5 Tips To Help You Find Your Personal Style

Fashion is a great way to express one's self and to relate to others regarding similar or even differing fashion styles. It's also a great way to emulate fashion icons or even portray a specific persona.

The right style and wardrobe can make you feel confident in your sense of self.

And while a lot of people have similar style themes, ultimately, fashion styles are unique to each person.

Finding your style, however, can be a little hard. It's an undisputed fact that we sometimes see ourselves trying to make the style work for an event or a situation that won't usually be accommodating for such – for example, an athletic style to a corporate event, or a sophisticated and chic style to a more laid back situation. But a truly-perfected style should allow you to adapt to circumstances without losing your style's fundamental characteristics.

Looking to finally finding your style – the uniqueness that screams "you"? Here are our top 5 tips to find you personal style:

5 Tips to Help You Find Your Personal Style

1. Know Who You Are

Before you can put together the perfect wardrobe, you first need to figure out who you are as a person, and this should be the driving factor behind your sense of style.

Ask yourself this: Who am I? What sort of person do I want to present myself as? 

These questions will help you find out the basis of your style – if you’re open to being a little wild or are more conservative, if you’re more casual or chic, etc.

Some things will help you answer these questions:

• Age. The way you dress should always reflect your age. For example, it's usually frowned upon to see 13-year-old girls wearing fashion similar to a woman in the twenties range, while it's also weird if you have children and you dress the same as them consistently. It's okay to aim to look a little more mature or a little more youthful, but keep in mind your stage of life when you do so. There are plenty of ways to create the illusion of older or younger age with clothes and general personality.

• Occupation. More often than not, your profession has some standard that your style must meet. Many companies have a strict type of attire (business, business casual, casual, etc.) while some dress according to the activities they do in their jobs. For example, a preschool teacher won't choose to wear high heels and a pencil skirt, while a bank teller wouldn't show up at work wearing jeans and sneakers. Like with age, there are ways to reflect your personality with your clothes and accessories without sacrificing the confines of your occupation.

• Lifestyle. The place where you live in, your activities, and other factors from your surroundings should also be considered in deciding how your style works. Fashion should combine form with function – any one of these two being missing would surely make you uncomfortable and would make you lose your confidence, which defeats the purpose of your style.

2. Get Inspired

We all look up to several iconic people for inspiration, including our fashion choices. Celebrities, models, friends, parents, and magazines are excellent base points to look for inspiration and learning what style you are looking to go for.

Take or cut out pictures, collect them in a binder or hand them up around your room so you always have a good, accessible plethora of visuals that can inspire your style.

You can also go to malls and other clothing stores to see what's on display now. Sometimes, even vintage clothing can be an excellent source of inspiration, especially since it's been a growing trend to revive some fashion staples from the previous decades.

You are also bound to see other people whom you can take inspiration from, and file these away with the rest of your pieces of inspiration. Remember to ask for permission if you're going to take someone's picture to add to your collection!

Social media is also one great way to seek inspiration. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest are great platforms to check out for fashion inspirations, as well as building your inspiration catalog. Try liking Pages or listing Interests in Facebook so tools such as Facebook Advertising (which also involves Instagram) can give you suggestions on what to look at and where to look from, and follow Tumblr fashion blogs, Pinterest boards, and Twitter hashtags

Also, remember not to be a copycat – fashion style is something that should be unique to you and answers to your exact personality and needs. Celebrities may have similar-looking styles, but you can see where they differ substantially from creating the look that is their signature style.

3. Play To Your Strengths

There are certain parts of yourself that you’re likely to be more confident about because of how it looks or how people have complimented it before – your back, waist, hips, legs, etc.

You can let your style revolve around accentuating these assets to gain a boost in confidence. 

Knowing your body shape can be an essential step in figuring out what sort of pieces can work best for you.

Also, if you're aware of specific colors that work best with your skin tone or brings out certain aspects of yourself, these are excellent points to work with as well. Remember that, in the end, it's what you believe works best for you that are the perfect angles to work with regarding finding and developing your style.

4. See To Your Staples

Believe it or not, but you're more than likely to have some staple pieces that you haven't realized yet but, are already a part of your wardrobe.

Things like an accessory you always wear, a whole rack of similar-styled clothes (like a rack full of printed crop tees or ripped jeans), or even textures are pieces to consider for your style as they mean that you're comfortable with them – which is essential.

On the other hand, a piece that sticks out like a sore thumb for being significantly different in your wardrobe – such as a rock band tee among your soft pastel shirts – may be a sign that you’re also deliberating on that sort of style but aren’t comfortable yet with rocking it.

These odd pieces are great areas to look at when you’re looking to add something entirely new to your style.

5. Trust Your Instincts

No matter what magazines, other people, designers, celebrities, and stylists are saying, in the end, what pleases you and makes you the most confident should matter the most. 

Trends are okay to try, but if it doesn't feel right or you don't feel it, it's best to skip it and move to pieces that look and feel better for you. Avoid especially listening to pushy or extra-convincing salespeople if your instincts are telling you that you don't look good in the clothes being offered to you.

Similarly, if your instincts are telling you to wear a piece of clothing that’s been your staple since 2011 and has lost some quality over time, it might be best to remove it from your wardrobe rather than listen to your instincts on this one (unless, of course, you’re wearing it as indoor or sleep clothes). Weed out items from your closet that won’t do your style any good.

Share theses tips with your friends and family, help them feel better by finding their personal style.

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Be GREAT! 

Dana Mia Kim is an online marketer with six years experience — she has been helping several start-up clothing companies to establish their brands, getting them closer to their desired goals and success. You can contact her on her twitter account.