3 F’s to Give About Your Personal Style
In today’s post, I’m going to share with you the 3 F’s you need to consider as you’re buying clothes to add to your wardrobe. A common challenge we have with developing a personal style we can be comfortable and confident in is that we buy based on immediate satisfaction. For example, if you’re walking through a clothing story and an item on the end of a rack will catch your eye and you just have to have it. Or you’re scrolling through Facebook and an ad from Missguided pops up on your feed, we gasp, click and add to cart. (I know that one from personal experience.) We buy these items sporadically, without any real intention behind selecting them. And from this, we end up with a closet of clothes that send a thousand different messages but can’t communicate who we are as an individual.
Let me clarify by saying, yes, you should get some emotional charge when you’re buying clothes or anything you want more than necessarily need. Like I said, I legit gasped when I came across a Missguided ad. That feeling shouldn’t end at check out or after the first...and potentially...only wear. You should be geeked, wearing that same outfit months from now, imagining new ways to style it because you have a cohesive wardrobe that allows you to do that with ease.
3 F’s to Consider When
Developing Your Personal Style
[Scroll to the video at the bottom of the page or continue reading. Your pick!]
Fit
Fit Your Lifestyle.
When you’re shopping, one thing you want to ask yourself is if it fits your lifestyle. Is it something you can see yourself wearing on a regular basis with ease or is it likely to sit in your closet, collecting dust. Now, if it’s a special occasion item or a seasonal piece, fine...sort of...but if it’s a foundational piece in your closet, it should be able to cross pollinate the activities in your life. For example, a blouse you wear to the corporate office can be dressed up for date night, or a t-shirt you may casually wear on the weekends can be dressed up with a blazer and some heels for a night out with friends. Determine if the garment has actual use in your life or if it is just an ornamental addition to your closet.
Fit Your Body.
The stores we shop from and the clothes we buy cater to the masses. Clothes sizing is generalized and based on the brand’s ideal customer profile where a range of people are expected to accept a certain size as their own. It doesn’t matter if one person happens to have a longer, wider back or wider hips. We’re expected to figure out what will best “fit” our body based on a series of measurements provided. On top of that, we have to worry about if the garment itself is flattering to our body shape or if it’ll bring attention to a body part that we just don’t appreciate. Here’s how we combat that. To get a garment to fit your body like it was made for your body, do just that, get it made for your body. You can have it custom made so you know it’ll fit you like a glove or you can have the purchased item altered at a tailor’s for a better fit.
Fabric
Fabric Quality.
You know what good quality fabric feels like and you know what trash quality fabric feels like; both serve their purpose so I’m not knocking either of them. Speaking for myself though, I’m pretty particular about fabric. I guess you can call that the designer in me. I will stand in the store and rub on garments and crunch and squish them in my hand to test the quality of the fabrics. If it feels too thin, is rough or creases easily, I will leave it behind in a hurry. What you don’t want are clothes that will rip or pill after a few washes, will irritate your skin as it rubs across it through the day or make you look like you don’t own an iron.
Fabric Color and Print.
I won’t cover much here because selecting printed fabrics really needs a post all its own. However, when developing your personal style, you want to make sure that the print aligns with who you are as a person, whether you’re a spitfire or a wallflower, and that you already have ideas on how to style it prior to swiping your card. Do not buy print in the dark; respect prints and have a plan. As for colors, to build a cohesive wardrobe, you’ll want to always reference a hand full of colors, known as your color palette. Doing this will make sure your clothes can easily coordinate with each other.
Favorites
Favorites in Comfort.
As your resident jeans and t-shirt girl, if I can’t be comfortable in it, I don’t want it. You never want to feel like your outfit is overpowering you. It is you who should be doing the slaying, not the clothes themselves, and to do that, you have to feel like you belong in those clothes. Think about what you’re typically comfortable in and from there, see how many ways you can diversify that. For example, I also like fleece hoodies. To diversify that in my wardrobe, I’ve gotten fleece crewnecks and knitted sweaters. All are loose and give me that hug feeling but there’s a range from casual to a little more chic. Believe me, there’s nothing wrong with being comfortable. You just have to make it look different from time to time.
Favorites in Power.
What makes you feel like the baddest MF in the room? Get a lot of that and wear it. Point blank period. No but really, take note of things that make you feel more positive and energized and like a boss. These are good to have on days when you don’t feel like doing anything or on days when you need to kill it because it boosts your confidence instantly. For myself, my favorites consist of the color red and shoes; I feel more powerful and in charge when wearing something red or when I have a dope pair of shoes on, no matter their category. If you see me in either, just assume it’s on!
Creating a cohesive wardrobe isn’t difficult, but here we focus on more than that. I want you to develop a personal style that makes you comfortable and brings you confidence. Hopefully, giving these 3 F’s before pulling the trigger on a purchase will help you out with that.
If you found these tips helpful, share them with a friend who needs to be more intentional with their style. Pin this post on your style tips board in case the 3 F’s slip your mind.