Steps to Finding Your Personal Clothing Style
By Alissa Tadros
Spring 2024
Something I’ve always wanted to achieve is finding my personal clothing style and as a college student. You always see social media artists with the most beautiful clothes and always wondering how I can achieve that look. College is when you really grow and find out who you are and what you choose for yourself as for your classmates and professors. Something I’ve struggled with is finding my personal clothing style that really shows who I am. I’ve always wanted something that conveys my personality into my style and something I feel comfortable and confident in. I want other college students to feel confident in what they wear but it can be so difficult to start. As a college student we have many things that are stressful, and this is just another problem added on but there are ways to help you find your personal clothing style in a couple simple steps.
The three steps that I wanted to focus on will help you find how you can develop your own personal clothing style as a college student. The steps you should follow are:
Where to look for a new style
How to start a new style
Being yourself and being happy with your new developed style
Where to look for a new style
The first step I would recommend taking when trying to find your clothing style is finding what aesthetic you like. Going on social media platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram can really help you find what aesthetic you are looking for.
TikTok
For example, in the article Do I have an Aesthetic by Sarah Spellings says that TikTok has videos that people have created that say what aesthetic you are sending this to a friend to figure out. I think this is such a smart idea because you could get other people's opinions like your friends to see what aesthetic they think suits you and you could do some research on that certain aesthetic and go from there. What you can also do is post a video of yourself trying on the different clothes that you have and see if anyone would comment on your videos saying what outfit suited you the best. Having people from around states and country being able to view your video is amazing because you can get so many different opinions just from one social media platform and can really help narrow down your journey of figuring out what clothing aesthetic you like most on yourself.
Another social media platform that helps with finding your aesthetic is Pinterest. Pinterest has so many different pictures that peak anyone's interests and something they have is a variety of aesthetics. According to the article Do I have an Aesthetic by Sarah Spellings they have so many different clothing aesthetics like ethereal, cottage core, croquette, frat boy, grunge, old money and indie aesthetic. You can search up any of this aesthetics and there will be so many pictures showing the different clothing that type of aesthetic likes. This could help college students because you can decide which clothes you like from the pictures shown on them, which makes it such an easy process. You could also categorize the different aesthetics you are deciding on and make them into separate boards to have your ideas organized and for reference when you go shopping.
The last social media I would recommend looking at is Instagram. There are so many different hashtags that you can look under to find different clothing styles or even help you. For example, there can be info graphs about creating your own style and it can help you. Something I read called How Social Media Is Influencing Fashion Trends by Lousia Gabriel you can also look at many different content creators or celebrities that you feel have similar vibes to you and look at their style through the posts that they have on their page. Finding which celebrities are most like you and seeing brands that you like can really help you find what you want and find what type of style you are looking for. You must know what goals you have and frequently look at the different pages you like and then eventually narrow it down.
How to start your new style
Now that you have figured out what type of aesthetic you want it's time to put it into action. Looking on social media helps a huge portion, but if you don’t look for clothes yourself, you will go nowhere. This is where you can have fun and experiment with different clothing and the best way to do this is to go shopping.
Shopping
Do's: When shopping it can be quite stressful when you go into a bunch of stores and see so many options but have no idea what to try on or buy. What I think you should do before shopping is make a list of stuff you need to buy. You don’t want to go in there blindly or you could have wasted a day finding nothing or buying something you didn’t which could end up in waste and don’t want clothes to go to waste. Don’t be afraid to experiment with clothes. When shopping you should try everything that interests you so you can get a better idea of what you want. If you don’t try anything on, then you will never know what it would like on yourself. You should also have pictures of the clothes you want so you can find similar stuff you found on your social media platforms. Having the pictures on hand will help you stay on task and will help you feel calmer and not overwhelmed by all the options shown at the mall.
Don’ts: When going shopping you can get very confused about what you want. When going shopping you should know what you want and pick the style you want for yourself. It's very hard to get influenced by “trendy” clothes but if you only want to buy it because it's trendy that will prevent you from ever finding your style. According to this article called Define Your Personal Style with these Expert Approved Tips by Samatha Sutton she says she was looking at trendy jeans called carrot leg jeans, but she asked herself “Was this lust inspired by hours of looking at and talking about this questionable shape or was it actual love” (Sutton). Trends can sometimes influence us right away to want it just because everyone else has it but you shouldn’t just buy something because it’s trendy then you end up not liking it. That would be a waste of money and a bad thing for the environment by throwing away clothes. Try to keep an open mind and look past just “trendy clothes” and really look for stuff that fits your aesthetic and your personality.
