Carla Manuel
- Jan 21, 2018
- 3 min read

How To Find Your Style

Updated: Apr 2, 2019

Style is a very personal thing, I've read somewhere that the way you look introduces you even before you speak, and isn't that the truth? We tend to judge people on the way they choose to present themselves. Someone once told me a story about how they confused a wealthy man with a homeless person because of his sloppy, unkempt look. But this is all very subjective, just because you look good doesn't mean your rich and just because you look bad doesn't mean your poor either, looks are an entirely personal thing that reflect the image you have of yourself, even if you are not aware of it.

I've always wanted to have a great look, which doesn't mean that I've always managed to pull it off, my outfits were always a total win or total fail. I had an image of the style that I wanted to have but I never quite managed to achieve it, and I would make up excuses like: those girls that dress really well wear really expensive clothes, I will never look like that because I can't afford those clothes; I need to have a lot of clothes to have a really great style; I will buy this item because it is on sale, even though it doesn't match anything else I have, it's pretty and I am sure I will manage to find something to wear it with.

So I went on buying things that didn't fit properly, that didn't look that good on me, that I couldn't match with anything else on my closet because I always thought I would find a way of making it work somehow. I used to spend a lot of money and time shopping for things that didn't work for me. So what changed? I established goals, I work on my style daily, and I am slowly stepping out of my comfort zone and adopting the style that I've always wanted to have. I've decided to educate myself about personal style, I've bought books about styling and looking good and here is what I learned until now:

- It is important to determine what is your style, what pieces appeal to you and what works with your body type. Pinterest helps a lot with this, you can create folders and pin everything that appeals to you.

- Quality is better than quantity, you don't need to buy the latest trend to look good, unless you really like it. You can have just a few pieces that work well together that will last you for years and will make you look good all the time.

- Quality does not always mean expensive, there are ways to determine if the clothes you are buying are good quality or not.

- Well fitted clothes are one of the "secrets" to always looking good, it is important to know a good tailor!

- Sales are only good when you buy something you actually need, so it is important to be rational when shopping not emotional (this one is still a challenge for me)

- A good closet and a good style take time, it's important not to rush the process, and have fun with it.

These are just a few of the things I learned, I will keep on reading experimenting and evolving till I achieve the style I want.

I've made a mini look book that shows my current style preferences featuring a belt bag from Zara I've been obsessing about for the last few months, It's such a pratical classy bag and I am already excited about all of the ways I am going to use it, here are a few ideas I had: