Build your fashion signature

Do You Want Your Clothes To Say About You

Your personal style cannot start at a shop. Your personal style cannot start at Pinterest, nor can it start at a trend created by an algorithm in the past week. No. Your personal style starts with you, your mind. Just begin with posing yourself one simple question. It’s simple because it should be, and do not try to make it more complicated than it is – what kind of message would you like your outfit to tell you about? Spend some time trying to come up with one word that describes how you’d like to feel when walking into a crowded room. Intimidating, rebel, confident, effortless athletic. Choose whatever feels truthful to you, no matter if it looks fancy or not. Once you’ve chosen your word, there is your criteria. Every piece of clothing you have will be measured by your criteria. Should any of your clothes not fit well with what you feel inside, throw it away regardless of how trendy it is.

Feeling First. Outfit Second.

Now you've got your word, now figure out how to visualize it and put it on your body. Each of these three – color, silhouette, and texture – has a distinct meaning that you learn to work with in order to differentiate the two kinds of people.  Start with identifying the emotion word and then asking yourself the following question: What color does it have? For instance, intimidation can be linked to black, dark red, and cobalt colors. Rebellion can be linked to contrast, which means clashing colors and patterns.Confidence is linked to stark monochromatics and clean lines without any breaks in them. Effortlessness is linked to nature colors and neutral shades. Now, consider what shape your emotion takes on. Authority and power are linked to well-fitted shapes. Sensuality is linked to draping shapes. Finally, consider what type of fabric represents your emotion. Leather means decisiveness. Silk means deliberation. Lace means layers and complexity. Sheer means strength

Colour Is Seventy Percent of Your Outfit. 

Before anyone notices the cut of your clothes or what you are wearing on your feet, they register colour. Most people choose colours they like on the hanger rather than colours that work on their actual skin, and that is where the whole outfit collapses before it begins.  Undertones refer to the baseline temperature of a person’s skin that remains constant irrespective of any external factors, including sunlight and changing seasons. The best way to identify your undertone is by examining your inner wrists under natural light. In case the color of the veins on your inner wrists is green, your undertones are warm; hence, there is a presence of yellow or golden pigmentation in your skin. Conversely, blue or purple veins denote cool undertones and a presence of bluish or

pinkish tones in your skin.

Another test: hold a white piece of paper next to your bare face in natural light. If your skin looks yellowish or peachy against the white, you are warm. If it looks pink or rosy, you are cool.  Warm undertones glow in terracotta, camel, olive, mustard, rust, warm browns, and orange-based reds. Cool undertones come alive against powder blue, emerald, lavender, burgundy, pure white, and blue-based reds. Neutral undertones have the most flexibility, most colours work, and both gold and silver jewellery will suit you equally.  Final touch – Contrast. If you have extremely dark hair and light skin or vice versa, you have high contrast and should opt for bold and contrasting colors. If your hair, skin, and eye color are almost similar, you are a low-contrast person. Soft and tonal outfits would look more purposeful on you. 

READ YOUR BODY

Before anything academic your intention has to be in the right place for your body, be patient with it. There is no need to feel ashamed of knowing your body type. Instead, it allows you to design your silhouette to perfection rather than randomness.  Stand in front of a large mirror wearing well-fitting clothes. Consider these three main points: shoulders, waistline, and hips.  If your shoulders and hips are relatively proportional and you can notice a clear waistline, then you fall under the X category. Remain loyal to your silhouette. The fitted silhouette with the emphasis on the waistline is perfect for you. Stay away from loose silhouettes as they tend to confuse your shape.  If you have hips that are larger than your shoulders, then your body shape is a pear. Try and make your shoulders look wider. Structured shoulders and bold prints should help draw attention up there. When it comes to bottom wear, go for straight-cut pants, dark colors, and wide-legged trousers.  In cases where your shoulders are wider than your hips, your body shape is an inverted triangle. Add more weight to your bottom halves by wearing A-line skirts, straight skirts, wide-legged trousers, or flared pants.  In case you measure relatively the same width in terms of measurements from the shoulder line, around your waist, and around the hips with no difference in any of the measurements, then you have a rectangular body shape. Accentuate your waist. Wear peplum tops, high-waist skirts or pants, wraparound skirts or pants, or layering to add definition to your hips.  For those who are heavier around their abdomen but possess more breast size than their waist, you belong to the apple body shape category. The torso should be elongated for such a body shape; therefore, you should select a V-neckline that will elongate your torso. Dress or tops with empess waist would suit best. You will notice a change in how the silhouette hugs your body. If you feel confident then that’s your sign. 

Your Signature Lives in the Details Nobody Tells You to Think About

Personal style is recognisable. And your signature is not limited to your clothes. This entails the way in which you style your hair, the type of glasses that you wear, the jewelry you always put on, and even the bag that you always carry around with you.  To find yours, pull out the five pieces you reach for most often. Look at them together and ask what they have in common. A colour that keeps reappearing? A silhouette you return to? A print, a fabric, a cut? Whatever pattern you find across those five pieces is your signature making itself known. Then look beyond the clothes.Do you have haircuts that keep on coming back to haunt you? Have you found a pair of spectacles that follow you everywhere? Or perhaps an accessory that goes along with your every outfit? These details are as essential as the clothing items that you wear, if not even more.  Should you be required to define your style right now, will you find it easy to do so? Will it be a certain color or a certain item or a certain mood? If your answer is yes, then you definitely possess a style. Otherwise, all you have are mere clothes. 

What My Style Looks Like, And Why

My wardrobe is built on checks and lining patterns as its base. The basis is black and white, not because it is safe, but because this is how I think. I am an artist in spirit, meaning I see and hear before I say anything, and this comes through in my clothing. Into that foundation I bring lime green, cherry red, blues, and occasionally tangerine. These colours pick up the colour of my eyes and create a contrast sharp enough that nothing gets washed out. I do not chase colour for the sake of it. I choose it because I understand what it does to my specific face, in natural light, against my specific skin.  My silhouettes are lace, sheer, textured, and tailored and at times loose fabrics, I have an X body shape, naturally proportioned at the shoulder and hip with a defined waist, and I dress to highlight exactly that. I like to take risk on my own terms as it is suggested on paper that X shape is not meant for loose fitting. I have nothing to hide. Rather, I am stretching out, emphasizing, and maximizing that which is already there. The shadows that I choose are those which reflect what I hope to achieve when I enter the room: power and desire in equal measures.  My signature is non-negotiable. Heels, septum ring, always. Hair worn loose and curly. Big black frames on my face. These three things are the shorthand for me, the details that, if you know me, you would name immediately. Where trends are concerned, I will allow only the ones which are already present in my system. If the trend concerns itself with anything pertaining to checks or patterns, lace, cherry red color, and tailoring, then that trend belongs to me. Elsewise, it is not of my interest at all. And that distinction, between what is trending and what is yours, is the whole point of everything written above. 

The most powerful thing you can wear is a decision. Make one.