Notes on Styling | 35 | Curious how Style Words can evolve into outfits?
A little peak at how words can unlock focus and creativity in your wardrobe.
If you find yourself reading this for the first time, welcome. I am a Style Design Coach & Writer building a little community of women who want to feel more connected to who they are through what they buy and wear. If you like it here, please consider a paid subscription for only £5/month to support my work for 2024. Over the next few weeks, I will be delving further into my world of Style Design with you. This is my lovely home for sharing new ways of thinking about how our wardrobes and outfits can flourish with intention and authenticity. Thanks so much for being here with me. I hope you enjoy this week’s post.
Julie x
A great outfit has many ingredients, not all of them clothes.
It is a meeting of what physically suits you for sure, but it’s also about reaching emotional plains of how you want to feel in your clothes and the words that most viscerally connect you to this feeling. This is the bit that surpasses the style rules. Going on a personal journey with your Style Words is where the magic comes from in how you begin to put your clothes together.
When I was learning as a Personal Stylist, I saw it in action all the time with clients as we played creatively on shop floors - I saw this feeling of connection in how something was put together was more important than what physically suited. For example, take someone who is petite - all the rules will say, keep things simple, and streamlined, don’t overwhelm. But one creative session on a shop floor might show me how their natural instincts and personality wanted to (and could) carry off an oversized sweater, chunky boots and skinny jeans. It’s a balance of ingredients that come from a deeper reading of the person. This has always been my fascination. I just didn’t have the words for it quite yet. It has ultimately led me onto this path of creating what I call Style Design.
Knowing the pathways to getting into the heart and soul of who a person is and therefore what they truly want outfits to feel like and be - when in most cases it’s tricky to know yourself.
Let’s Look. (There is a process I use now for developing a client’s 3 words but for today, lets assume we’ve got them).
One part of the jigsaw is coming to slowly understand your personal meaning for your 3 words - a meaning that helps you buy and build outfits with real connectedness and focus.
It’s kind of like the idea of dressing body shapes, we could each have the same in theory (there are only 5 after all) but how we see our own shape, what it feels like to us, what bothers each of us and what we want to focus on will be entirely different.
I’ve picked 3 words to play with - Modern, Creative & Classic. Follow below to see thoughts and looks unfolding for my lovely imaginary client (let’s call her Sarah).
First, Sarah’s Style Journal shows how she is beginning to feel at home with her Style Words and understanding what her words mean to her, in her own words. This is ultimately what will help Sarah the most. Having this deeper understanding of how her words come together for her - what they really mean. This takes time and to get too.
Here are some looks I picked that embody Sarah’s 3 words and what she says above in her own words and the balance of how she sees Modern, Creative & Classic coming together.
MODERN - Each look feels up-to-date and fresh. This word fresh feels good here. It is the first word she wants to see in the outfit.
CREATIVE - This part of her style was dormant for a long time. She feels best when an outfit has something to make it unique/ make it stand out or feel interesting - to her. This can be a tiny element.
CLASSIC - Ultimately, she wants to feel put together and neat without feeling corporate.
Styling Boards are then what I use to help us develop real looks that encapsulate our Style Words and the ideas we are playing with. It’s always useful to begin by working with a small number of brands that feel aligned first. This builds confidence and helps to centre you in your words.
Here I am using Sezane (Creative/ Classic), Adidas (Modern) and Rixo (Creative/ Modern), & Other Stories (Modern) and a vintage jewellery brand called The Nines Vintage (Creative).
Don’t forget you can click on the looks below to bring you to the boards, which links through too each item I picked. There is a little ‘page’ icon on the bottom right, which opens to each look.
Notes on using your Style Words
Once you know and are in tune with your words, you will begin to see brands that feel good to you for each word. It is better to start with a really clear selection of shops you like. That includes in this case a couple of interesting vintage jewellery and accessory brands that tick the creative box.
Thinking in 3 colours is a helpful way to add more creativity without it feeling too much. Creativity isn’t just about loads of layers or tonnes of pattern and print. It’s in how you put things together in any small but unexpected way. Creativity in this case needed to ultimately feel like it also had a balance of classic and modern and wasn’t too much.
Accessories & shoes will bring an outfit more in one direction or another. They are the items that bring a different energy and essence to an outfit. They can instantly change the feeling.
Creating a Pinterest board of looks that feel like they represent how you want your words to come across is a really helpful benchmark to begin.
Putting your words together in an outfit feels a little like making a cake. Ultimately, the cake will be fine, lovely, and edible ;-) but to make it your favourite cake, you need the right mix of ingredients that bring the right balance of flavours for you.
Remember, a great outfit (for you) is built one item at a time. Start with one thing you love, usually easiest as you grow in confidence for it to tick the box of your favourite word (here that’s modern). Then add something that ticks the box of the next word and so on. The process helps you see more clearly what the next good addition might be (and you already own it!). The joy of beginning to build outfits in this way means you are focusing on you and your style and letting go of all other factors that threw you off balance before.
I’m here for all the thoughts and questions. Feel free to drop me a mail - at hi@juliecobbe.ie or reach out in the comments below!
Happy Styling this week.
Julie x