Comfort First! - Defining your personal style
As I roll out of bed in the morning and bash the off button on my alarm, I come face to face with a daily trial: deciding what to wear. Though I have meticulously gone through my wardrobe, constantly recycling things that I don’t wear anymore, I have far too many clothes, which of course means that I don’t have anything to wear. Everybody has to deal with this problem every day, and some people even take the time to pick out an outfit the night before or wake up early to spend extra time to get ready. I am NOT one of these people.
I believe the trick to rolling out of bed and looking fabulous is to do just that. Now I know that most days when I go to class I just wear a t-shirt of some sort, jeans, and my Uggs (not to mention I rarely put on more than mascara in the morning), meaning that I usually look like a bum. But I have made that my thing. Everyone is used to me showing up in class looking like I rolled out of bed and threw clothes on, and so far no one has had any problems with it. On the plus side, when I do make the effort to look nicer than usual it stands out in peoples minds.
The trick to being comfortable wearing whatever you pull out of the drawer first is by defining your own personal style, and by this I don’t mean that you have to be “preppy” or “emo”, I just mean that you need to be happy with every piece of clothing that you own. Since most women (and men) have far too many clothes, at least a third of their wardrobe is hardly ever used (if ever worn at all). I know that every one of you out there has that awful sweater that your aunt gave you, that you keep around in case you ever see her, but if you don’t love it you won’t wear it.
I’m sure we would all love to have a closet full of Dior couture or Anna Sui dresses, but sadly we are all living on a college budget. We do not have an endless supply of fabulous outfits that we can wear once and never wear again, so we have to pick and choose clothes that we can wear over and over again. Every person should go through their wardrobe at least once a year and throw out old shirts and such that you have no intention of ever wearing again (and be realistic, don’t hold onto your high school band t-shirt unless it is something that you wear often).
When you are shopping look for items that either match with something that you already have (or frequently wear), or find something that is totally unique that will allow your wardrobe to branch out in a new direction. Say you classify your wardrobe as very bohemian chic, and you are entering into the business world so you need to start changing the way you dress. Start off slow by just getting one pants suit (or a jacket, or skirt that may go well with clothes you already have), and mix and match it up. You would be surprised how well a floral boho shirt goes with a nice pair of slacks.
You don’t have to be classified as one particular style either, in fact I find that it is best to have different items from every style. I have amassed clothing that is stylistically vastly different, yet it all has a similar color scheme (blues, greens, blacks, and browns) and most importantly it all fits my body type (short, big boobs, hips that wont quit, a smallish waist, and short little legs and arms, thus making it very difficult to find any clothes that fit me properly). Though I’m not going to go into great detail right now how important it is to have your clothes flatter your body, it is a very important feature in looking good. Some days I feel like wearing a baby doll tee, and other days I rock the patterned button down with scrunched sleeves, basically always wearing jeans (except on a weekend night when I bust out all of my dresses).
Moral of the story, wear what you are comfortable in. Style isn’t about adhering to one particular ‘look’, its about looking great no matter what you wear. If you are uncomfortable with the way you look in certain clothes, donate them to good will (there is absolutely no reason to throw clothing in the trash when it is still able to be worn by someone else). So when you roll out of bed in the morning try just throwing something on, in fact don’t even look at yourself in a mirror. If you are comfortable, you will be happy, and if you are happy people will like you, ere-go don’t think about it, just put it on!
This is such a cute blog! And I really enjoyed your article! Yay for Caitlin!!
So happy to have provided you with all those clothes. I firmly believe that it is the genes you have been blessed with that contribute to you looking great after having rolled out of bed and off to class, not the jeans you slap on your bod! Happy to have provided those genes!
This is really great!!! You are so true about that being comfortable thing. However, seeing as how I am still in high school and I cannot just roll out of bed and go to class in sweats and a tee-shirt, I actually try to look cute while being comfortable. I am very jealous of your unique style and I wish I had your figure for those great dresses you have. This article reminds me of Carrie’s from Sex and the City, except minus the sex and the city, just the fashion. haha, love you!