Fashion Basics: Fashion and Style

Why "Styling"? A stylist wants to create an overall look that consistently supports a personal fashion style (personal brand) that suits ones body type, culture, personality, goals, budget, and lifestyle. In order to accomplish that look, a woman needs the right wardrobe, the right cosmetics, the right grooming skills, and an allocated budget that allows her to dress for any particular situation with ease and confidence. When each of these elements have been identified and fulfilled, managing the styling and wardrobe needs become much easier (and cheaper!!)

Fashion is not style; and a style is not fashion, although the words are frequently misused. Let us first address the issue of Style.  What is it? It is self expression, an aesthetic or "point of view" that best represents an individual woman's personal likes and dislikes. Style has a personality of its own: glamorous, elegant, reserved, (usually called Classic), creative, preppy, sporty, bohemian (Boho), rebellious, futuristic, country, etc. It also includes manner of speech, posture, and other methods of projecting one's self.

A personal style may mix elements of two or even three style personalities in a generalized overall "look"; in fact to be truly authentic, a personal look must have elements that are unique to her, and to her alone,  Sometimes the look may have a "signature" such as elements of denim, corduroy, or comfortable chino in almost every ensembles she creates, or a flattering hairstyle that she continuously wears that gives her a unique hairstyle, or a "statement" piece of jewelry.  All that is needed is the desire to "be all one can be"  a little imagination, and developing a woman's  personal style tastes. Every author or teacher has its own boundaries, titles, and definitions of these styles. My approach is a "4F" combination of Fit, Flattery, Fashion, and Finance: An ensemble must have the desired fit, it must flatter the wearer, it has to be fashionably interpreted, and within the stylists desirable finances.

It really does not matter what one calls it, what matters is a woman must understand what her personal "brand" is. If a woman does not know what her point of view is, she must first identify it.  There are many ways to do this; I always create a style book using pictures from fashion magazine, seasonal runway fashion shows (thank you, Vogue.com) because I want to know what looks I am using to "shop my closet" for interesting and up to date fashion inspiration (remember, I believe that a woman must know the latest fashion trends and judiciously incorporate them into her wardrobe if she wishes to appear "youthful" rather than dowdy).  In addition to the "point of view" (thank you, Project Runway), I make special note of the seasonal colors that compliment both me and my existing wardrobe.

A woman can use any method she wants, but  identifying a personal look is essential.  In later posts I will re-iterate all the how-tos from Rockmyrole.blogspot.com (If you want the information right away, you can weed through the posts on that blog). 

Fashion, however, is entirely different from style; A woman's style may be lifelong or last a few decades.  Fashion is a point in time only.  A "fad" is a fleeting fashion that may only last a matter of weeks; a "trend" is a fashion (or group of similarity in design, color, etc) that may cover several seasons.  In any event, any fashion will wax and wane.  Like the moon, it will always re-appear.  However, rarely does it appear in the same form as before, and it is almost always worn differently.  The time elapsed will usually vary, but, it will eventually re-appear.  For a budget minded "Stylinista", this knowledge is critical to understand when building a quality wardrobe and updating her other styling elements.

Everything worthwhile takes effort, whether it is great cooking, gardening, or learning a new skill. The degree of excellence depends upon a little innate skill, but mostly, it is accomplished in acquiring the right knowledge and diligent practice of the necessary critical skills. Acquiring the knowledge is what this blog is all about; practicing the skills is up to the reader (and writer-I mentioned these blogs are my personal styling journals, requiring me to to continually practice, learn and improve.) Identifying a personal style is empowering to a woman.  It assists in helping her in planning what to buy and what to leave on the rack.  It also provides confidence that she is selling the image she wishes to project to the world. 

The Rockmyages.blogspot.com mantra is always "You feel good if you look good" and I have found this to be true throughout all my life; I have also found that I have to feel good to willingly make an effort to look good (hence, Rockmyfitness.blogspot.com).  Another reason that I try to style my entire wardrobe (bed clothes, sports, grubby work) with items that are flattering no matter what condition I am in.  I firmly believe that one can find flattering garments that suit all my needs, that are as comfortable as I desire, and that are truly "effortless" to wear and make me look as good as possible for the occasion. There are tons of information available on the latest fashions but not nearly enough on building personal style.

Rockmystyling will provide the necessary tools for identifying clothing and accessories that are usually the most flattering to your individual body type, how to create a wardrobe of clothing that you will love and expresses your unique fashion persona. It will also allow you to create your own "look' successfully with whatever budget you have available.

..........................................   Geneva.........................Rockmyages@aol.com