The Fashionably Late Blonde: Personal Style

Hi friends!

Today I wanted to take a minute and not talk about this specific outfit but, rather personal style. Being a fashion blogger, you would think I’ve always known exactly what my personal style is. I’m here to tell you that has not always been the case. Being a fashion blogger has actually helped me identify my own style, and be ok with what it.

In my opinion style is something that is unique to everyone; and something you should identify to help you curate the perfect closet. Today I want to share my personal style journey with you, in hopes that if you are struggling with yours you can take the steps to figure it out.

I’ve always loved clothing and fashion. In high school Abercrombie was the coolest place you could shop. Jean skirts and polo’s in every color is what you would have found in my closet. To say the least my style was pretty preppy. Around my senior year of HS, fast fashion retailers like forever 21 hit the scene in a BIG way. My style started changing from preppy to more trendy. (P.S. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being trendy. Sometimes I feel like there can be a negative connotation around being a “trend girl” however, if that’s what you like there’s nothing wrong with that.) When I finally transferred to FSU and decided on my major (retail merchandising & product development), I was exposed to so many different personal styles. Two of my best friends were print and color crazy! I thought that was so awesome, and envied their knack for mixing patterns and colors that I would never dream of wearing. (I think this is when I first started to realize my style was a little more classic & neutral.) I would buy pieces that I could envision wearing/styling only for said pieces to sit in my closet and never see the light of day! Being a frivolous college student, and wanting to fit in I would still buy certain crazy pieces from time to time, wear them once and then be done with them. When I moved to NY my senior year to intern, I think I finally started to truly understand my own personal style. I realized jeans, a neutral color top, leather jackets and a badass pair of heels was definitely more my speed. Over the last 4ish years I have come to fully embrace that. Really in the last year I have realized the only patterns I like are stripes and plaid. Anything else is just going to sit in the back of my closet until a friend wants to borrow it or I decide to donate. I’ve also realized its ok to buy every shirt in black, white, navy, grey, etc. Sometimes I’ll throw an olive green or burgundy in there but when I step too far out of my color wheelhouse with something, it too just sits in my closet.

I think for a long time with being a blogger I thought I needed something different to set myself apart. (If only I could be a crazy pattern/color-mixing machine like my two friends.) However, I’ve come to realize there’s someone out there whose style is just like mine. A girl that needs to know where to buy a great pair of black denim that won’t fade or the perfect trench vest at a great price that she can wear season after season. And to show her it’s ok to step a little outside your comfort zone every once in a while; and buy that baby pink sweater, because even though I love a good neutral everyone needs a little something different from time to time.

So if you’re anything like me and have had a long journey identifying your own style I challenge you to step back and really think about your favorite pieces you own. What do you reach for time and time again? What makes you feel comfortable yet fabulous when you walk out of your house every morning? Do you like colors or are you more of a neutral gal? Prints or solids? Dresses or pants? If you can identify those things you can easily start curating a closet that will reflect your own style with pieces you will wear season after season. I can’t say you’ll never buy a piece you won’t wear (I’m still guilty of this), but I promise it will be a lot less.