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Ask Angie: style moniker

Carol

(website)

Veteran

I think I have heard this term thrown around YLF for a few years now, and a couple peoples' I am even familiar with. But I wanted to ask how these terms are generated, and if people find it more useful than say, three style words, and the like.

I almost never follow my style words, anyway, so it may be time for a revamp.

24 replies

Latest reply was from Carol

Ket

Veteran

I know I'm not Angie, so hope it's okay to reply. I can't wait to hear what Angie says!

I have tried using style monikers. They're very fun to make but in the end, I don't use them in a very thinky or strict way. Sometimes when I'm shopping I will still use three style words. Sometimes I even filter the item through several words to see if it fits some of the styles and looks I usually wear.

What does help me is curating Pinterest boards. I keep boards pinned full of for: what I generally love for a season (spring/summer and autumn/winter), certain "monikers" and style directions. A board allows me to play a lot and within that play, I find direction. Sometimes making the board lets me see if I even like the direction as much as I imagined. After all the pinning, I test out my theories in real life and start see what sticks.

I used this entire Pinterest process for my current spring/summer wardrobe. So far, the process has been immensely successful. This is the best wardrobe I've ever worn and enjoyed in 10 years! My board doesn't even have an actual moniker whatsoever. That said, the board has definite style attributes and style words that steeped and bled through into my current purchases. I've only had a couple of purchases flop; I think that is more due to the actual item not being the right cut, print, etc. for me than the theory of it being wrong.

Not sure if this helps. The short story: I occasionally monikers to get a direction started, but don't live in them or directly from them per se. I can find them helpful but also limiting.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Ket! Great explanation. You rock!

Carol, all in good fun! If you enjoy this type of thing, and find it useful. Not a must at all!!! In the same way, some enjoy tracking their wears, and others don't.

Personally, I have a moniker and 5 style words. Keeps things focussed, fun - and lighthearted. I don't use visual aids. The words, moniker, my wardrobe, and what's in my head is enough. Hence I came up with Urban Polish. My words are: Modern, Crisp, Dressy, Playful, Retro. I don't track wears.

Let us know if we can help

Star

Veteran

Also clearly not Angie but chiming in. I did not have a style moniker until last year. I liked to think of myself as Classic with a twist of edge. I wanted to narrow it down further. As someone who wants to buy only five items per year, I want them to really work for me. Classic /edge is quite broad. Like KET I scrolled Pinterest and selected outfit pics I related to that I would actually wear. I got an idea brewing called Tomboy Femme. Then I posted the board on the forum and asked everyone what they saw. My moniker Grownup Tomgirl was born. Since then I use it often when thrifting. If I'm unsure of an item I ask myself is this is something Grownup Tomgirl would wear and always have a clear answer. I do the same when making outfits. Obviously it is not that rigid and strict but a guideline that ensures that I will feel like me in an outfit. There are some items that I love that don't fit neatly under the label but very often it is in the styling. I just realised that this could explain why my red loafers do not feel 100 percent like me. Not Tomgirl enough.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I think ultimately it helped me, but it took 2 years on the forum to settle on one that worked even a little. The first one I chose in 2017 when I came here was “Eclectic Matriarch”. Chosen because I liked lots of different styles and felt like a matriarch (56 years old at the time and my mother had long since died). But it wasn’t aspirational at all. The forum helped me 2 years later to land on the “Sassy Shoemaker’s Elf” which did feel aspirational when shopping- is there something sassy about this item or does it allow something sassy to be shown off in the outfit, can I wear some great shoes with it, does it feel a bit elfin or gamine in any way? I certainly don’t use it for everything I buy. Like Star I am trying to buy very little in a year. I may not manage to stick to 5 new things this year as already have 4- 2 swimsuits, one gifted handbag, and one new pair pants.

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Alright, everyone, thank you, and that is all well and good. But no one answered my question. How do you come up with a moniker? What IS a moniker? I suppose I could Google this right now, but I think "style moniker" might be a YLF term. It seems to be 2 or 3 words to describe a personality, but again, I have no idea how you come up with it. It sounds like a lot of people show their wardrobe to other members of YLF? But what if you are going into a new style that you have not bought clothes for yet? What then?

I mean, I suppose I have a vague idea of how to do this, but it still....too conceptually vague to understand.

Liz

Veteran

What it is: a two- or three-word title that sums up your style persona or approach. I guess you could pick a description and a type of person or a feature.

Angie's is description plus feature: Urban Polish. That's different from Country Polish, or Southern Polish.

Jenni's versions are a description plus kind of person: Eclectic Matriarch, Sassy Shoemaker's Elf.

How people come up with them. Jenni describes it: they just choose something (for simple or complex reasons). She chose Eclectic Matriarch because it described some things about her.

