How to Find Your Personal Style

Image Source - Image is for inspiration, created by me using Bing Image Creator.

Often times, I get questions from people asking me what personal style means. As simple as it may sound, not everyone fully understands it.

What is Personal Style?

Personal style is exactly as the name sounds. It is your own unique way of dressing, how you put together your outfits, the kind of outfits you wear and how you want to appear before the world.

It's like a way of expressing yourself out there.

Some people have a girly style, others appear elegant, some simple, some luxurious and so on.

Surprisingly, many people don't realise that how people perceive them is based on their style. That's why whenever I want to dress up, I always remember the saying,

"Dress how you want to be addressed"

My personal style is simple but luxurious, I believe this may be reflecting on my designs.

I love very simple, clean and straightforward styles, but I also want these simple styles to appear luxurious before the world.

Basically, your personal style is a form of introduction and expression, like introducing yourself to others without saying a word.

Tips to Find your personal style

1. Lifestyle

First step to finding your personal style is to understand your lifestyle.

Ask yourself questions about your day to day life.

What do you do on a daily basis? Do you work in an office? at a beauty parlour or are you a busy stay at home mom?

These are questions that only you can give answers to, finding the right answer to these questions will help you find your personal style easily.

For example if you're an office professional, you would always want to wear something that is suitable for your job settings, something elegant and comfortable, that can let you breathe, considering most office professionals do 9-5.

2. Body Type

One way to find your personal style is to know your body type or shape.

Are you pear shaped? Straight shaped, hourglass shaped etc

When you understand your body type, then you go for outfits that flatter you.

For example, if you're straight shaped, it's not ideal to wear a bodycon gown, something flare would be better and more suitable for you.

You can look stunning in any outfit, if your understand your body type.

3. Experiment 

Nobody wakes up one day and fully understands their personal style. It takes time, plus trials and errors.

To find your personal style, you have to be bold and experiment with different fashion styles and ideas.

Experiment with simple, elegant, stylish, girly, luxurious etc.

Experiment with all of them, and eventually you will find one that suits you perfectly.

And yes you can have more than one personal style, build your wardrobe and make it versatile, really, there is no one size fits all rules to these things.

4. Inspiration

If you're still lost and not sure how to find your personal style, then look for inspiration.

These days we have many Instagram fashion influencers, we have celebrities too.

One Nigerian Celebrity that I like her personal style is Sylvia Nduka, her style is simple and elegant, with a mix of Ankara fabric here and there.

So you could look up a fashion influencer or a celebrity that you like their personal style and try to copy them.

Alternatively, you can use Pinterest to find different styles.

With time, you will get comfortable and understand exactly what works for you.

5. Be Yourself 

After all said and done, it all comes down to being yourself.

You can be inspired here and there, but do not completely turn yourself into a different person.

Stay true to yourself and only do things that you're comfortable with. 

At a point in my life, I used to chase trends. I got tired and couldn't keep up, i found myself with a wardrobe filled with clothes that didn't reflect who I am.

I had to sit down, take my time and rebrand my whole wardrobe to feel more like me.

So don't be pressured into chasing trends, you'll get tired eventually.

Continuous Journey 

Finding your personal style is a long process and a continuous Journey. It's normal for your style to change over time, there's nothing wrong with that.

We are humans, and one thing that's constant with us humans, is change.

If you find your taste, preferences and style changing, do not fight it.

If it feels more like you, and you're comfortable with it, then just embrace it, i think it's fun and interesting.

My personal style has changed continuously over the years, even though these days I like simplicity, I had fun with my ever changing style at every step of the way.

So enjoy the process one step at a time and stay true to yourself.