10 Things That Transformed My Style (And Will Yours Too)

It wasn’t until I started actually spending time in my wardrobe that I was able to hone in on my personal style with a lot more clarity. When I shifted from spending all that time shopping to building these habits, not only did it help me find my personal style, but it also allowed me to experiment and evolve with the style I found in the first place.

1. Get Dressed for Nothing

This was a complete game changer. I’m talking about getting dressed every day regardless of whether or not you have somewhere special to go.

I used to look at getting dressed in one of two ways: (1) I would only get dressed up for special occasions like date nights or parties, and (2) I used to use going to work as a reason to put effort into how I looked. But after a while, I stopped caring and started going into work feeling and looking like a potato.

Not only did I start feeling a lot better about myself, but I felt more productive in my work and I was starting to find out what I liked and what I didn’t like. This habit is especially helpful if you work from home or remotely. It’s really easy to get into a rut of just wearing leggings or sweatpants all day because, let’s be real, that’s what’s most comfortable.

But even if you do this a few days a week, not only will you feel really good about yourself, but you’ll start to really discover what you gravitate towards in your own wardrobe.

2. Wait Before You Buy

If you’ve been following me, you know I was a full-blown shopaholic. I would give into any and all of my buying impulses, which left me with a whole bunch of clothes I wasn’t wearing, a whole lot of buyer’s remorse, and a whole lot of debt and wasted money.

I spent many years trying to rewire my brain when it came to impulse buying. Not only has this immensely helped my wallet, but it’s really helped me with my personal style. By just taking a breath and slowing down that impulse buying, I was able to dodge a lot of potential buyer’s remorse items.

My favorite two things to do: (1) Put the item on a wish list, and (2) Give yourself at least 24 hours to cool off and think about it. Usually when I allow myself to sleep on something, I’ve completely forgotten about it by the next morning. When I do go back to my wish list to add something else, I’ll forget I even wanted that thing to begin with.

3. Incorporate Texture

I’ve only been starting to pay attention to this recently. My wardrobe is pretty boring, I would say  and I love it that way. I wear the same basic three or four outfits pretty much on repeat. The way I like to change it up is by playing around with textures.

I love incorporating things like leather, metallics, and even things like cashmere and silk. By paying attention to textures and materials, I’m able to create a little bit of a different look while still sticking true to the basic outfit foundation that I know I feel most comfortable in.

4. Pay Attention to Footwear

Have you ever spent time putting together an outfit, you’re loving it, you’re vibing, it feels so good – and then you throw on a pair of shoes and wonder why all of a sudden that look is just completely off?

I’m learning over time that the choice of footwear can really make or break an outfit. Usually when my outfit feels off, it’s because I picked the wrong shoe.

For me, the shoe choice is very much built off the bottoms I’m choosing. If I’m wearing a straight leg pair of denim that’s cropped at the ankle, a super chunky sneaker cuts me off weird at the ankle, truncates my leg, and makes me look shorter than I actually am. But if I switch it out with a ballet flat, a sleek loafer, or a more streamlined sneaker, it continues the line of sight of my leg and makes my legs look longer.

Where I think a chunky sneaker looks great is with wide leg, high-rise trousers that go all the way down to the ground. If your outfit is feeling off and maybe a little less stylish than you want to feel, try playing around with your shoe choice and see how it changes that outfit.

5. Experiment with Proportion

I don’t really subscribe to those body type rules and dressing for a certain body type – I think that really boxes us in when it comes to playing around with fashion. Anybody deserves to try and play around with any style they want. You can wear whatever you want.

But I’m noticing that I was starting to feel a lot more confident in some of my outfits when I paid attention to balance and proportions. For example, I love an oversized blazer and I love that oversized trouser that goes with it. But since I’m going oversized on top and oversized on the bottom, I don’t necessarily want to reach for one of my favorite oversized t-shirts too.

I would switch out the oversized t-shirt for a slim-fitting tank top or even a bodysuit. When I switch up the t-shirt for the tank top, you can see that I have a body, you can see that I have a waist, and it just creates a different element.

6. Take Care of Yourself

By this I mean just taking the time to do my best to take care of myself. This is things like making sure I take off all my makeup at the end of the night no matter how tired I am, doing my skincare, taking some time to style and do my hair, even things like getting enough sleep.

It means the next day I’m feeling energized and refreshed to have the mental capacity to even decide to want to get dressed and choose an outfit. Giving back to yourself and practicing self-care can still translate into personal style and how you present yourself, because if you’re feeling good about yourself and feeling confident, anything you choose to wear is going to look good on you.

7. Store Instead of Declutter

I definitely have fallen into the trap of decluttering something because I thought I should get rid of it, and then ending up buying it or thinking about buying it later on. It just creates a cycle of waste, wasted money, and it’s not great for the environment.

If you’re feeling on the fence about something, there is no pressure to get rid of it right away. Give yourself permission to store it and revisit it at another time. If you’re just not ready to let go of something and you’re not quite sure yet, then don’t. Store it away and revisit it later.

8. Lean Into Accessories

I love a good pair of gold hoops – I literally never take these off. I love a necklace stack, I love a ring stack. But things like belts, purses, hair accessories – there’s so many things you can play around with that can really transform an otherwise basic and simple look.

Even red lipstick or doing a bold eye really communicates something different depending on what you’re going for. Accessories can even become part of your signature style. For me, that’s part of the outfit, and if I decide to change things up, it’s going to change up the look and how I normally present myself.

9. Outfit Repeating

I think once you find an outfit combination that you love, hold on to it and never let it go. Within outfit repeating, if you tend to get bored, that’s where you can incorporate things like playing around with balance, textures, and accessories to create different outfits that still mimic that base foundation you know you like.

That way it can really prevent you from getting bored and feeling too repetitive in your style. Don’t be afraid to repeat an outfit. If it’s good, it’s good.

10. Know How You’ll Pay for It

This is more related to shopping, but it’s knowing how I’m going to pay for it even if it’s a splurge. I’ve got to know where that money is coming from.

How is this related to personal style? Well, if you’re looking to add something new to your wardrobe, you want it to be something that is joyful, not anything that you regret and not anything that adds more stress and more burden into your life. When you get that credit card bill at the end of the month and you have no idea how you’re going to pay for it, it’s just the worst feeling.

Fashion is meant to be something fun and joyful. If there’s something you want to add into your wardrobe, keep at that by not going into debt for it and by knowing exactly how you’re going to pay for it.

The Bottom Line

Those are the 10 habits that helped me find my personal style and improve upon it. Dedicating some time and creating these small habits has really helped me feel better about my clothes, better about my wardrobe, and even better about any future purchase I decide to make.

Because in implementing these habits, you learn so much about yourself in the process. You learn what you like, what you don’t like. You even learn to not compromise on those things. I think it helps really cultivate a sense of confidence in your own wardrobe, in your own style, and even in your own self.