Your three style words can help you express yourself

If you’re a words-person, and mood boards and pictures from my post called Do a visual reset and find your style inspiration didn’t do it for you, you might find it useful to use words to describe your style. You can use your three style words to filter your outfit choices.

This can be as simple as choosing three adjectives that reflect how you want to feel, or how you want to be seen.

What’s the vibe or quality you want people to get when they see you?

How do you use your words?

You can use your words to parse your options when you’re shopping or choosing clothes from your wardrobe.

If your words were: moody, monochromatic, cake-loving, you might ask yourself: ‘Hmm, what would moody, monochromatic, cake-loving person wear to this event?’

or, ‘OK, what accessories or garments might give clues that I’m a moody, monochromatic, cake-lover’?

Here are some words to give you ideas

Artsy Avant-Garde Bohemian  Bold  Casual  Cheeky Classic Clean Colorful Cool  Confident Cosmic Creative Daring  Demure Eclectic Edgy  Effortless  Elaborate  Elegant Ethereal Extravagant Feminine Exaggerated  Fearless  Flirty Floral Flowy Fun Fizzy Futuristic Girly Global  Graphic Grunge  Layered Hard Joyful  Masculine  Minimal  Modern  Modest Neutral Opulent Ornate Outgoing Outrageous Outdoorsy Oversized  Playful Polished  Powerful Practical  Preppy Patterned Printed Punk Quirky Refined Relaxed Reserved Romantic  Sculptural  Sensual  Sexy Simple Soft Sophisticated  Sporty  Striking Queer Tailored  Tomboy  Tough Urban  Unexpected Undone  Vibrant Vintage  Whimsical Witchy Western

Want help coming up with your words?

Ask friends to help – they might give you useful descriptions of how they see you and your style. Imogen Lamport has a great post about engaging friends to help you work out what she calls a ‘style statement’.

You might also like Allison Bornstein’s method of choosing three words: one is your baseline style (how you want to feel at heart), the next is your emotional word, and the third is your aspirational word.

Want a practical way to apply your three words? Make three lists

I wrote another post called Use lists to guide your style choices. You might find this useful, along with your three style words.

The three lists I encourage you to make in that post will help you get really clear about what your clothes and outfits need to do in your life, to align with your values and needs.

Once you’ve come to grips with the practicalities of the kinds of clothes you need for the activities you pursue, you can apply your three words to make sure you choose things that show your personality.

Enjoy!