How do we actually find our personal style?
Introducing the 3Cs of Style method for personal style discovery.
TLDR: How to find your personal style
Think of personal style as the tool to achieve the ultimate goal of feeling comfortable, confident, and creative
Identify which elements of style (color, pattern, fit, texture, etc.) make you uniquely feel comfortable, confident, and creative.
For example, heavy knitted fabrics might make you feel comfortable, sharp silhouettes might meet your confidence need, and bold graphic patterns could meet your need for creativity. (Accidentally just described an 80s She-E-O)
Learn where these style elements tend to show up in your outfits.
Do you tend to wear these heavy knitted fabrics as a base layer or a layering piece? Does one feel better than the other? Do you prefer to wear bold graphic pants or as an accent through your accessories?
Practice putting together outfits that incorporate style elements from all 3C categories.
When you want a comfort-first outfit, how can you incorporate confidence and creativity elements? When you want a date night outfit, how do you prioritize confidence elements while still meeting your comfort and creativity needs. When you have a bold jacket that you’ve been dying to wear, but feel apprehensive, how do you incorporate comfort elements that make the outfit as a whole feel more wearable?
What are we really trying to achieve when we get dressed?
Before starting work as a size inclusive personal stylist, I was a researcher. My job was to help companies uncover their customer’s motivations, attitudes, and behaviors so they could develop better products and services. The ultimate goal of any research I worked on was to get crystal clear on the core needs people were looking to meet in my client’s category and how the client could better meet those needs.
As I started my own personal style journey, helped friends work through theirs, and watched countless hours of content from people looking to find their style, I couldn’t help but apply my lens as a researcher to this process. I started to see that there were simple, yet ever-present needs people were trying to fulfill through the act of getting dressed. The need to be comfortable, the need to feel confident, and the need to express creativity.
Personal style is a means to the ultimate end of feeling comfortable, confident, and creative
Let’s explore these 3C needs a little deeper:
The need to be comfortable
We have met this need when our clothes feel physically comfortable and / or make us feel emotionally safe – this is our comfort zone.
Example: Soft and slouchy fabrics might meet one’s comfort need because feeling laid-back, not overly dressed up, and approachable puts them at ease
Feelings that signal comfort: ease, safety, security, contentment, relief
The need to feel confident
We have met this need when we look in the mirror and think ’’dang, I look hot today!”
and / or we feel dressed for success.
Example: One might feel confident in a shoulder-padded blazer because the sharp lines and bold silhouette make them feel powerful and assertive
Feelings that signal confidence: courage, feeling beautiful / handsome / attractive, wanting to be seen, feeling self-assured
The need to feel creative
This need is about showing our personality, challenging ourselves outside of our comfort zone, and / or indulging in the Pinterest board version of ourselves. We have met this need when we feel like we are wearing an outfit, not just clothes.
Example: One might feel really cool adding a cheetah print bag to their simple outfit because it communicates their personality to the world
Feelings that signal creativity: feeling interesting / unexpected, feeling like your clothes are speaking for you, feeling of novelty, challenge, engagement
We meet our need for comfort, confidence, and creativity through elements of style
Shifting our mindset from items to elements
Imagine this scenario you may have experienced – you bought a green sweater that you loved. You wore it so often that you decided to get another slightly different green sweater to add to your wardrobe. You continued wearing the first green sweater, but the new one just didn’t feel the same and sat in your closet collecting dust.
You loved how the first green sweater was comfortably oversized, but the knit was thick and maintained enough structure that you felt put together. You loved the sweater because of its elements, not because you love green sweaters. With this perspective, you might instead opt for an oversized button-up made of a structured cotton that makes you feel just as great while adding more versatility to your wardrobe. We often focus a lot of attention on items of clothing, when really it is elements of style that fulfill our needs. This process will teach us to think more about the building blocks of a given clothing item, than the item itself.
We all require a distinct set of style elements to feel comfortable, confident, and creative. Your friend who feels most confident in fitted pieces might get a lot of use out of the second more fitted green sweater that you never wore. Our personal style is found in the unique combination of style elements that meet our needs.
The 3Cs of Style Approach to Personal Style Exploration
Below is the 3Cs of Style process I take clients through, but the same principles can be used in your own exploration.
Why this approach to personal style exploration?
Gain a toolkit, not just an answer
Traditional style advice is a collection of rules for how you should dress depending on your age, gender, size, etc. These rules aim to help us meet our 3C needs, but in a fixed way. For example, waist definition, vertical stripes, and dark colors as flattering assume everyone finds confidence in appearing smaller and emphasizing a traditionally feminine shape. The 3Cs of Style doesn’t assume. instead, we discover together what comfort, confidence, and creativity in clothing mean to you.
Create and follow your own rules
When we have a clear understanding of the elements of style that meet our wardrobe needs, we can clearly see why we love certain items and why others sit in our closet untouched. Through this approach, we will sharpen your intuition around your own preferences. As a result, you will be better able to discern what clothing items, trends, and styles are truly for you and how to try new things with greater success.
Buy better and try better
Style guides, wardrobe edits, or even traditional personal styling sessions are great at point-in-time answers from someone with a good eye for clothes. However, they do not often provide you with an understanding of how to get answers yourself next time you feel disconnected with your style. As changes inevitably occur in your lifestyle, your body, or even your preferences, this approach equips you with a process to find answers for yourself. This is not just a one-time engagement, but a life-long resource.
I hope this helps you in your style journey. If you are interested in co-creating your personal style together, sign up to my email list to stay up to date on 1:1 session openings!
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