What Influences Your Awesome & Authentic Sense of Style? (2024)

If you are an avid pinner like me on Pinterest, a quick look at all your pins will reveal your preferences for house décor, outfits, food, shoes, pets, bags, cars, watches, travel destinations, eye wear, anything really. And when it comes to how we dress up, various things influence our sense of style.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, style is defined as

“a distinctive manner of expression, a manner or technique by which something is done, created or performed”.

It can be with how you talk, how you act, the way you carry yourself, how you generally go about your things in life etc. For the purpose of today’s post, the focus is on the Style of Dressing.

I betsome of your most memorable compliments are those honest ones where you were told that you looked good, dressed stylishly, lookedelegant oreven ‘slayed‘- and often those compliments didn’t come as a surprise to you because you knew you didlook good. You and I both know that whenyou make theeffort to dress well,you walk with a strut in your step and are confident. Style plays a big role in our day to day lives and each one of us has an individual style.

There are so many fashion styles-fromthe bohemian, trendy/chic, preppy, classic tailored clothing, casual, dreamy artsy,androgynous, tomboy, vintageto therock punk andsporty styles. And I’m sure you have astyleinspiration- that individualwho often interpretes the style that appeals to you, the style yousee yourself replicating effortlessly.

Personally, Olivia Palermo,Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, Masechaba Ndlovu,Victoria Beckham andKate Middletonare some of my biggest style inspirations as these womenalways pull off clean minimal make up looks, casual but trendy, tailored and classic styles all at once.They look simple BUT elegantly chic at the same time andthey almost always use accessories that make them stand out.

But what influences your awesome sense of style?Is it something inherentor something that is learnt, doesour style getbetter as we grow older, doeshaving a lot (or less) of money dictate our style or can you pull it off with/without the little money you have?Perhaps our sense of style becomes heightened as we age, as we become aware of what we like and don’t like. Today, I am sharing8 factors that currently influence my dressing style. Let’s compare notes and see if weboth share similarities.

8 factors that influence mystyle of dressing

1. Comfort. This is the most important for me- clothing needs to be comfortable, shouldn’t be too tight and notinduce anxiety.
2. Functionality. For example, if I buy a pair of flat shoes, it should be able to serve dual purposes .i.e. in most cases, be perfectly suitable for work, casual outings and everything in between.
3. Simplicity. I am not a big fan of frills so items that are simple, easy and practicalappeal to me a lot.
4. Colours. You won’t find a lot of colours when it comes to my clothing butmy accessories are a different story because Igo all out for colourful accessories, be it myglasses,bags, shoes, watches etc.Although I love black in all its hues and shades, I amnow trying to incorporatemore colours into my clothes as well (work in slow progress).
5. My body structure. My height is 5.75 so I am drawn to clothing items that accentuate my tall body structure, especially my legs and long arms. I believe that regardless of the height or shape ofan individual,if clothing is properly tailored and well fitting, it can help accentuate anybody structure.
6. Repeat per wear. This is not exactly about how costly an item is, butabout how durable it is and how often I can mix and match it with other items in my wardrobe. Although Ihave had to splurge on certain clothing items/accessories,I find that theseitems arestill in theiroriginal shape after 10-12years of having bought them and will probably still be in the next 10 years.These are items I saved up for to purchase and for thesetype of items that aredurable and versatile, my motto is always Quality over Quantity.
7. Timelessness- This is closely tied tofactor 7 in terms of a clothing item’s ability to be wearable, trend in or trend out, year in and year out.
8. My need to experiment. Clothing has to be versatile for me so if I love a particular style of clothing, I can buy in 2 colours so that I can test it out further with other colours.

I have certainly wornthings in the past thatI wouldn’t be caught dead wearing now, and I even cringe now at the thought of someof my past fashion mistakes. But that is the beauty of individual style isn’t it? It evolves. Mine certainly has in the last yearor so asI find myself now drawn moreto versatile monochromes, clean lines, colourfullipsticks,flat shoes, mid-heels (no longer high), tailored clothing and overt splashes of colour here and there.Maybe it will change later but at this present stage inmy life, this is what I amloving.

Over to you now, whatinfluences your own sense of style? Is it because of what you see looks good on someone else that has the same body type as you, or you just have an eye for it? Has yours also evolved over time or you believe you were just born with it?

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Till we chat again, have a fabulous weekend, keep shining, share the blog with your awesome tribe and take care of yourself XOXOXO

Image: Pixabay