I posted this REEL to my IG feed a while back and one of the main questions I got was, why did I get rid of so many clothes.
Long story short, I was sick of them lol!
Here’s the thing…I’m a lover of clothes and have always loved to experiment with my style, so I would buy a bunch of clothes for “experimental” purposes and that would be my justification for the massive amount of clothes I kept in my closet. Since I was experimenting with my style, there was no discernment with the pieces I picked up; if it ever so slightly caught my eye it was coming home with me, and couple that with me being a “fashion blogger”, I justified my spending as a necessary expense to do my job. What’s crazy is most of those pieces never saw my blog or Instagram let alone the light of day in my normal life, because since they were impulse purchases when the impulse would wear off, I realized I didn’t like them that much and they would die a slow death in the back of my closet and were typically the first things I got rid of. This cycle of just buying for the sake of buying would continue until just before the pandemic when I was on my third or fourth closet clean out of 2019 and after adding up all of my clothing expenses for the year and it was nearing $2000.
When we went into lockdown, I like many others were working from home and one of the things I did to keep some sense of normalcy was to get dressed; yes I was one of those people who wore jeans in the house lol. After a few weeks of getting dressed, I noticed I was only grabbing for the same style of pieces despite the massive variety I had. In full transparency, I imagined using all the time I had to get dressed as a fashion show, but I found I wasn’t interested in half the things I had. I enjoyed wearing this small but mighty collection of pieces and challenging myself to style them in a variety of ways to create new looks. I did try to force myself to style the other pieces I had, but it was a struggle.
And then it hit me.
I fell ass-backward into my style, of the personal variety. After years of chasing, I finally found what I’m calling my home-style. And if you’re wondering why I’m dubbing this my “home-style” I got you. I’m a creative person and I express my creativity in a ton of different ways one being clothes, so I’m not declaring that I’ve found my personal style and that’s the end of it. I’m saying, I’ve found the style that I will always come back to after I’ve done playing dress-up. The style that’s present even when I’m dipping into other styles. The style that is home.
And while I stumbled and found this good style fortune, I’m coming in hot with the cliff notes in hopes this helps you find your home-style too.
Notice patterns | It was hard for me to notice patterns in the things I wore pre-pandemic because I was always adding new pieces to my closet and, to be honest, it wasn’t something I was even looking for. But when the ability to mindlessly shop was taken away, I had no choice but to make do with what I had and it forced me to see what pieces I gravitated toward. Every day take a picture of what you wear and after a week or two look over them to see what pieces you constantly grab for and make a dedicated space for them in your closet.
Study your old self | Who knew keeping a style diary of my fashion evolution would be a benefit and not a cringe-fest! After I noticed what pieces I gravitated toward with my current closet, I took a trip down fashion memory lane to see what pieces were a constant in all the versions of my personal style and took notes. Pieces like blazers, jeans, t-shirts, blouses, and trousers have always made appearances in my styles past; some of the exact same pieces I still have, and that let me know what made up my core style. Do a little personal style research, you’ll be surprised with what you find.
“Hid” your clothes | I’ve heard this before but never tried it and since I was in the house with limited things to do, I gave it whirl. I put all the pieces I didn’t grab for in the last year in a bag and put that bag in my hall closet. If I was getting dressed and went to look for a piece I took it out and added it back to my closet. I repeated this cycle for a few months until I had a good idea of what pieces I gravitated toward and what I didn’t.
Now there is a lot of “how to find your style” advice out there that suggests you go wild pinning things on Pinterest and while I think that’s decent advice, studying yourself; current self and past self is the key to knowing what you like. In all the years I’ve been trying to find my “home-style” nothing has worked like the steps I gave above.
If you’re struggling to find your style, I hope these tips help!
XOXO,
Shanna