Who said it was easy to find your personal style? Because it's not easy, but don't let that discourage, you I'm here to help you! Think of me as your fairy god mother because I'm about to teach you how to find your personal style and how to always have an outfit ready in your closet with the 70-30 rule.
What is the 70-30 rule?
The 70-30 Rule is where 70% of your closet is high quality elevated basics, staples, trend-less and timeless pieces (that will never go out of style). You might think that this sounds boring? Well I promise it's not! Your closet can include things like button ups, straight fit trousers and jeans, trench coats, silk dresses, boots, loafers, sweaters and much much more. If you're still not feeling this 70% you can always put your own twist on these timeless pieces like instead of using a normal trench coat you could use a leather trench coat (its okay to splurge a little on this section to get good materials)
And the other 30% of your closet should be Trendy, statement pieces. This can be anything you like, but make sure you can pair it with the clothes you already have (try your best not to splurge out on this 30%). This rule can also be known as the 80-20 rule and 60-30-10 Rule
The great thing about the 70-30 rule is that it looks different from person to person as @oldloserinbrooklyn on TikTok explains really well "This vintage silk button down is a classic piece in my wardrobe because the silhouette is so versatile, However someone more minimalist might consider this a statement piece" Bear in mind that the button down @oldloserinbrooklyn is wearing is a colourful piece full of shape.
"But How Do I Apply This Rule To My Closet?"
1.First you need to find your personal style, (this is most important or you might struggle to do this Rule)
2. Declutter your closet,
3. Find clothing you that is timeless basics, you could find items in high street shops (E.g H&M, Primark, New Look, Brandy Melville) charity shops/thrift stores, online, up-cycling and more. Just remember finding a new wardrobe doesn't need to be expensive and less is more.
"But Im Struggling To Find My Personal Style"
Thats ok! I struggled to find my personal style, here are some tips that should help you find your style, there are 3 routes you can take:
Decluttering your wardrobe
Know your size, wear clothes that complement your size meaning your confident with what your wearing. It can also depend on your preference eg if you want your clothing to be oversized.
Know your body type, pick clothing that will accentuate your best features
Declutter your closet this is your chance to use the 70-30 rule gravitate towards the pieces you use most find the basic pieces (70%) and then the fun experimental pieces (30%) find the pieces you love the most, you can also use this opportunity to pick out the clothes you love and wear most and compare them to other items you love. Look for similarities like if they're all black, or are they colourful, are they all minimal, once you've got all the pieces laid out in front you, you'll be able to tell what your style is.
After this try and not buy any new clothes for the next 2-3 moths this will force you to mix and match the clothing you already own. After the 2-3 months this will show you the pieces that you're missing in your closet.
Try and buy pieces that you'll wear months or even years from now, only buy them if you really love them and you'll be able to wear them differently.
Critiquing everything you've loved
Ask yourself who are your favourite movie or TV show characters, what is your favourite era or style of art eg if you like pop art you might prefer brighter clothing and graphics on shirts, or if you like more classic styles maybe try wearing more flowing clothes with light colours. Ask yourself what is your favourite decade.
Go on to Pinterest and make a board filled with photos of you favourite movie/tv characters outfits, painting inspired outfits, your favourite decade of clothing (this one is a good one because any trend you see today probably came from original ideas in different decades).
Take a look at your board and see what types of style is most present on the board and what you like most and interpret it into your own outfits.
Pinterest Style
Download or open Pinterest
search for terms like Fashion inspiration, street style, celebrity style, style icon, instagram fashion. Save the pins of outfits you like the most to a board you can name your board something like 'finding my style'
Once you've done that look on the board and ask yourself what do the majority of the outfits look like are they classic, glam, minimal, edgy, preppy or something else.
Then take note of the type of the characteristics of the outfits like fabrics, items, silhouettes, prints, colours, and fit.
Finally go to your closet and pick out the items that fit your findings and either sell or donate the clothes you no longer want or need.
Don't Forget
Try not to be a follower and change your style with every trend that comes to along because trends are more like micro trends now they come and go with the blink of an eye because influencers are always trying to outdo each other.
You can't buy your dream wardrobe overnight, it will take a while to build up to your dream wardrobe. Your dream wardrobe will find you over time.
Focus on wearing clothes you like, it doesn't matter if its not trending.
It doesn't matter if you cant put a name to your style, it does not mean it doesn't look good.
Still unsure of how to find your personal style? Let me help you by showing you how I found my style.
I found my personal style by using the "Critiquing everything you've loved"
I went to Pinterest and made my board by using the steps I gave you above in "Critiquing everything you've loved"
As you can see in the board above I've taken inspiration from the TV character Rachel from Friends because I've always loved her outfits, then i went on to find the decade of clothing I like the most and for me that was 90s runway fashion, lastly my favourite style of art is renaissance so I found pieces of clothing that reminded me of the art choosing light flowy clothing.
Once I had all the photos on my board I looked at all the similarities the clothing had for example, the colour pallet consists of very minimal colours, there are lots of mini skirts in the photos along with very basic timeless pieces like button up shirts, flowy dresses, sweaters, trousers and blazers.
Once you've taken note of similarities go on to Pinterest and try and find outfits that have this in them. I did this and this is the board I came up with. This is now what the outfits I buy/wear today are inspired by.
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