My Style Is Changing, and It Scares Me
From Floral and Leopard Prints to Monochrome Fits—An Unlikely Love Story
After completing The Style Bible, I feel different in ways I didn’t expect. Two years ago, when I endeavored to create a guide to help women define their style, I never expected 1, for the guide to take so long to complete and publish, and 2, for my dream style to be completely different from when I started.
I’ve always gravitated toward maximalism. Up until this point, that’s manifested as bright colors, mixing patterns like floral and leopard, and voluminous silhouettes. However, as I prepare to enter my 29th year, I feel a shift in me that feels like it’s ushering a new phase of my life. I should have known something was changing when the colors at my bi-weekly nail appointments started getting tamer.
I’ll admit it: I’ve always been a minimalist hater. Always have, and [hopefully] always will be. The constant neutrals and prescriptive silhouettes are just so boring to me. So predictable. Yet, as I age, I find myself gravitating towards parallel elements associated with minimalism. My heart could never go on with a closet full of beiges but I do find myself moving away from loud patterns and large silhouettes, while simultaneously being drawn to more striking, curve enticing seams and houndstooth.
It’s true that cinched waists and black and white monochromatic patterns aren’t exclusive to minimalism, but with these new fashion attractions, I fear I am becoming attracted to what I’ve detested for so long.
Between what was and my current fears lies opportunity. While my emotional self is mourning my old definition of what fun and stylish once meant to me, my rational self sees an opportunity to reinvent. I can confidently say, a life of minimalism isn’t in the cards for me. It’s just not reflective of my personality. However, I can admit to admiring some of the elements of it. I can also admit that the use of neon green nails and clashing patterns now feel a bit childish to me. A symbolism of my carefree youth.
Forging a new iteration of myself intimidates me because I want to reflect my current journey into womanhood, but I don’t want to lose my fun aspects that feel so authentic to me. How do I transition and articulate “carefree” into “daring” and “fun” into “vibrant?”
During my self exploration in The Style Bible, I discovered my ideal style is described in three words: Fierce, Glamorous, and Audacious. “Fierce” contains the chic and sexiness I desire of my new understanding of womanhood, “Glamorous” includes the vibrancy and femininity connected to my youth and authenticity, and “Audacious” yields my propensity to mix - no longer patterns but now aesthetics like street style and high fashion. Moving forward, these three tenets provide a loose guide on how I shop and look at potential additions to my closet. If a prospective piece doesn’t align with at least one of these elements, it’s a no-go. This helps strengthen my muscle of understanding if I simply find a garment cute, or if it’s actually meant for me and my style.
Speaking of shopping, I also discovered my style values—authenticity, creativity, sustainability, and craftsmanship—which has completely shifted how I look at fashion as a whole. All 4 play key roles in the crafting of my new wardrobe. Personally, I have a deep love for wellness and the planet, but never expected how that could intersect with my closet. Of course, the sustainable route of shopping mindfully with natural fabrics and consigned pieces is an obvious choice, but identifying my style values allowed me to expand upon that. With the health of myself and the planet as a center focus, finding pieces that are quality, made to last, and are created by artists expert in their craft is vital. It also encourages me to forge relationships with seamstresses and tailors. These relationships not only make way for clothing that fits me like a glove, but also leaves room for playing with creativity and creating custom pieces that speak to the authenticity of who I am.
Realistically, curating my new wardrobe will take time—as it should.. The greatest works of art are assembled over time. However, I’m comforted by the fact that I can begin my style shift by focusing on my Style Signatures first. My Style Signatures are the consistent and iconic elements of my life that anchor my wardrobe with fundamentals that make my style unmistakably mine. No matter my life stage, I always reach for lavender garments, black and white patterns, and leopard print. Adorn my face with cobalt blue eye makeup, and peachy cheeks, complemented with textured hair, and styled with either blazers, hats, opera gloves, pointed-toe heels, Jordan 1’s, Thigh High Boots, Gold Jewelry, so on and so forth. My Signatures also extend beyond fashion elements into my lifestyle including my signature drinks of kombucha, chai lattes and French 75s and my tattoos to my favorite flowers, hobbies and go- to films, music and books. Each non-fashion signature reflect a style value and/or a style tenet of mine. In total, all of these elements craft a persona and iconic articulation of who I am.
While my Style Signatures ground my overall style, my style focuses affect how I approach the curation of my new closet and each outfit. My main focuses when styling are silhouette, volume, color, texture, and pattern. Ideally, each fit I wear has at least 2/5. I imagine I would have reached master level if I manage to achieve all 5 at once in a harmonious way. But, baby steps.
With my newly defined style tenets, values, style signatures and focuses in mind, I have been able to create a refined Pinterest board that actually reflects the style I desire. In the past, starting the style audit process with a Pinterest board always veered left for me, featuring styles I admired on other women but that didn’t actually resonate with me and my yet-to-be uncovered style values. Now, having outlined my style tenets, values, style signatures and focuses, along with my style goals, I have a strong foundation to build and visualize upon.
I’m excited and aligned with the new vision of my emerging style. I feel I have the opportunity to take some the weight of allowing my clothes to completely speak for me, and now have the confidence to express who I am vocally in partnership with my clothing. Investing time to prune and survey my current style desires not only provided a clear blueprint to my desired style, but it also comforted me with the reassurance that this new style isn’t just some new “me” that has no reference to who I have always been. While I no longer desire to pair leopard with florals, I have always loved black and white patterns. Bangs may be a taboo of the day, but I’ve always adored them. Excavating into what I authentically gravitate to in fashion revealed that the elements I’m focusing on highlighting in my dream wardrobe now aren’t necessarily new, but they are taking a larger role, minimizing other elements into positions that are still present in my closet, but are no longer the star.
Vibrant colors and patterns will always be near and dear to my heart. Now, I am on a new journey to explore and use them in ways that reflect the latest iteration of myself: The Sophisticated Femme Creative.
If you’re feeling a style shift of your own, or just want to better define what makes your personal look truly yours, explore The Style Bible. It’s your ultimate guide to curating a wardrobe that feels authentically aligned with who you are—no matter how many style evolutions you go through. Embrace the journey, one outfit at a time.
I thought this was happening to just me. I think one of my fears is that the rod of conformity has inevitably struck me but I am trying to convince myself that it is okay to change.