It’s a simple question. Or at least, it should be.
We dress for the office. The school pick-up or drop-off. The dinner reservation. The weather. The people we’re meeting. The photograph that may or may not be taken. And somewhere between all of that—and an algorithm constantly suggesting what we should wear next—it’s easy to forget to dress for ourselves.
Fashion, like all art, is meant to influence us. That’s part of the fun. A reimagined silhouette makes old favorites somehow feel new again. A color you’ve ignored for years suddenly feels exactly right. You see a woman in a great pair of jeans and promptly decide to reconsider everything in your denim drawer.
Inspiration is good. Losing your point of view in it? Less so.
The best personal style has always been less about wearing everything and more about knowing what to leave behind. You can love the oversized blazer without loving it on you. You can appreciate the dramatic skirt without becoming a dramatic-skirt person. Not every trend requires your participation; Instead, pay attention to what you repeat.
The jacket that makes everything underneath it better. The jeans you reach for when you don’t know what to wear. The dress that has somehow made it to dinner, vacation, and a Tuesday afternoon. These aren’t signs that your wardrobe needs more variety. They’re clues to what your style actually is.
And then there’s the fantasy closet—the one that belongs to the woman who spends fall weekends somewhere in the English countryside, owns an unreasonable amount of suede, and apparently never has to dress for 78 degrees in October.
Keep a little of her. Aspirational dressing is half the fun. But dress the life you actually have, too.
Let trends come to you rather than chasing every one. Take the color. Skip the silhouette. Try the shoe. Keep the denim. Fashion should give you more ways to look like yourself, not a new identity every season.
So perhaps the better question in the fitting room isn’t: Is this in? or Will they like it? It’s: Do I feel like myself in this?
Wear the good jacket. Buy the size that fits. Stop saving the dress. And by all means, follow fashion. Just don’t let it dress you.
And if you need help figuring out exactly what that is, reach out to us. Speak with a stylist or stop in. Learn why styling is our signature, and in turn find your signature style.