Essential basics to buy
Have you ever asked these questions to yourself:
“I feel like I keep re-wearing the same outfits”
“Nothing pairs well together”
“I have no clothes to wear”
If you ask these questions when picking out an outfit keep on reading to learn how to fix these problems.
When trying to develop your personal clothing style as a college student it can be difficult because clothes are expensive. When going shopping you should look for basic clothes because they can be a great base for any outfit you put on. If you have solid basics you won’t need to keep buying more clothes because basics can create many combinations of outfits as mentioned in the article called Creating A Basics Wardrobe That Works For You by Maddison McKinley. As McKinley states basics “...are the pieces we can use repeatedly because they create the simple structure of a look – they are the *base* layer” (McKinley). You can have similar bases but just add something different every time and it would look like a new style. This is essential for finding your personal style of clothing because if you find your bases it makes it easier to come up with different outfit ideas when you go to school or hangout with friends. This article also states that some essential basics you should get are basic-colored shirts like white, black, and grey. A good pair of jeans, leggings, sweater, and basic-colored shoes. Having basic colors will help you pair different outfits quickly. Overall having basics can really help elevate your clothing style and help make it easier when shopping for your personal clothing style.
Being yourself and being confident with your new developed style
When you’ve got clothes that match your personality and really embrace your aesthetic, the most important thing is that you feel confident in yourself and happy with the clothes you are wearing. Having a good outfit day makes anyone's day happier because you feel more put together and confident in how you look. Vanessa Constantino is a freshman at North Central College and something she enjoys is looking through social media to find her personal clothing style. She wants to feel happy with the clothes she wears and most importantly confidence. Vanessa has said that “I always want to feel confident in what I wear but also find the colors that suit me best”. Although she wants clothes, she feels confident and happy with she also wants to find her perfect color palette that suits her. She has also said that “after finding what color palette suits me best, I also look to find those colors because i know they bring out the best features in myself and ever since i found it out I have never felt so confident in the clothing I wear.
When you’ve got clothes that match your personality and really embrace your aesthetic, the most important thing is that you feel confident in yourself and happy with the clothes you are wearing. Having a good outfit day makes anyone's day happier because you feel more put together and confident in how you look.
How to find out which color palette suits you
Figuring out what colors suit you will make things easier when deciding what color you want to buy. Feeling confident in what you wear is so important and knowing what colors suit you will help you in the long run. Finding out which seasonal color palette you fit into will help you know which colors you should go for and which colors you should avoid. You could fit into one of the four seasons: summer, winter, spring and autumn. To find out what colors suit you will need to know these. The first thing you need to figure out is your hue which means to figure out if you are warmer toned, cooled toned or neutral. You will need to take a couple of tests to figure out which one you fall under.
Vein test
According to the article called What Color Suits Me Best? Find Your Color Palette by Beth Young the vein test is looking to see what color your veins are. The article says when you look at your veins and the color is bluer than you are cooled toned and if your veins are greener then you are warm toned but if you can’t decide and it's a mix of both then you are neutral. Looking at your forearm in natural lighting will be the perfect way to figure out what color veins you have. You don’t want unnatural lighting, or the results might be inaccurate.
Sun test
With the same article Young also talks about the sun test. She is saying if you are out in the sun, and you can tan easily than are warmed toned and if you get burnt easily you are more cooled tone. For example, you could find this out easily if you go to the beach and try tanning then you can figure it out.
Jewelry test
The jewelry test according to the article is saying that try and wear gold and silver jewelry. If your skin pops when you're wearing gold, you are warmer toned and if your skin pops when you wear silver jewelry, you're more cooled tone. If you look good in both gold and silver jewelry, then you are neutral toned.
After you complete these steps to figure out if you are warm or cool toned you will then figure out what seasonal palette suits you.
