Hmmmm...I am not sure that I "get fashion" but I think I get how to dress myself and what works. For now. Any time our bodies change, it is tough. Plus, there are emotions and hormones and I think it complicates things a bit. We also have so much choice and images and messages...I am depressing myself....LOL I think that I have always known how to dress. The truth is that the majority of the world doesn't revolve on "fashion".

In the end, I don't think that people judge us as much as in every day lives ( except for things like job interviews, client meetings, court ). I know that I don't judge other people...I may like or dislike and outfit...but I don't judge the person. Maybe that is a bit pollyanna..I don't know. : )

And remember, there is a whole lot about the universe that we don't understand. No one has yet to link quantum forces to gravity...so you see, no one gets the "and then, you see" !

Hmm. Can I be a fashion idiot savant?

I have definitive opinions. I have analytical skills and talents. I have learning.

I don't have fashion world vision. I can't fix anybody up in a eye-flick any ol' time, not the way I can sort out 5 paragraphs of confused text at a glance. I will never ever ever come with anything as brilliant as Angie's formulas.

Well, if rachylou is an idiot savant at fashion, I am just an idiot.

I am another one who has to learn fashion like I learned physics! It is not instinctive to me at all. I am getting better, as we get better at pretty much everything we practice at, but it is not intuitive and probably never will be. But that's OK!

I identify most with Suz's response. I always found my sense of color, in terms of what works for me, to be pretty intuitive. And I'm generally pretty good at recognizing If something is off in terms of fit or proportion. Or at least, I was before 2014 and it's anything goes approach to fashion...

But I think it's the details that I was and am still learning. Not just, "Does this work?" but why? Or how can I mix things up to get more interesting outfits of out pieces I already own. But, unlike physics, I'm excited for further study.

Whatever I get about fashion, I think I arrive at mostly by absorbing it rather than actively trying to learn it. I like to think I'm learning by following You Look Fab, but I'm not literally taking notes, studying, applying the concepts, as I would in a school subject. I'm absorbing what I can and hoping that this abstract learning will manifest itself in my own outfit creation.

Lately I have taken to using Angie's ensembles as guides for some of my outfits. This kind of application is more like following a recipe, loosely. She says to put together A, B, and C, and I say, Oh, I have something kind of like those pieces; let's try them together. I don't always get what makes A, B, and C work together, so I may miss a crucial link, and my outfit may not even capture the gist of the ensemble idea. But it gives me a new outfit to wear--score!

Often I can see that my outfits don't look the way I'd like for them to look, but I don't exactly know why. And other times, I recognize that I just don't have the right pieces--I'm lacking the most current shapes to create the silhouettes I'm seeing here, especially on the blog, where Angie is posting the latest trends. So I'm not going to look like I stepped off the pages of a fashion mag, and that's okay, because none of my friends would recognize me if I did! But if I can get a similar feel in some way, then I think I'm going to stay more current-looking than I might otherwise, which is also a good thing in my book.

And fashion is a hobby for me, rather than a subject I feel compelled to study. I do put considerable thought into what to wear, for just about any occasion. But it's kind of fun, and when it's not, there are the FFBOs.

Fashion and style are instinctive for me - but then, I'm right-brained to a fault and so pretty much everything is instinctive to me (unfortunately!)
I definitely believe that people can learn how to dress in ways that are flattering - just as I believe that people can learn how to play the piano reasonably well. But, to go beyond reading the music and striking the correct keys, I think there needs to be an innate sense of artistry - you have to feel the music and have the ability to interpret it in a way that speaks to the listeners (and yourself!) However, I think that there are many people out there who probably cannot actually tell the difference - the same with fashion.

It's like me and physics (for example!) I have no idea how I got through my college physics class. I memorized (and spent hours and hours studying) what I needed to memorize in order to get through each exam - but, I had absolutely no innate ability to go any further with it than to just get through the class. However, I got an A - and for all practical purposes, on paper I looked as good as the student who came by physics naturally!

