Style goals are important because they keep you focused in a world of fashion that is quite overwhelming. They are a useful frame of reference when you edit and review your closet, shop for new items, and create outfits. With a good set of style goals in place you’ll probably find your style journey becomes more effective and enjoyable. 

In helping my clients to set their goals, and in setting my own, I’ve noticed that there are two main approaches to the process. The first is an in-depth analysis, which takes time, some soul searching and discipline. You’ll explore the internal and external factors that affect your style, assess the difference between your current stye and the one you aspire to achieve, and analyze your current favourite outfits. I recommend this process to clients who feel lost with their current style, or are entering a new and different chapter in their lives. 

The second approach is faster because it’s more intuitive and incremental. It’s suited to those who already have a good handle on their style and like their current style direction. In this case you’ll quickly reflect on your 2014 style, highlighting the things you want to repeat, and those you don’t. 

Absolutely anything that relates to your style can go on the list. Style goals can be long or short, general or specific. And style goals should be flexible, so you should feel free to edit them at any time. 

I’m keeping my style goals short for 2015 because I’m in a particularly happy place with my current style. I attribute much of that happiness to doing a good job of establishing effective goals and using them in 2014. Simplifying those same goals and adding a few new ones is all that I need right now.  

Here they are:

1. To wear Simple outfits that are Modern, Crisp, Dressy and Bold.
2. To continue adding a refined and soft element to my style as I marry my favourite style personas, Modern Classic, Punk, Trendy Fashionista and Androgynous, into a cohesive look that is age appropriate and attractive. 
3. To continue mixing high-end and low-end pieces in one outfit. 
4. To continue experimenting with trouser and jeans styles in both solids and patterns throughout the year. 
5. To continue experimenting with button-down shirts and knitwear styles because they never let me down. 
6. To NOT purchase too many black wardrobe items because I only enjoy black in small doses.
7. To NOT purchase solid grey wardrobe items because the colour does not make me happy. 
8. To add more tomato red to my wardrobe because it does make me happy. I had a very pink 2014, and now feel like having a red 2015. 
9. To add a pair of white specs and a new gold coloured watch. These are not high priority goals but fun to have on the list so that the pieces are on my radar. 

I’ll refer back to these goals repeatedly during the year. They will keep me on the straight and narrow as I refresh and gently evolve my style. 

Over to you. Have you thought about your style goals for 2015? If so, please share them in the comments section. If the process itself is too overwhelming, pick three top priority goals as a starting point and work from there. Remember to be patient with your style because there is an opportunity to find a stylish solution for every challenge.

A new outfit from Veronica Popoiacu of Bittersweet Colours, who we introduced to YLF in August 2013.

Veronica’s Mum-to-be style has been through the roof. Here she is sporting a dramatic Sporty Luxe look built around a red maxi coat. Sometimes a long coat can overwhelm the wearer, but Veronica is creating structure with an elongating revere collar and a good fit on the shoulder. Tough faux leather leggings amplify the Sporty Luxe vibe of the sneakers and also balance out the volume of the topper.

Graphic black and white are the perfect companions for the bold red coat and lippie, while the cognac bag brings an unexpected fourth colour to the party. A chic finishing touch.

The relentless holiday hype at year end can lead to some fashion fatigue in the new year. Heavily discounted retail stores are clearing end of season stock to make room for Spring collections, so merchandise is for the most part uninspiring. After a frenzy of holiday spending, budgets are tight. And to top it all off, the weather is likely to be cold, wet, grey, and quite depressing if you live in the Northern hemisphere. 

I certainly feel the January Blues, and so do many of my friends and clients. But I don’t let it get the better of me. In fact, over the years I’ve come to welcome January as a time to reflect and recharge. Here are some strategies that have helped me to beat my own January fashion fatigue. 

1. Wear Your Style

The best part of fashion and style is creating outfits and wearing your wardrobe items, not shopping for them. So enjoy your current wardrobe. Wear the heck out of your fabulous stuff and don’t go shopping unless something really tickles your fancy. 

2. Look Forward to New Collections

Patience is a virtue. If you’re trying to shop but can’t find anything you like — WAIT. Spring collections will be in full swing by the end of February, and chances are high you’ll be more inspired then. Runway shows for Fall 2015 also begin in February, and are another source of inspiration. 

3. Focus on Basics

Basics like underwear, sleepwear, socks, hosiery, loungewear and workout wear might not be all that exciting to shop for, but they deserve your attention at least once a year. Use the January lull to replenish this part of your wardrobe instead of shopping for the more fashionable and visual parts of your style. 

4. Refresh Your Grooming Regimen

January brings a feeling of renewal and can be a good time to assess and refresh your skincare, haircare, nailcare and make-up regimes. Change your hairstyle or hair colour. Change up the colour of your nail polish or lipstick. Create a more dramatic brow line by dying light-coloured brows, or fill them in with eyebrow pencil.

5. Have a Mega Outfit Creation Session 

Turn up the music and spend a morning or afternoon creating all sorts of outfits by shopping your closet. Invite a friend and have a ball doing it together, and then reciprocate the favour by doing the same in her closet another time. Record the outfits you create so that you don’t forget them.

6. Analyse Your Style

Analysis can be lots of fun. For some, even more fun than shopping or wearing their wardrobe items. Do some introspection about your style needs, set flexible style goals for the year, set a monthly budget, and think up systems to track the items and combinations you wear.

7. Set Style Challenges

This is a fun way to get those creative juices flowing. For example, try going a whole week without wearing dark neutral clothing. Try wearing non-neutrals for two days in a row. Try to wear the same item three days in a row in different outfits. Wear a skirt or dress twice a week. Wear wardrobe orphans for seven consecutive days. Choose a painting and create outfits inspired by the painting. Whatever floats your boat. 

8. Find Another Creative Outlet

And if anything to do with fashion and style is just too much for you at the moment, take a complete break by finding another creative outlet. Return to fashion and style when it once again inspires you.

Some of my friends have had style swap parties at this time of year, while others prefer to abandon fashion for a while and hit the slopes for ski holidays instead. Either way, remember that fashion and style should never boss you around. It’s there for you to enjoy if and when that’s what you want to do.

The most googled fashion designer of 2014, Lane Bryant’s new capsule collection, an exhibition that aims to challenge common interpretations of luxury, and other style news to start off the new year.

• eBay has unveiled its most shopped for items in 2014: With over 1 million sold pairs, sneakers saw a 12 percent increase from 2013.
• Meanwhile, Bethany Mota topped the list of most googled fashion designers in 2014, coming in first before big names like Kate Spade and Oscar de la Renta.
• Fashion designer and mod style icon Mary Quant was made a Dame in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honours list. 
• “What Is Luxury?“, a new exhibition to be staged at London’s V&A Museum this Spring, “will challenge common interpretations of luxury, invite close examination of luxury production and extend ideas of what luxury can be.”
• Lela Rose has designed a capsule collection for Lane Bryant that will be availabe in stores this Summer.

Fun Fashion Fact

Did you know that the Dick Avery character in Funny Face, a role played by Fred Astaire, was loosely based on the early career of iconic fashion and portrait photographer Richard Avedon, who also consulted on the film.