Notes on Styling | 57 | How I put looks together for a client.

With 5 Steps you can follow.

We feel stylish when we feel utterly happy and content in the clothes we wear. When we feel like ourselves and want to bump into that old friend, just because we feel that good.

It is achieved in different outfits for different reasons (sometimes one-off reasons too) but your BIG STYLE - meaning the style you want to be able to put together most of the time, can only be achieved when your style deeply matches who you are.

And understanding who you are, takes time. It takes a kind of stepping out of yourself to examine all the bits of yourself, through curious and kind eyes. It is also a process of living. Wearing things and seeing what pulls you in. Building your own unique picture.

But I want you to know it is possible to unpack these things. It’s just hard because we are too close to our own personal biases.

It is hard to see things for what they are.

You’ve seen the movie The Holiday right?

I’m thinking here of that part in the movie where Kate Winslet and her new BFF, the famous screenwriter, Arthur Abbott, talk about the Leading Lady versus The Best Friend.

“You, I can tell are a leading lady but for some reason, your behaving like the best friend.”

“Your so right. Your supposed to be the leading lady in your own life for Gods sake.”

If you need a reminder - here it is (worth a watch) ♥

Has there ever been a better scene in a movie??

Being yourself and being proud of that person attracts all the right things for you into your life. In the same way, your true style is not about anyone else’s vision - but yours. You’ve got to own that vision and your quirks are right there in front of you to gather.

Style Design is a taking apart and putting back together of these pieces of you - parts that you perhaps put down a long time ago and maybe you’re not sure if those parts of you still exist. Maybe it’s the creativity you used to have that you feel you’ve lost or maybe it’s a relaxed and laid-back part of yourself and your clothes that used to be there but somehow now feels a little too stiff & structured.

After the examining is done, the fun work begins.

How do all these things come together into outfits?

I use Styling Boards with my clients to bring things to life. You guys know what these are now. It is the part where you really see all the ‘bits’ merging into what a look can be, look like and feel like. It can feel scary (new shapes, colours and ideas) but also very exciting!

5 Steps to Building a Look

To help you put a little focus on building your next outfit (pick a day when you have a little more time) here are the 5 things (in order) that I think about when I sit down at my laptop to begin to pick items and create looks with my clients Style Design in mind, once all the exploring has been done.

To see the styling boards where you will see all items listed, click on any of the looks below.

① Write down your Style road map details.

This is a simple written statement, which covers the overall facts of your ideal style.

For the Styling Boards I am showing you today, it goes something like this:

“My style feels classic but with a relaxed feel. My style words are Classic, cool & sporty. I am exploring a cool colour direction (incl deeps and lights).”

If trying this at home - it’s not about the words being perfect, it’s about starting to give yourself something to follow to see how it feels. Don’t overthink. Picture your favourite outfit right now and be guided by this.

② Remind yourself of your key silhouettes/ shapes/ styling ideas to be guided by.

This is a process of understanding what feels best for your body. There are usually 3-5 styling elements that really feel like dealbreakers for us when it comes to our body. These are the ones to keep at the front on your mind when choosing an item. Other things you can be flexible with.

In today’s boards, here are the key elements I had in mind:

• Height 5”3. Dressing petiteness first. Proportions of items therefore mainly neater, shorter, without too much fuss.

• Want to draw eye away from bust & break up top half. Therefore, will try to create more length on legs & go for higher waistlines & wider waistbands to break up top half.

• Some key ideas: Explore shorter tops with higher waistbands, V necks, longer line jackets with shorter lines beneath. If styles look boxy, keep them short and with soft supportive fabrics.

Now that we know the overall Design (the look) and have a picture of the core elements of shape and styling…

③ Consider your dominant colour direction?

This is not to say everything must fit into a colour category. NOOOOOO. In my head I like the word ‘direction’. Once you have explored colour and in this case today, we have identified cool tones (both light and deep) as the colour palette and direction, this will be my focus.

But I play with this.

There will always be wild card colours that will feel really good for other reasons (which when you go back to your style words, the expanded colour ideas come from this broader exploration). It may be I am focusing on cool/ deep but with other additional neutrals added in because it feels good for the overall aesthetic you love and want to build.

It could be that you just love a particular colour and so we play with that in both warm and cool tones.

④ Now consider/ choose the Style Builder you want to pick to start the look?

Now, that we have a picture of words, key silhouettes and an overall cohesive colour direction, choose some STYLE BUILDERS. These are items that feel like they tick the 3 boxes above and that therefore give us a really good starting place to begin to create outfits around.

Your Style Builder can be a great dress too.

⑤ Ask yourself how you want too lean into your 3 Style words through the detail & accessories you pick.

At this point I will have for example these cool purple tone linen trousers. I have teamed them with a simple white top smart but fresh and relaxed jacket. We have a great solid style builder, good key shapes and harmonious colours.

But the overall Style Design will come to life (in how the look really feels) in the little things you pick that really lean into your style words. Here we are playing with ‘Classic, cool & sporty’.

I like to test the look too by trying different shoe types. One shoe will make the outfit feel one way and another, another way. Very quickly by doing this you will see how an outfit can change in the smallest of details.

Finally, think like a stylist….

• Pick a selection of accessories and shoes that lean into your words and colours that you can play with and use across different looks.

• Shoes are always the thing we get stuck on. I try to pick brands that feel aligned with the overall style design and have a couple of dress up and dress down options.

• Play with contrasting colours and textures. Key items are just the beginning and give you stability in your style but the fun is had with all the little things you can play with and that you use to bring fun and interest but that remains true to the feeling you are after (your style words guide this).

• Great outfits for your style will follow your theme, and you will have lots of interchangeable items.

• When you look across a range of your outfits, you want to see how you can take an item and move it around to create other looks because there are identifiable threads (colour, shapes, feel) across the looks.

That’s it for this week! I have a little video I created for this week’s looks but to be honest, was too scared to share it ;-) If I’m feeling brave, I’ll share it with you later in the week - let me know if you’d like it.

Otherwise, see you all next week!

P.S. once you click into any of the looks above, don’t forget the little page icon on the bottom right of any of the looks allows you to see all looks and see all items linked along the side.

Julie x