It’s not essential to create a list of style goals, but they can serve as a helpful frame of reference as you review your closet, shop for new items, create outfits, and evolve your style. Having a FLEXIBLE set of goals will make your style journey more effective and enjoyable.
If you have a good handle on your style direction and are in the fine-tuning phase, setting style goals is a quick, intuitive and incremental process. On the other hand, if you’ve experienced dramatic changes in your life, or if you’re in a style rut, setting style goals requires time, some soul searching, and an in-depth analysis of the internal and external factors that affect your style.
For a formal and thorough approach, write down or type out your style goals, keep them close by, and check in on them regularly to asses your progress throughout the year. Tweak your goals along the way. If this sounds overwhelming, try a less formal approach by simply taking a moment to think about how you’d like to improve your fashion and style life in 2018. Keep those style musings in your head and see if that way works for you.
Anything that relates to your style can go on the list. Style goals can be long or short, general or specific, seasonal or annual, abstract or countable. Remember that style goals can be changed at any time.
I reflected on my 2017 style a few weeks ago. It took me a while to settle down last year, but I eventually found my direction, added lots of wild cards, and ran with it. I’ll be building on those reflections as I evolve my look for 2018, and try new stuff that tickles my fancy. We have a busy year filled with lots of travel and many special occasions, so my wardrobe needs to reflect my needs even more closely. It helps that I feel more content about my style direction than ever, and have a solid base to work from.
One small epiphany: I tend to crave a change in colour and colour combination more than a change in silhouette. This accounts for my colour-rich wardrobe, my propensity to regularly add new-to-me colours to my wardrobe, and to remix colours in fresh ways.
I’m changing my style moniker slightly from “Urban Pretty” to “Urban Polish”. I may live in a grungy and casual city, but it’s important to me to create daily outfits that are refined, pretty, structured, polished, comfortable, and somewhat dressy.
Here are my goals:
- To wear outfits that are Modern, Crisp, Retro, Soft and Dressy. I’ve chosen these adjectives to describe my ideal style. They’ll serve as a benchmark for assessing outfits and purchases on this leg of my style journey.
- Modern because I enjoy injecting a few carefully chosen hot-off-the-press trends into my seasonal look. That’s part of why fashion is fun.
- Crisp because I love wearing shades of white, and have a strong need to create a polished and tidy appearance.
- Retro because of my fondness for fashion from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, but remixing their sensibilities with a good dose of current.
- Soft because I do not like wearing hard-edged looks.
- Dressy because super casual does not make me happy.
- To continue exploring Maximal style my way. I thoroughly enjoy scarves, piles of pearl jewellery, matchy-matchy looks, pom-poms, belts, intentional layers, as well as a whole lot of pattern mixing. I’ll be looking for that next layer of maximal fabness that makes me happy.
- To further explore colour by adding a few more new-to-me non-neutrals to my mix of sour brights, pastels, earth tones, and favourite neutrals. To continue remixing the colours in my wardrobe in bold, new and tonal combinations.
- To continue adding elegant touches to my style. My custom-made dainty pearl bracelets, pearl ring, watch and scarves make me feel more elegant and polished, as does wearing dresses, real pearl necklaces, Furla handbags, structured outfits, and refined footwear. I hope to add comfortable pointy-toe ballet flats and pretty Summer dresses to my style.
- To add a pair of white Modern Retro prescription sunglasses.
- To add soft, bright turquoise wardrobe items. A tricky goal when turquoise is not an on-trend colour at the moment.
- To continue wearing black in small doses.
- To continue wearing skirts and dresses more frequently year round. Wearing dresses over cropped straights and flares counts as wearing a dress.
- To wear both casual and dressy trousers more frequently and blue jeans less frequently.
- To continue mixing high-end and low-end items in one outfit.
- To continue finding wardrobe gems on my travels because they are unique and sentimental.
- To build an effective Modern Retro swimwear capsule that makes me feel fab.
- To have even MORE fun with fashion.
Over to you. Have you thought about your style goals for 2018? Many of our forum members have thought about theirs, and they have been a pleasure to read. Please share your style goals in the comments section. Begin with just three goals if that’s easier, and take it from there. Or simply jot down some rough thoughts about your current and aspirational style direction.
