Why Personal Style Is So Important

Who do you want to be? What lifestyle do you want? Personal style isn't formed purely from visual talents. Far more often, personal style shows the world what your lifestyle is and the types of experiences you might have or the experiences you might desire. Personal style shows the world the different parts of you. Your hopes, your dreams, your fears, are all written into the way you choose to style yourself.

The past year, I've been hooked on the idea that one's style choices are demonstrative of one's lifestyle and life choices. The trending aesthetics of a particular time show what the zeitgeist may be craving in their lifestyle. For example, the Dark Academia aesthetic shows younger generations' desire for easily accessible education; Cottagecore shows a desire for simplicity and whimsy; Quiet Luxury shows a desire for financial stability. All of these aesthetics are lifestyles that the clothes advertise.

A great example of this phenomenon is Miles Davis. Miles Davis's personal style is often copied by Jazz musicians, but that's not because of Davis's knowledge of fashion or involvement in the fashion industry. It is because Jazz musicians often crave the lifestyle that Miles Davis built for himself. Others show their desire to be in that world through their clothing choices. Miles Davis gave his clothes life with the way he lived in them. The joy he created in spaces through his music and his personality is impossible to copy, as that came from the work he did to create a life that suited his talents and his personality. However, copying his iconic style is a way for Jazz musicians to express their desire to be in that world without needing to speak.

We often copy a person's clothing and styling choices when we aspire to be like that person. Often times, it doesn't really matter if that person is conventionally attractive or not, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Our definition of beauty is often tied to what we consider to be aspirational or powerful. In the movie Gia (starring Angelina Jolie), one character said "Fashion isn't art. Fashion is advertising." Which is completely true. Fashion as an industry is about sales and trends, especially about selling an aspirational lifestyle in order to sell a product. Fashion often has less to do with looking desirable and more to do with achieving a goal or conveying something aspirational to the onlooker. Style has more personality and self expression than fashion, but style does do something similar. It can be said that "Style is art. And style is also advertising." Because style choices subconsciously tell the world who you are, who you have been, or who you want to be. In other words, style choices advertise lifestyle choices and personal values; past, present, and/ or future.

With the current fall fashion trends consisting of chunky charm necklaces, leopard print, and bold shades of red and green, the zeitgeist seems to be craving an outgoing, adventurous lifestyle, possibly craving a world that is colorful and fun offline. The current trends also seem to be centered on showing one's personality and personal style more, perhaps in response to the frustration many feel of seeing everyone wearing the same aesthetics.

On a spiritual note, personal style can lead to doing one's shadow work and discovering what you really want out of life and who you truly want to be. Discovering one's personal style outside of conventional norms, and outside the trend cycle, makes one think about how they want to show up in the world and who they want to be. Are you dressing a certain way just because it is expected of you? Or is this really who you are? Are you dressed simply or following the trend cycle because you don't feel safe to explore your individuality? Are you scared to truly express yourself because you're scared of how people in your circle will react? The way we look and the way we style ourselves can trigger us or empower us. We might hate wearing the color pink, for example, not because it looks bad on us, but because we associate the color pink with the idea of weakness. And we hate the idea of being weak. We might be scared to wear animal print because it's bold and we don't consider ourselves to have a bold personality. The thing is, these patterns and colors don't automatically hold power over us. We wear colors and patterns. They don't wear us. I've seen shy people pull off animal print and i've seen masculine women rock pink button downs and pink skirts. Style and perception really just comes down to what you like and being true to yourself.

The way I see it, careful self expression is an act of love. Caring about yourself enough to let yourself be seen. Caring about others enough to let others truly see you. Authentic acts of self expression lead to more authentic connections, as authentic acts of expression show the honest self. At the end of the day, we all aspire to be truly seen and to truly see others. The most memorable styling choices are the ones that scratch that itch of wanting to be truly seen as an individual. These images can be our building blocks, our guidelines, for the lifestyle we want to build. What do we want to do every day? Who do we want to be every day? What do we value?