How to craft your personal style
Unleashing your unique fashion sense is an art. It's about understanding your personality, embracing your quirks, and expressing yourself through your attire. Let's delve into the process of crafting a personal style that truly reflects who you are.
The logical end of optimization in fashion isn’t a world in which everyone chooses an idiosyncratic everyday look, but rather one in which personal style ceases to exist
The idea that the perfect wardrobe is one that does away with “decision fatigue” in order to bring us one step closer to finding our inner Mark Zuckerbergs is less convincing when you consider that tech’s obsession with efficiency is also responsible for such joyless innovations as Soylent.
- Still, that isn’t stopping corporations from trying to automate the messy art of self-expression: Amazon’s new styling service, Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe, promises to deliver clothing recommendations “curated just for you” through data gleaned from an online quiz.
Look for inspiration everywhere
Take note of what stylish friends, coworkers, and strangers are wearing
- Visit stores you otherwise wouldn’t; walk around a new neighborhood or city and people watch
- There’s a world of inspiration on Instagram beyond jet-setting influencers and celebrities
- Be open to different budgets, backgrounds, and body types
Push yourself to put in a little effort
Boring office clothes may allow one to look “professional, not special,” as The Atlantic’s Olga Khazan argued in a recent essay defending the much-maligned retail chain Ann Taylor.
- You can always pull it back a little bit and wear jeans and a nice sweater – you don’t have to roll in a T-shirt and shorts even if your boss does.
Start with basics you can build on
Peter Nguyen, a New York City-based private personal stylist for men in tech, says that even clients who aren’t especially interested in fashion usually come to him with empty closets
- Once you have the essentials down, it’s much easier to try a trend or experiment with something new when the opportunity arises
- Personal style can be a way of pushing back, of asserting an identity beyond your productive output or the data points Facebook has collected about you
Find your niche
Discover what you’re naturally drawn to and nurture that interest
- It doesn’t have to be trendy
- For Jones, it’s blazers
- Can transform any outfit
- A great, cool, classic blazer can be from a thrift store and you can find one for $5
Get rid of the dead weight in your wardrobe
The average American buys 65 new pieces of clothing per year, but we spend a far smaller share of our income on the category than we used to
- Because clothes have gotten so cheap, we’re encouraged to buy in greater and greater volumes
- This habit makes the experience less satisfying with every subsequent purchase
- Eliminate pieces that only fit an imagined future self, are stained beyond repair, and/or are too uncomfortable to wear
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