If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know that I find fashion to be a very expressive art, and it typically changes as I enter a new phase of life. My personal style has undergone many changes, but it usually doesn’t take as big of a turn as in 2023. As we get closer to the end of 2023 and the start of a new year, I think it’s time to examine my style’s shift this year closely and what’s caused that.
My Personal Style at the Beginning of the Year
At the beginning of this year, I would’ve told you my style would be neutral, classic, and feminine. Like everyone else, I leaned into neutrals for a more polished look that would work year-round.
I’m also not afraid to state that I was leaning into this style because everyone else was. All of my favorite style influencers were going into this same sleek style, and I felt like I should be part of it as well. While I did enjoy this style, and I felt like it suited me for the moment I was in, I can’t confidently say it was my favorite personal style. I love color and prints, and not incorporating that into my looks felt wrong and boring.
Again, this isn’t to say I don’t think a natural, classic look is gorgeous, and the quiet luxury trend is probably the most prominent style trend in 2023. However, it doesn’t suit my personality or my actual likes. There are aspects I can see myself incorporating into my style now, but I don’t see myself returning to the strict, neutral look.
If you look at my Instagram feed in early 2023, you’ll see that I was slowly moving my aesthetic to be more simple and neutral, something that everyone was also doing at the time.
Why I Shifted My Personal Style
With all of that being said, I think something truly snapped in me. Somewhere during the end of summer pushed me to change my style choices and inspirations. There wasn’t a breakthrough moment for me, but an overall continued feeling in me didn’t feel right. As a creative, I can usually tell when something doesn’t feel right when I stop getting ideas and excited about my content.
Around the start of summer, I slowed down on my creation because nothing I did felt right. My personal style is usually something that inspires me, and everything feels dry. I felt like I was comparing and copying more than creating original content.
At this point, I started getting very frustrated.
I felt like I had spent so much time (and money) on this style, and now it was useless. All of this mimicked some similar thoughts I had in my personal life, and I think it just became enough pressure to change. One of my favorite techniques for finding a new style or aesthetic is taking to Pinterest. I spoke about this hack in my blog post all about finding your fashion inspiration this year, and it’s precisely what I did after taking time off to research what I liked, didn’t like, and what I gravitated to in my gut.
I also recruited those close to me to see what kind of style they envisioned me as. Considering all of this, I realized I loved elegance and feminine looks but was doused in color and print.
My Personal Style Now
Nowadays, I feel a lot lighter and happier with my personal style. I don’t think I have anything defined as one style over another. It’s a mixture of different aesthetics that I feel very inclined to. There’s a little bit of Parisian touches in there and some Spanish flair. I love colors and prints but in a uniform and cohesive way.
If anything, I would describe my style with a few words: dressed up with a twist. I am passionate about bringing print and color into elegant looks because they shouldn’t just be neutrals. There are plenty of ways to get color in elegant ways that work while still making you happy with bright and vivid colors. Think of it as mixing in the dopamine dressing and quiet luxury trends.
Overall, I want you all to take from this post that not everything is set in stone, even fashion. However, you should never sacrifice what you love to appease something “on trend” at the moment, mainly because we all know that trends cycle over at any given moment. Maybe quiet luxury is the star right now, but in 2024, it’s all about colors. We never know what’s coming next. We don’t know; maybe there’s another person out there looking for exactly what you’re putting out.
