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Saturday, June 4, 2016

Mature Fashion: Why "Styling"?



Personal style is the way a woman looks at her own unique world; not the eyes of her trendy friends or the latest "how to wear..." from fashion merchandising professionals.  A woman's personal style expresses her external personality and what makes her unique from all other women. She expresses it in the way she wears her clothing, arranges her hair, applies her cosmetics, and in her carriage, posture, and "attitude"; an attitude that tells the world she is secure in where she fits into that world.  Just as most things of value take thought, work, discipline, and desire, so does having great personal style. 

Styling this "attitude" is one of the most frequently neglected area of a woman's life even though she may spend hours of time clothes shopping, make-up application, skin care, etc. Frequently there is no overall plan what-so-ever for handling the details to produce a specific result.

A woman who is aware and who wants to project her "personal best"  at all times needs to address styling the same way she handles her budget, maintains her living space, or other practical, day-to-day living skills.  She identifies the elements of her life style; the different "roles" she needs to play for her lifestyle. She recognizes what she wants to project within those roles. She then creates the costumes she loves that meet the needs of those roles. I call these women "stylinistas", much in the same manner as one would describe a professional aesthetician -a stylinista creates her own credentials. 

Personal style begins by a woman understanding her own body type, specific figure assets, the areas she wishes to camouflage, what design elements work for her and the ones that do not.   It also clarifies what makes her feel great when she wears it. 

This first step is essential to understanding that however much she might love a certain design, it may be difficult for her to wear; notice I do NOT say she can't or should not choose it!  For example, I had a friend who is very short (5' tall) and rather big boned.  She absolutely loved bold over-sized floral prints, especially those with fussy design details, and frequently wore them with little success.  Every styling rule that existed at the time told her she could never wear clothing with loud, large patterns and fussy large design details would overwhelm her.  She was advised to wear smaller prints which she did NOT LIKE but were more in scale to her body. She was not happy about this advice, but she felt she needed to follow the "rules".

We were attending the same styling classes and addressed this issue ( a legitimate problem-most of her large prints DID overwhelm her and made her look like the clothes were "wearing her")  in an off-line girl gab fest with a few other students.  Our friend decided that she would over-come the challenge.  She chose styles with the simplest design lines, monochromatic "uniforms", and limited her still very large patterned prints to one or two "statement"  motifs on the garment (s); i.e., a single large flower on the bodice and another on the lower pant leg.  She also made sure the garment background was neutral and the fit and silhouette were perfect for her body type. She had to be very careful with design lines, texture, and proportion.

For many years my friend wore this design combination.  It was often difficult to find but she managed; it became her "signature" look, and she loved her self when she wore it.  It was an authentic, personal style, and she always looked wonderful.  She hunted out accessories that balanced the motifs; she felt wonderful-and made her own fashion rules. 

In order to successfully style oneself, a woman must thoroughly understand her  own body and how to work with it.  She needs to understand her likes and dislikes from the fashion world and choose the clothes and accessories that reflect her personality and roles.  She needs to define the message she wants to send  and develop an assurance that she is sending the message that SHE is comfortable with.  She must know that her styling is appropriate for her  (her "rules") and the occasion.  She must have the level of confidence to develop the "attitude" that will almost always accomplish her goal. 

"Personal Style" is the whole package; it is the clothes and accessories and how they are worn; It is the hair, cosmetic application, posture and self-confidence; it is a healthy "attitude" of self assurance that will appeal to almost all people.  As Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner says, "You Are What You Wear", and you will be judged accordingly. 

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