I’ve always been someone who loves putting together an outfit. I can remember all the way back to elementary school spending time every night picking out an outfit. I would go through my closet, find what I wanted to wear the next day at school, and physically lay it out on my floor in the shape of a person to see how it looked together. Not sure why I didn’t just try it on my body, but that’s besides the point, haha! I also vividly remember feeling a sense of dread in the morning if I couldn’t put together an outfit I felt good in. I would be fussing with whatever I put on and not want to even go to school that day because I didn’t like what I was wearing! So when I say that I’ve always been into my outfits and how I present myself to other people, I mean it!
The past few years of life have forced me to be very lowkey about my style, which was nice in some ways! Most days, I just threw on something that was comfortable and easy and went about my day. With 3 very small children, 2 babies at one time, I opted for comfort and practicality 99.9% of the time. I wanted to be in something that I could easily sit down on the floor to play in, rock my babies to sleep in, wrangle a stroller out of the trunk in. With my kids being just a little bit older and more independent now, I feel like I have more mental capacity and flexibility to be able to put together outfits that feel like me, versus outfits that just serve the function of my day-to-day life requirements. As the physical requirements with my kids have lightened a bit in my daily life, I feel like my desire to be more creative with my style has increased!
When I started trying to put more refined, styled outfits together, I found myself struggling with my options in my closet. I was sort of picking and choosing styles based on what I’d been inspired by on social media instead of what I know I feel good and confident in. I was feeling like the outfits I was putting together weren’t interesting enough or “styled” enough and just felt blah about the whole thing. Then I saw my sister share a style moodboard and it sparked the idea for me to do the same! I loved the idea of coming up with a definition for what I want my style to be and then pulling images that encapsulated that definition.
My definition: Comfortable, confident, and refined, but low-key. Something between cool-girl casual and quiet luxury.
Having this definition and moodboard as a guide has been tremendously helpful in a couple ways. First, whenever I’m shopping, I refer to this to see if the item I’m considering buying fits into this framework that I want to follow for my closet. If it does, great! If it doesn’t, then I have to really decide if it’s something I will wear enough and feel like me in it. Nine times out of ten, I’ll remove it from my online shopping cart and keep it movin’. I’ve been much more intentional with what I’m buying and adding to my closet, which has made getting dressed easier! I don’t feel like I’m trying to mash a few different styles together that simply don’t fit together. The other way it has been helpful is providing me with inspiration for outfits to put together on days that I’m struggling! I refer to my moodboard or think about my definition (aka how I want to look and feel after I get dressed) and it allows me to hone in on an outfit for that day or occasion.
Here are a few examples of recent outfits using my definition:
Click on any of the above images for links to the outfits!
If you’re feeling a little lost with your style, maybe you’ve had a shift in your life recently and feel like you have more energy to put into getting ready every day but don’t know where to start, or you’ve never really felt like you have a defined style, I highly recommend doing an exercise like this! It’s been eye-opening for me and affirming to really zero in on what I like to wear, what I feel good in, and what helps me show confidence. It also means that I’m not wasting time or money on clothes or accessories that I simply won’t want to wear or won’t fit into my closet well.
