The Personal Style Conundrum

  Me on March 10, 2010 and March 6, 2012. I don't wear quite as many knee socks nowadays.

As a person who writes a blog that focuses partially on fashion and style, reads a lot of fashion and style magazines/blogs and has to dress herself every day, I think a lot about personal style. As much as I know what I do and don’t like (hint: you’ll never see me wearing or suggesting any kind of romper) I have a hard time trying to explain my personal style. In the fall, when applying for a class that I took in the winter, I had to describe my personal style (it was a class about fashion). And though I’m sure I should have used adjectives it came out in some sort of roundabout stream-of-consciousness jumble. 

Sometimes I’m envious of people with a set personal style. People who identify as “bohemian” or “preppy” enough to put it in the name of their blog or Tumblr and don’t have to change it because their style doesn’t change. On some level, I feel like it would be nice to have a signature style. But then I think, wouldn’t that get boring? Not to say that people who have a signature style are bored or boring, just that without the ability to experiment I would quickly get tired of my wardrobe.

When describing my personal style, I’d love to be able to say that it’s classic, prep-inspired and color-infused. Doesn’t that sound simple and chic? But that wouldn’t account for my love of anything that resembles a tutu or the fact that I own (and occasionally wear) a flower crown or the fact that khaki pants and shorts make me want to throw myself off a tall building. I used to say that my style was traditionally feminine (even though the word feminine irks me. I won’t get into it.) during a period when my friends would ask me if something was wrong when I wore pants, but because I’ve since welcomed pants back into my life it feels a little strange to say. 

For now I’ve decided that my personal style doesn’t have to be anything but what I’m wearing or what’s in my wardrobe. My clothes and the way that I wear them are my personal style. Maybe someday my closet will be carefully edited and all of my outfits will exude the same essence. But for now, I’m young. I like the idea that one day I could look one way and the next another. Maybe my personal style isn’t easily definable, but it’s me.