2. Just buy the bag
The items that bring your style to new plains
Hello my Lovlies,
Do you remember the accessories you would buy as a teen that would bring so much joy? Running into Penney’s with £10 and coming out with a handbag, a necklace and a pair of pink satin sheer gloves that would never see the light of day, but you had to own?
It was all about the joy, the excitement, the feeling they brought when you put them on. Even if it was just in your bedroom. They transported us to the feeling of a life we were dreaming about.
It is easy to plug into this quest even as we grow up, get older, the quest for that excitement, that feeling, that we so innocently stumbled across all those years ago, but yet we understood it’s power.
If your teen’s & 20’s are about trying things out, experimenting, having fun with our style and learning about ourselves, then what would we say our 30’s & 40+ are for?
Perhaps, learning who we really are through our clothes, without the pocket money and now that our spending has become our own. Our own joy. Our own mistakes. Our own money.
This is the style journey we are all on. One of discovery, evolution and fine tuning.
I’m writing this post on a train, somewhere between London and Exeter, after a lovely weekend with old school friends (less of the ‘old’ I hear them say!) We chatted with laughter over Pimm’s in the warm London sunshine about the struggles now felt around this idea of personal style. With busy lives and time passing, it mainly centred on losing confidence in knowing what to buy and where to shop when you feel you no longer fit on the high street. We spoke about going back to shops with familiarity, the ones we feel served us well over the years even though it was felt we are no longer the same person and they no longer serve our needs, not really.
And so where can we begin with something that feels doable?
Let’s call it a little micro styling step - A little thing that can have a big impact on how an outfit feels.
The Penney’s bag has stayed with me because as a Personal Stylist, the idea of starting with the power of accessories to create a feeling is all powerful in styling. When I found myself running back and forth to fitting rooms I quickly learnt that in order to put together a really great outfit for a client, I needed to know the look and feeling we were trying to create and build on - who they were and what mattered to them really? Once I had a sense of this, the first items I would identify before any clothes was a small selection of the right accessories - ones I knew would create the feeling we were building on.
When you are building a personal style, you are actually building a feeling and the shoes and handbags you choose set the tone.
Having the right options to hand in the morning will amplify the feeling you are trying to create in outfits across your wardrobe. They also show that you need less, when you have the right ones. You will actually enjoy re wearing and re styling across lots of outfits because they really feel like you.
The Styling Boards I create with clients in my Style Retreat now, work off the exact same principle. We create outfits starting with working on and identifying the words and feeling we are creating and building on.
Example below from a clients recent buys from her Styling Boards. We are building her style around 3 core words - Elegant, Sophisticated & Neutral with small elements of creativity (I call it Fire!). The shoes from Jigsaw have all these elements with the simple blue detailing around the base (a little fire). The bag is the ‘Ravel’ in Limestone from a really interesting brand called Skaam Amsterdam that offers beautiful quality & elegant everyday pieces but still feels modern and interesting.
What’s important in your search is not the number you own but the sum of the parts that make up your buying decision for anything you are considering buying.
- Choosing brands that feels aligned with your style.
- A palette of colour that feels they move across outfits you love or are building on for your wardrobe.
- A feeling the bag gives you that feels in tune with the essence of your style. This is easier if you know the words you want to use to describe your style.
I let go of my sparkly bags long ago, I follow the same principle now and for me personally, it has meant you no longer feel your style is all about clothes, but about building on a bigger picture of a direction you want your style to take.
I now have a couple of core handbags that are loved, styled and restyled across my wardrobe everyday. I build on them slowly, only when I find something that feels really true to what I am building and this is what I encourage my clients to do also. This Skaam Amsterdam Ravel bag, which I recommended to my client, I have also bought - the joys of styling for others!
Building a wardrobe with great pieces for you doesn’t have to mean spending lots either. Once you tune into your own style, your own words, the feeling you love to have in your clothes, you can find this feeling much more easily across price points - simply because you know what you are looking for.
Here are a couple of my core handbags bought from a mix of places.
But possibly my best buy (which the Skaam will give a run for it’s money) was the Coach Tabby Bag. There are lots of different versions but this is mine, bought a few years ago in and literally worn most days.
Right, that’s my stop! Have a great week you guys and remember the power of a great handbag once - YOU WORK ON TUNING INTO YOU.
Julie xx