How to Find Your Style and Make Your Capsule Your Own

You have a closet full of clothes, yet nothing to wear. You don’t feel like wearing what you have, so you decide that it needs an update. So, you go shopping for some updated pieces. Now, your closet is more full than ever, and you still aren’t sure what to wear each day.

So what gives?

Why You Have a Closet Full of Clothing You Don’t Wear

First of all, part of the reason this happens is decision fatigue. When you have tons of clothing, it’s difficult to pick out clothing and put together outfits quickly. There are just so many options, and yet you can become bored with the options available to you.

Second, a closet filled with clothing in this way is unintentional at best, and a mess at worst. It’s no wonder that most of us only wear 20% of the clothing that we own! An unintentional closet is brimming with clothing that doesn’t go with enough of the other things you own. So we buy more.

Third, a closet full of clothing we don’t want to wear easily happens when we don’t know our style. If you don’t take the time to find your style, you will tend to buy clothing you don’t really like or feel comfortable in. And, you will buy clothing that doesn’t even suit your body type very well!

No wonder we don’t want to wear what’s in our closets.

How a Capsule Wardrobe Can Help

When it comes to outfit decision fatigue, my recommendation is this: declutter your closet ruthlessly. Get rid of anything you never wear!

But when it comes to creating a more intentional closet, I recommend a capsule wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a smaller, pared-down wardrobe of only items you absolutely love and are preferably versatile, timeless, and of high quality.

And finally, in order to declutter your closet and create an intentional wardrobe that you love, you need to find your style. A defined style allows you to reflect your personality to the world!

How to Find Your Style

So what do you do when you are bored with your closet? You start by defining your style.

In order to find your style, I recommend that you do a little personal research:

1. Evaluate Your Closet

When you don’t know your style, the best place to start is by looking in your own closet.

Ask yourself these questions to find your style:

• What do you already own?
• What makes you feel like you?
• When you go shopping, what do you tend to buy?
• What colors do you tend to actually wear?
• What patterns or textures do you tend to choose?
• Do you gravitate towards more casual or more dressy clothing?
• What don’t you wear in your closet, and why?
• What are you most comfortable wearing?

Asking yourself these types of questions will give you tons of insight into your style. Remember, the key is having a wardrobe full of clothing we actually end up wearing on a regular basis, so evaluating what you tend to wear now is super important.

2. Look For Inspiration on Pinterest

The second helpful way to find your style is to do a little web searching. My favorite place to do this is on Pinterest. You can search terms like “fall style”, “casual outfits”, “boho style”, or “plus-size outfits” and just see what pops up!

I would recommend starting a Pinterest board for style and outfit ideas. You can even make the board secret if you want! So really, all you need to do is search for outfits on Pinterest and start pinning all of the outfits you love.

Once you’ve been pinning for a little while, you should be able to open up the board you created and start seeing some patterns. Are there certain styles, garments, colors, or patterns that seem to call your name? Take note!

Use this information you’ve gained to give your style a name. Or, if you like several different styles, keep a list of the things you gravitate towards for future reference.

The work you’ve done to find your style by evaluating your closet and doing a little inspiration searching on the web will pay off big the next time you need to go shopping.

This information will help steer you towards things you will actually wear on a regular basis. AND, it will help keep you away from buying clothing that’s just going to sit in your closet collecting dust.

Choosing the Best Styles and Colors For You

We are all unique, and so our wardrobes should be as well. I wouldn’t worry about current trends and the “color of the season” as much as what looks good on you. It’s important that you find your style, not someone else’s.

So, I honestly think that we already intuitively know what styles and colors we look good in just from trying things on. But, I know that it can feel like it’s complicated and we want to know what all of our options are.

Here are some resources to help you with choosing styles that flatter your body type and colors that look good with your skin tone:

Learn Your Body Type and How to Best Dress For It

When it comes to finding the right styles and cuts to flatter your body type, it can feel overwhelming. We are all so different, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

That’s why I love Stitch Fix’s guide to dressing for your body shape. They even have a built-in calculator so you can enter in your measurements, and it will tell you what body type you are.

Learn What Colors Are Flattering For Your Skin Tone

There are so many colors out there, which is both fun and overwhelming! All of us have probably looked back at pictures of ourselves and thought, OMG why did I wear that color?! 

Finding colors that are flattering for your skin tone can be tricky, but there are ways to determine your underlying skin tone and complimentary colors.

Check out this article from InStyle magazine to find the most flattering color to wear for your skin tone. Or try the quiz by Real Simple magazine to find out what colors look best on you.

Finding your style is key if you want to have a wardrobe made up of clothing you love and won’t get bored with wearing it right away. The most important thing you can do is build a wardrobe that makes you feel comfortable because it feels like you.

Find your style to make your wardrobe your own by evaluating what types of clothing you gravitate towards and what you avoid. Only you have the answer!