Compare that to my college music classes: I had to learn how to play every instrument and then be tested by actually playing the instruments. I would skip the classes - then, the day before the exams I would go into a practice room with the instrument, teach myself how to play it - and then the next day go in and ace the exam. There were other students who also aced the exams - but they attended all of the classes and practiced all semester long - and sweated out the exams. I didn't - because I was born with that ability.

We all have different skills and abilities. Thistle - if this was an accounting blog, rather than a fashion blog - I'd be dying! And - I know that I would never ever feel comfortable dealing with numbers and all of that other stuff that just sends me into a panic! Thank goodness we all have each other!

I was good at Chemistry and dropped Physics as soon as I could! But I'm also artistic. I spent a year at art college, I've always sewn for myself and I have a good eye for interiors and colour, so in fashion I do feel fairly intuitive, but I'm also still learning about trends and juxtaposition. Each fashion season I learn a few more skills and try to put them into practice, though the result don't always work. Fun process though.

I hated physics. Never managed to get beyond just memorizing formulas without having an underlying understanding either.

I kind of like the cooking metaphor for myself. For me, both are areas where the day-to-day stuff is guided by intuition combined with the familiarity/knowledge that comes from practice, but I rely more on directly applying "formulas" when trying something complex or unfamiliar. So I'm pretty good at pulling together new outfits that look decent, but a lot like my other outfits, just like I'm pretty good at whipping up a weekday pasta with whatever vegetables look fresh and tasty. But, the farther I get from what I know, the less confident I am that it will work if I don't follow a "recipe" pretty closely. Which sometimes means that it's easier to throw together another pasta, or another cardigan/dress ensemble, even though I know trying something new instead would get me closer to expanding the universe of things I know how to do without relying on formulas.

I like what Firecracker says about absorbing info. I put my outfits together intuitively, but that intuition is informed by years of casually reading about clothes/style/etc in both books and the online world. I'm a researcher at heart, so I get great pleasure out of gathering and processing info on anything I'm interested in. And of course that will inform how I approach my hobby, even if it's at a subconscious vs conscious level. But I still suspect I have some kind of innate feel for clothes/dressing as well, because why else would I find it enjoyable enough to be a hobby?

Interesting topic. I'm learning here like everyone else but I do think I learned what silhouettes worked for me prior to ylf (open necklines for example) and I've always chosen my colors intuitively.

Fwiw I liked physics. Hated chemistry. But my eye opener was when in college I had a higher grade in Statistics than in the supposed blowoff class of pottery - the required art component.

Great topic and wonderful answers! I think for me it is part intuitive especially for colors, which is why I express it as being an artistic expression in my life.
There is a majority that is learned and I think a life long educational experience as our bodies change, our roles in life, change, and as we see ourselves differently or have different goals stylistically. It's also an education with the fabulous use of a camera (mirrors are liars!) which things work proportionally. I see it as a form as science myself, with a variety of experiments that seem never ending...

For myself fashion is definitely a learning process. I have so many books on how to build a wardrobe that I could open my own bookstore. I'm very impressed with the fashion sense of pregnant young women today. I think showing off the belly bump looks great, whereas in the 80's one wore a big mumu and didn't have to think much about fashion choices. I live in Ottawa, Canada and although it is a bit of a cliche I do think my French Canadian fashion sisters do have an innate sense of fashion or a chic gene that we Anglo gals are missing. At least I know I missed it so I have to study chic ness in others!

I liked Physics in high school! It was one of my favorite subjects, after Math and Art. What were my worst subjects? Anything involving memorization.

Anyway, I'm really drawn to color and how different colors work together. But as to fit, style, etc., I'm kind of lost. When I first started posting WIWs, I think Angie started tearing her hair out. She really did not like any of my jeans. At all. I hope I'm improving in that respect.

I think it can be innate or learned, like art.

An art teacher I had once explained that of course some people are very creative and naturally gifted artists, but with practice anyone can learn to accurately put proportion and perspective to paper and produce something visually pleasing; then, in time, students tended to develop a more creative and abstract approach.

(I fall in the latter camp, both for drawing and fashion)