Finding Your Own True Style


     This post has sort of been brewing in my head for a very long time, and I guess I've sort of been adding to it slowly and slowly. And with the new year coming up, I thought it would be the perfect time to finally put it down and up on the blog. This post will be about my views on achieving personal style.

     Let me first start off by apologizing if this is some long ramble. But I think that finding personal style can sometimes be really hard and take a very long time. There's a million factors that go into it. There's money, there's weather, there's values, there's dress codes, there's location. There's everything! And amidst all of that, you're kind of stuck there with your closet and what you have in your wallet trying to perfect your outfits and attempting to create this image of yourself and what you'll wear. As a high school student, I see this every single day. I won't even lie, I spend most of my school days in sweatpants. I feel like some people are afraid to wear sweatpants. It's like this thing where they say "OMG if I wear sweapants i'll look like this or people will think of me as this", and trust me that goes through my head everytime I pull them on. And to say I don't care would be an absolute lie. I go to school with girls who put their books in Michael Kors bags and wear $200 boots and do their makeup between classes.

     You'd think I would be perfectly accustomed to that because of my blog......and to some degree I actually may be. But the 16 year old inside of me rationalizes that a) there's no way I'd get away with buying $200 boots, and I'd have to save my checks for a month to buy them and b) my IB books would absolutely kill that poor Michael Kors bag, even though they choose to carry their's by hand. And when i'm in those situations, that's really when I start to debate everything. I almost feel horrible, because every other day and on the weekends I dress to the nines and I pick out my favorite belts and do all these things, but during the school days i'll maybe dress up 2/5 days and the rest I just dress like a regular student.

     I start to question. I start to ask myself "well.....since you own a fashion blog....shouldn't you be the one in the expensive boots? Shouldn't you be the one wearing makeup? Shouldn't you be the one taking all the risks and wearing cutouts shirts?" and I always end in the same conclusion. Maybe I should. All those feelings really started to bring me down. I literally stopped shopping. Whenever I would go into a store, say H&M or Forever21, I just wouldn't buy anything. I'd find something I like, then leave it because I'd be thinking what if that doesn't look good on my blog or what if other people don't like it?

     But I feel like even now I don't have a personal style set in stone. I know what I like. I know my favorite color is blue, I know I like wearing long socks with boots, and I know that I like being comfortable. I feel like sometimes I pressure myself to wear things just because I might be expected to, or to wear them because "thats what everyone else wears" so I have to too.And thankfully, sometimes those things just don't look good nor do they work out on me. My goal for 2013 is to finally find my personal style and to love it. No more buying things because someone else has them. No more trying to wear things to fit into one label, and no more trying to wear things because they're a "requirement in a fashion blogger's closet" and they're "things every blogger should have". And yes, those two things in quotes are real things I have read.

I started blogging because I wanted to show you all what my style was, to make an impact, and to express myself. And I feel like that's slowly starting to slip away because I try to fit certain molds or I try to hold up to certain standards because I think others will like it instead of me knowing I myself will like it.

So, as I spend the next week in New Orleans (wedding woohooo!), I hope I come back with a fresh perspective and the preparation to really begin to be myself. And I hope you all do too. Stick to who you are and love what you love! Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all, and thank you for always supporting my blog!<3

9 comments:

Ali Hval said...

I think that your personal style changes and develops out of what you like wearing... and what you like wearing is different than what someone else likes wearing, so that's how your style is different. :)

Jen Hsieh said...

I hope you're having a lovely time celebrating the holidays! I totally get what you're saying in this post though and I feel like a lot of bloggers end up feeling this way at some point. When I first started blogging, three years ago, my style was just all over the place because I thought I needed to have certain items or certain trends in my closet just to be a "good fashion blogger". Over time, I've started to realize that if I'm not comfortable in it, then it's not worth even trying. I focus on timeless pieces that I find myself falling in love with and feeling beautiful in. It took me almost a year and a half to find my personal style and I'm so glad that I have. I know you will too and I can't wait to follow along in that journey. :)

Tari said...

I hope you're having a great holiday too!! Thank you so much, I'm really glad someone else has felt the same way too. I totally get what you're saying, and I'm so happy for you that you've found your style and it's great. Hopefully I can get to that point and share it with everyone too :)

Tari said...

That's a perfect description of it!

Catherine Fishback said...

I really REALLY love this post and share several of the same thoughts. This entire year, I have not bought one new piece of clothing. And I think this is the year where I have really defined my personal style the most. It's easy to get distracted when you're constantly looking at other people's outfits and shopping to find the next item you're gonna purchase. For me, when I took the time to focus on other things in my life, that is when I was able to make decisions easier about the clothes I want to buy that will help me do the things I love and reflect my own persona.

Not sure if you follow that, but thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. Love your blog.

XO,
Catherine
FEST (food, style, travel)

Be happy with fashion said...

Merry Xas dear!!!!!!
Great blog..do you wanna follow each other?

Be Happy with Fashion

The Chic Sheet said...

I have always been a tomboy and felt like I needed to dress a certain way, but now I have learned to embrace that inner androgynous side ;) Do your own thing! That is what it is all about ;)


XX,
Miranda

Anonymous said...

This was an amazing post. period.
xo sienna
http://thegirlwhowearsclothes.blogspot.com/

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