I previously wrote an article that touched on how to build your style. In a full circle moment, I will be building on said previous article. Note, this will be based on my view of style and experiences. At this point you at least have a base level understanding of how to build your style and are looking to make advancements on that.
Ways To Elevate Your Style:
- Define Your Aesthetic
- Accessorize
- Adopt Statement Pieces
- Know Your Sizes
- Proportions and Silhouettes
- Understand and Apply Color Theory
Defining Your Aesthetic:
In fashion, aesthetic in simplest terms is how you choose to portray yourself and how you want to look to others in a specific niche or context with regards to dressing. How do you get dressed every day? You throw on random clothes and go out. Some may go a little further and choose to follow a trend which at least highlights their individuality to an extent.
Defining your aesthetic is paramount to elevating your style. The easiest way to understand this is when you define your look, you reduce your scope of clothes, spending and time. You are now able to spend more time on developing that look. It would be equivalent to an artist dropping out of school to pursue their art fully, you eliminate the distractions that were hindering your growth. Be it Rick Sith Lord or Y2K Fiend, your style will drastically improve once you set your eyes on a look and stick with it.
Accessorize:
Accessories! You see them everywhere, on everything and employed by everyone. It can be defined as a thing which can be added to something else in order to make it more useful, versatile, or attractive. Key words, “versatile” and “attractive”. Two things with which you strive to in your style journey. From rings to hats, scarves to glasses. Accessories give your outfit completeness while raising the level of your outfits.
There is not much to talk about regarding accessories. I advise you to experiment with which accessories you like. However, keep in mind, colors and patterns. Accessories are meant to add to an outfit, but they should also match the colors and patterns of your outfit. It can be a signature accessory or multiple accessories, its your choice.
Adopt Statement Pieces:
A statement piece is simply an attractive or unique piece of your outfit. It does not have to fulfill any criteria aside from those, it could be something as small as an oddly shaped ring to Maison Margiela Tabi Boots. Statement pieces are normally only one piece for each outfit as the term “statement” would be redundant otherwise.
Once you adopt statement pieces your outfits and personal style rise by a level. It is what differentiates a basic outfit from a sophisticated one. Remember to build these pieces over time as they tend to be pricey. Don’t be rushed to get multiple items, style is not built overnight.
Know Your Sizes:
Getting the wrong sized clothing item could destroy your outfit, in the same way that getting the right sized clothing item could make your outfit. Proportions are aesthetically pleasing to the human eye. That is why you could have an extremely questionable outfit, but if it fits you well no one thinks twice about it.
I cannot emphasize how important it is to know your sizes. It saves you heartbreak, money and time. You don’t have to return pieces for not fitting well, lose money on clothes that don’t fit well or waste time figuring out what size a clothing piece would be for you because you have your sizes down. It literally gives you peace of mind while improving your looks.
Proportions and Silhouette:
Proportions refer to how your clothes should be proportioned to your body. In as much as that is the case, in order to elevate your style with proportions you need to aim for an unbalanced proportion. Why? Simply because it is appealing to the eye, which an important aspect of style.
There is a rule of thirds regarding proportions. It says,” With regards to proportion, look at yourself as cut in thirds from your shoulders to your toes. You want either one-third on top and two-thirds on bottom (as in a shirt and pants) or two-thirds on top and one-third on bottom (as in a dress). Never divide yourself in half!”
Silhouette simply states the basic outline of the body or the garment that it takes shape in. Wear clothes that compliment your body structure, its as simple as that. This will in turn advance your style.
Understand And Apply Color Theory:
Understanding how to combine colors and wear them individually is one of the simplest concepts people confuse themselves with. It is often due to their impatience or lack of effort.
There are five color combinations:
- Analogous: colors are hues that are adjacent to (next to) each other on the color wheel.
- Complementary: colors are colors exactly opposite each other on the color wheel.
- Triadic: colors are three colors spaced equally apart on the color wheel.
- Tonal: colors are different shades of the same hue, the same color.
- Monochromatic: color scheme is similar to tonal but even more selective in color.
I won’t go in depth on this topic as there is a site that perfectly explains this better than I could have. I will have it in the references. Likewise, as I was saying, once you have these color basics down, not only will you be able to boost your style but you’ll also increase your fashion knowledge and understanding by degrees.
Now, with these tips and insight down, get back to the drawing board! Experiment. Create. Discover.
References:
Zeros Thoughts 