Embracing your personal style is sometimes a huge shove from your comfort zone. It's so much easier to wear something comfortable like jeans and a tee, but does comfort bring you where you wish to be? 

You and I had worked on your goal setting for 2023 and on my IG. In my free virtual workshop 'Design Your Thriving 2023', we developed some milestones and an action plan together with a timeline aligned with your vision to achieve your thriving 2023. What is the mindset shift you need to accomplish your goals? Would being in your comfort zone help get you where you wish to be? 

Your personal style can influence how you perceive yourself and impact your mental and emotional processes. Enclothed cognition is a psychological phenomenon that explores the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer's psychological processes.

Adam Galinsky, one of the foremost researchers on enclothed cognition, said, "It has long been known that clothing affects how other people perceive us, as well as how we think about ourselves." 

We can therefore choose to wear clothes and adopt personal styles that positively shape our identity and mindset to help us achieve our goals. It is one of the many tools you can use, and I strongly encourage you to pick and choose what works for you. 

In this blog post, let's discuss the importance of harnessing your uniqueness and qualities in curating your dressing style and how you could dress to communicate the best of you.

Use your outfit to support you.

Think about you in your element. Describe a specific example in past when you were in your flow – at ease and yet able to excel. What was that like for you?

Now, think about the image that supports you. What are the outfits that you're comfortable wearing, at the same time, enhancing your ability or giving you the strength to help you excel in your arena?

Examine the outfit or style that could help you stay focused, get you in your element and provide you with the support you need. These are your power outfit. Wear more of it to give you the power boost you need.

Be the best version of who you're, and allow the way you dress to reflect that!

I've worked with clients who conform to the expectations of well-meaning loved ones. While they look good, they are not totally in love with their image. Simply because they don't feel connected to their appearance when their look doesn't resonate with who they're, nor the vision of whom they wish to become. 

Dressing to blend in or to comply with standards and meet the expectations of others without acknowledging the core of who you are can limit your potential. You can respect the opinions of others but not lose yourself in the quintessences of who you truly are.

Consider your personality, strengths and values and dress to communicate YOU. You're an incredible individual. If you're not embracing the best of yourself in how you dress, you're doing yourself a disservice. I like to think about it as your truth reflecting your charm. So, dress your own truth and charm.

Use your outfit as a confidence booster

Everyone has insecurities (me included), and you can use the right design elements and silhouettes to draw attention to your strength and charm. Choose clothes that flatter your skin tone and body shape. Visual harmony is essential to great style. By drawing attention to your strengths, you can create balance and reduce any self-consciousness you may have by focusing on your assets.

Are you looking at a glass half-full or half-empty? What you focus on, expands. When you focus on the goodness in yourself and your life, you create more of it.

Play by your own rules

One of these rules would be your lifestyle. To be able to embrace your personal style, you have to be able to enjoy wearing what you're wearing.

So while wearing stiletto heels look dashing on you, they would not be a good choice if you have to run around all day. But life is never just a straight road, so this rule is meant to be bent around or even broken sometimes. 

Your personal style should serve your personal and lifestyle needs. The golden rule is that as long as you feel comfortable and beautiful in your own skin, that's your style. Make it work for you. 

Accessorise

So far, we have only been talking about clothing items, but we should never forget one thing, to accessorise. Accessorising can be fun, and it helps to complete your look. Choose accessories that highlight your personality and complement your outfit. Be it your favourite silk scarf or your cute bucket bag, the right accessories can spice up your look and transform your outfit when executed thoughtfully.

Stay true to yourself and avoid trends

Trends come and go, making it challenging for anyone to keep up. This is a reminder to stay true to yourself! I love fashion trends as a form of art, but nothing beats staying true to who you're by adopting your true style that is timeless. 

A personal style is something for you to create and live by. It showcases your philosophy of life that is unique to you. Before indulging in what's trending, ask yourself if that particular trending style encapsulates and helps communicate the essence of who you're. If it doesn't, then avoid being swayed by it.

Welcome change

With that said, personal style is not fixed, and it changes as you navigate through different stages of life. Think about the clothes that appealed to you when you were a teenager. They may not be that attractive to you anymore, or you may even wonder what were you thinking when you wore that attire. It is certainly not something you can imagine yourself wearing today. 

It's not that they are no longer beautiful. It's just that you have changed over the years, and so are your preferences. I'm sure you're well aware that nothing is constant in life except change. That's right. What serves you at one point in your life may not do the same for you now. 

Your style reflects you for the moment, and once time passes, it will also change. I recommend that you evaluate your style every 3 to 4 years to ensure relevance, and it is giving you the support you need to maximise your potential.

So with the previous tip cautioning you about the vulnerability of following fashion trends, how do you tell apart from sincere change or fast fashion change? This might mean a long overdue style assessment. 

Do you find yourself buying trendy items because you see them everywhere, or is it out of personal curiosity? It might become a bit vague sometimes, but look at the last things you added to your personal style that you bought because of a trend. 

Do you still use them, or are they sitting at the back of your closet? Perhaps, it's time to look deeper into your closet, and take the time to understand what wardrobe essentials mean to you. This could change how you manage your wardrobe moving forward.

And lastly…

Dress for you! Harness the power of dressing up to become the best version of yourself. The key is to dress to express. Nothing is more effective than adopting your personal style and dress to communicate your best. Have your rules, avoid fashion trends, and curate your own style trail that you'll be happy with. Embrace the true style that brings you joy and contentment. 

Need personal styling help? Elevate Your Style Masterclass will be available for enrollment in March. Sign up here to receive email notifications on the registration details.

Love,