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Five hallmarks of my personal style
By Meg | July 25, 2008
Susanna from The Wardrobe Miser recently shared her Five hallmarks of personal style, so I thought I’d do the same here for anyone who may be curious. I tend to think of myself as rather creative when it comes to my outfits, and my friends probably think the same. The truth is, though, that most of the pieces in my wardrobe follow a very simple pattern. Indeed, I have my own “uniform”.
1. Skirts
I hardly ever wear pants. I love how skirts cover my thighs and they feel so comfy. Most of my skirts are at least a bit A-line. Most of them are floral and very colorful. I like a good medium size print when I do prints.
2. Strong but mostly cool colors
I especially purple and teal, though I love wearing burgundy and green, too. I can also do peach, pink and yellow sometimes and I welcome great pieces in those shades when I can find ones that look good on me. I have a good section of black and gray clothes, but you’ll rarely see me wearing something that just looks faded or drab. I also love combining strong colors, like raspberry and peach. Most of my jewelry is silver.
3. Solid color tops
I really like solid color pieces because they are easy to combine. Mostly, I do solid color tops. I feel weird having too much print up top and that way it’s easier for me to pair them with my skirts which are harder to find in interesting solid colors.
4. Interesting details
With so many solid-colored tops, a top has to have something special going for it in order to be added to my collection. I tend to buy tops with interesting necklines and sleeves, though I must feel that they are flattering, as well.
5. Eye-catching accessories
Shoes, shoes, shoes. I love colorful shoes and I have lots of colors in both heels and flats. In addition to shoes, I love playing with accessories like bags, scarves, hats, and fun jewelry.
What about you? Is there a simple pattern behind your outfit choices?
Tags: Color, Fashion, Memes, Style
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July 25th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I agree, skirts are great! Especially in this hotter weather. I love brightly colored shoes, too, but I’m careful about buying them because they can really fill up your closet.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
They definitely do!
I just recently went clothes shopping for the first time in a couple months and I came back with 10 skirts, most of them bright florals.
One thing that helps is that I use stacking hangers in my closet and I have the pole set higher, especially in the area where I keep my skirts and other long stuff. It also helps that I have a decent size closet, but I still wish it was larger.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Wish I could wear skirts more often — Bay Area summers are just too cold to go barelegged, and I don’t like fussing with tights in the winter. But I wear them as often as I can.
My big style hallmark is my color palette: lots and lots of brown and olive green. I sometimes joke that I could join the U.S. Park Service without requiring a uniform. I’ve made an effort to diversify, but I keep going back to my comfort colors. I add a little orange now and then — oooh, daring!
I also stick to solids almost exclusively. I’ve never figured out how to pick prints in the right scale: I’m tall but slim, so neither ditsy prints nor bold ones look right. And I don’t have enough contrast in my coloring to wear graphic black-and-white designs.
I don’t like jewelry very much. Necklaces make me itchy. And, as with prints, I’m clueless about the scale of jewelry. I feel overwhelmed and weighed down by anything chunky.
Re-reading this, I’m bored! Time to go shopping?
July 25th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Hi Nancy!
Lol, maybe! I think we all get a bit bored by our styles sometimes, though. After all, we see it everyday ; )
I’m also tall, so I know what you mean about those ditsy prints. They seem to be everywhere! I try to go with medium to large prints, but limit them to one area like my skirts. For tops, you might want to try something that has a patterned trim along the bottom. I also like patterned tops if they have a solid color vest of some sort on top. In both cases, you can use smaller prints than you might use all over.
If you’re looking for good colors to try, jewel tones are usually flattering on just about everyone. Teal and royal purple are also easy to work with — maybe why they ended up in my closet in such abundance. And consider working color into your outfits with accessories. That’s usually the easiest option.
Jewelry, for me, should be big enough to make a statement, but small enough that it doesn’t compete with the entire look. I tend to wear fewer, but bolder pieces. A have a few large bracelets like I really like. I had trouble finding large ones that looked right but I’ve found that more intricate and delicate looking ones (like woven bracelets) work better on me than solid bracelets of the same size. When I wear necklaces, I prefer a large pendant than huge chunky beads all around (which I refer to as the Flintstone look). For earrings, I tend to avoid the really big and the really small, but the exact styles vary.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Wow, a personal style consultation! Thanks!
Alas, I look just awful in jewel tones and have been warned by so-called experts to avoid them. (I actually think relatively few people wear them successfully.) I need to wear muddy “off” colors–burnt orange, olive green, deep ochre, brownish burgundy. Purple wages war against my complexion, except for certain dark reddish-plum shades.
Needless to say, no pastels, either.
Which is why I end up in so much brown. Hmmm, maybe I’ll do a Project Runway and make an outfit out of grocery bags!
July 25th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
You’re welcome for what it’s worth!
No jewel tones or purple, though? Hmmm… Maybe I’m biased towards them since my favorite color is purple, but I hope you don’t mind me asking, what sort of coloring do you have?
On the flip side, I can’t wear those colors you mentioned — well, not easily in large amounts and have them look good. I don’t think any color is totally off limits if you’re willing to work for it.
July 28th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I’m wearing the most amazing skirt right now. It’s a cream(ish?) secondhand pleated skirt. I got millions of compliments on it yesterday. Yes, sometimes synthetic materials (viscose, acrylic and polyamide) can look and feel good.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Hi Tarah!
I couldn’t survive with my synthetics, lol! As with pretty much any material, it’s mostly of matter of how it’s used. I’m happy for you; sounds like a great find!
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 am
hello miss busy. how do you blog so much :)
i never really thought about my style hallmarks. hmmm!!! great one to ponder. i think i have a mismatched sense of style and i throw on accessories when i should be taking some off. heh heh.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:03 am
LOL! I don’t know, Gilda! I still don’t think I blog nearly enough — especially here!
By the way, I think “mismatched” is a perfectly legit style — though one that is remarkably hard to pull off. You do it marvelously, though! Bravo!