE ACTION: Create a uniform for each season and use that as a base to experiment with.
5. Playing outside the “rules” is what makes style really fun!
Have you heard style rules like:
“You can’t wear white after Labor Day.”
“You can’t wear brown and black together.”
“Everyone looks good in black.”
To me, what’s more transformative for a stylish person is when they know WHY these rules were created and can successfully experiment outside of them.
This fall, I really enjoyed pairing brown & black together, and some of my favorite outfits “broke” this rule. I learned that one of the two (brown or black) needs to be the neutral in the outfit. You can’t have equal parts and still look intentional, so choose your neutral and then layer on the other color with intentionality.
TAKE ACTION: Break a style rule! Experiment & have some fun with it. If you can’t create a good outfit that way, at least you learn why not.
My style goal in 2022 is to curate a wardrobe that aligns with the way I see myself: beauty, quirks, and all.
If you’re interested in tuning into your personal style this year, check out my Instagram to follow my daily style progress:
Until next time,
Priska