The next thing you need to figure out is your chroma which is figuring out if dark colors or light colors suit you best.
Color experimenting
To figure out your chrome the best thing you can do is drape different colored clothes around your neck and see what the color does to you. Does it bring your dark circles, or does it brighten up your features? According to the article called Which season are you? Seasonal color analysis and why it Matters by Gabrielle Arruda explains that the drape test helped her, and many other people figure out what colors suit them best. Arruda states that “now, even if you haven’t trained your eye yet, this color test/draping will help” (Arruda). I agree with which because if you take pictures and you can’t tell you can ask family and for opinions. She also mentions while doing the draping test you must do it with no makeup, natural lighting, and with the same angle and camera. Thats important because it ensures accuracy. She does a test in the article draping and orange shirt versus magenta and for her magenta suited her more which makes her more cooled toned and her chroma was darker and brighter. As for if you tested it and it was orange then you would be warmed toned. The way she knew which color suited her was that the magenta brightened her face and enhanced her features while the orange made her redness in her face pop.
After figuring out if bright colors or light colors suit you more you can finally see which seasonal color palette you fall under.
Which seasonal color palette do you fall under
If you are warm toned and your chroma is light, then you fall under the spring color palette. If you are warm toned and your chroma is dark, then you fall under the autumn color palette. If you are cool toned and your chroma is dark, then you fall under the winter color palette. Lastly if you are cool toned and your chroma is light then you fall under the summer color palette.
After figuring out which seasonal color palette you fall under you can finally know what colors suit you and which ones to avoid and this will make you feel more confident in what you wear in the feature.
Confidence
When knowing what your personal style is and your color palette it will help you be confident in what you wear because you know you look good. An article I found called Dressed for Success: How Style Impacts Confidence says that “confidence connected to clothing is more than just fashionable apparel – it is about choosing outfits that align with your personality and make you feel confident and powerful” (MYSA). I agree with this because confidence is from within yourself, and you want to pick outfits that match your personality because people can see your personality with the clothes you wear, and clothes can either make you look confident or unconfident. For example, this article Personal Style Comfort and Confidence in you Clothing by Nicole talks about how something trendy like a tight shirt and sweatpants can make someone else confident that outfit wouldn’t make her feel confident in herself and it's important to know what style suits you best so you can feel like the most confident version of yourself. Have fun with your personal style and feel confident in yourself, being happy about it is the best feeling and I know you will figure this out.
Comfort
Lastly being comfortable with what you're wearing is very important because if you feel uncomfortable, you're not going to want to wear that outfit and could also result in feeling unconfident in yourself. Has there ever been a time where you wore an outfit because it was the trendy thing or because it looked nice on someone else, and you ended up feeling uncomfortable in it but endured it because it was trendy well, you're not the only one. In this article titled Looking Good v/s Feeling Good the truth about your clothes compares an example that states “how often have you worn a dress only because you saw a model showcasing it at a fashion show” (Zavi)? They tie it with saying that models wear it because a fashion show is an artistic statement. Which is so true because fashion is a work of art, and you should think what that dress that the model wore means to me does it give me an artistic statement. Clothes should make you feel comfortable and make your own statement not another person's statement.
Conclusion
Overall, figuring out your personally clothing style as a college student can be so difficult because there is so much research you must do to obtain what you want. With the steps I have shown by figuring out your aesthetic with the help with social media, how to go about shopping and the dos and don’ts, figuring out seasonal color palette you fit into, and feeling confident and comfortable with what your wearing are so important because you want to show. Your personality through your clothes and knowing what style you want to achieve will help you feel more confident when going out and hopefully the struggle with picking out an outfit isn’t as stressful anymore after knowing these steps. Most importantly have fun with the process and enjoy the journey you will have while figuring out what you want and what will make you happiest.
Alissa Tadros is a sophomore at North Central College. She is majoring in Graphic Design and her minor is marketing. Alissa began her journey at Moraine Valley community college and is now transferred to North Central College and is a commuter. She plans to have her own small online business after college to get more experience with both graphic design and marketing. She enjoys drawing, playing the flute, working out and hanging out with friends and family in her free time. Having a balanced lifestyle is what she wants, and balancing school, work, and family/friend time is what's most important to her.