Shane Atkins

There are many people today who have an awkward relationship with their personal appearance. There is nothing wrong with that, but what if there was a way that we could all actualize ourselves and tap into our stylish potential? As a stylist at Dillard’s, I have been helping regular people find their style for over a year. Every single person has a special flare derived from their culture, occupation, race, gender orientation, and shared social groups. It is a common misconception that being interested in something like your style is vain and gauche. Instead, a well-developed personal style can do wonders for your confidence and how others perceive you.  If you wear clothes that don’t emphasize your personality or your body shape, it’s no wonder you don’t have any confidence. This will impact your mood and give an inauthentic projection of yourself to others. Here are my tips to help develop your personal style: 

1. Who are you and what do you do? 

Apart from being a funny New England motto, “Who are you, and what do you do?” is a loaded question. It’s asking about your identity, ambitions, hobbies, spirituality, gender, and your body. Answering this question can allow you to understand the vibe of your personal style and can vary a ton. For example, a young woman in college who likes to go to art installations and nightclubs on the weekend would need statement pieces to wear to the club and art installations, and professional wear when interviewing for jobs. Conversely, a middle-aged man who has kids and works as a plumber has completely different stylistic needs. His style preferences might be centered more on performance rather than trend. He needs apparel with durable textiles to withstand the grueling work he does during the week. These are very stereotypical scenarios, and real life contains more nuance, especially regarding demographics, sexual/gender orientation, marital status, and occupation. However, begin by asking yourself who you are and considering what you do, so you can make decisions regarding what you like in your style and how you want to present yourself to the world.  

2. Start with the basics.  

With our qualitative analysis complete, we can now delve into styling ourselves with pieces we enjoy. Start small and build upon your existing wardrobe. Find pieces that are neutral and add colors that highlight your complexion. This is a fail-safe way to ease you into making educated styling decisions. I often find people gravitate toward statement pieces with intricate details, patterns, and cuts. They will buy multiple of these types of pieces and then get home to realize that nothing that they bought works together. They end up with all these expensive clothes and no put-together outfits, just a random and obscure mess. 

3. Experimentation 

Once you have a good collection of basics, begin experimenting with fashion trends. Search for those statement pieces that you know you can pair with your basics or with other statement pieces in a tasteful way. During this step, I recommend going to a physical brick and mortar store. This way you can immediately tell if a garment is or isn’t going to work for you instead of having to deal with the arduous process of online returns.  

4. Add a little sparkle.  

Now, everyone, repeat after me: Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize! You can have the most stylish assembly of garments, but, with a few accessories, you can make a pretty good outfit an outstanding one. It’s all about consistency and choosing jewelry, shoes, and handbags that make sense with your garments. Match your metal accents and buy colors that mesh correctly with the outfit.  

5. Have fun.  

You should always have fun when finding your personal style. You are quite literally building the idealized version of yourself! If you are not having fun, then clearly there is a disconnect somewhere along the way. You should revisit our first question to reassess what you like and what you are searching for. Fashion may not be everyone’s passion like mine; however, you don’t need a passion for it to have fun creating a personal style. If you are feeling negative then step back, reevaluate, and try again when you are feeling more confident in yourself and your choices.  

These steps have helped a lot of the clients that I work with daily, and I hope that many of you can take a thing or two from the information I shared. Good luck on your styling journey!