But then she describes what often happens: she lived with it for a while and found out that it didn't help her. So she turned to the forum for help, and came up with something that gave her a benchmark for where she wanted to go and what she wanted to buy.

It sounds like you have a new style you haven't bought clothes for or explored yet. What words describe that look? What kinds of people might it be? Choose one of each, put them together, and see what happens:

Ethereal Farmer

Professional Couch Potato

Incognito Starlet

Coastal Grandma (that's a moniker that's a style theme for some people)

Colorful Professional

Dee

Veteran

Well a style moniker would be a nickname or an alias referencing how you put your fashion choices together.
It can be quite personal and aspirational so, you could go about posting some outfits and having the forum offer up some suggestions to aid you in coming up with one. Otherwise you could just devise one on your own by defining what sort of personal style persona you want your wardrobe to represent and using 3 style words can be a starting point. Not so sure if this helps you any.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

I think it is trying to find a phrase about how you want to dress that encapsulates your aspirations.
Some find such a phrase from their own thoughts and some with help from the forum. A slight variation is finding an actual “persona”- Angie’s is not a persona but mine and several other's is. I got the best idea from a New York Fabber named Christina, to help in both editing and buying. That’s to create a persona where you could walk into your wardrobe or a store and think “Would a whatever-whatever wear this?”

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Thanks Liz you explained that much better than me!

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Good question. I have had monikers and style words but I am not sure I actually use them to get dressed. It is more interesting for me to get dressed intuitively and then reflect upon what the themes are. But I am weird that way .

Star

Veteran

Try come up with the three style descriptor words first. The words that describe the way you want to dress. Then checkout outfits on Pinterest incorporating those words. The moniker will usually present itself organically.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I love my self-made moniker (Laid-back Luminous Garçonne) and find it super helpful both as descriptor of my current style and reminder of what works best for me when I am out shopping and perhaps tempted to buy something that does not (to me) fit that descriptor.

I came up with this moniker by looking at photos of my favourite outfits over a period of a few years and thinking about how I always try to balance my aspirational style against my practical constraints. I asked myself how I want to look in the world, how I want to feel in my clothes, and what "character" or "role" I want to embody.

I also thought about people whose style I admire and looked at images.

These words might signify different things to someone else, but to me, "laid-back" gestures to my practical side. Because of where I live and the weather, I tend to need to dress more casually than my aspirational style would dictate. (I am an urban girl at heart but live in the suburbs. If I lived in the city my style would be slightly dressier and more polished.) "Laid-back" reminds me that nothing should be too precious. And most of what I own must be practical.

"Luminous" reminds me that despite my practical core, it's still vital to me to incorporate some shine or sparkle or polish, even if my overall outfit is casual, because that is my aspirational style, and I feel sad in wholly casual outfits all the time. Plus it gestures to one of the key signatures of my style - -silver hair.

Garçonne nods to the androgynous element, the classic element, the "French" and gamine aspects of my style and also the urban polish, again. Also hints at my love for the 1920s.

I have used adjectives to describe my style too, but I find them too abstract and general. "Modern" and "classic" and even "playful" can apply to so many different styles -- they don't help me.

whidbeygirl

Good question Carol... and all the different takes on it are helpful. I've been trying to decide on style words or moniker myself...and so far not been very successful. A lot of good thoughts here to consider.

Sal

Veteran

I think it is one of those things that help some people and not others. For me probably the three words are more helpful but my style moniker is more fun.

I used Grown Up Charlies Angel because I have a fondness for 1970s fashion, and that mix of glam and practicality. I loved the original show too. In no way do I think I look like Farrah Fawcett. A couple of years on and maybe the 1970s reference is not as strong and I don't dress up quite as much

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I think that any word-based approach such as the moniker (modifier + feature/character) or the three-word method (see Allison Bornstein’s videos) can be helpful, especially if you’re feeling a bit unfocused, or too tempted by shadow styles that end up feeling not quite right when you wear them.

I’m finding words a bit useful not only when shopping, but more importantly when putting outfits together. If one item feels too traditional or preppy or girlie for my preferred aesthetic of “refined rock’n’roll” I can add the needed edge or ease to an outfit in another item, to balance out the look. For instance, a feminine floral blouse can be paired with distressed jeans and tough boots or trendy sneakers. Likewise, a pair of chinos, which can read preppy, get worn with a graphic tee and edgy shoes.

When shopping, it does help in the way Jenni describes — “would a something-something wear this?” But I like to think of it as, “Can this be easily styled in a way to convey the something-something?”

I do really like the Allison Bornstein videos on the three-word method. Basically one describes something aspirational, one describes the practical that you reach for day-to-day, and one describes the emotional, how you want to feel in your outfits. A balance is achieved when you can identify what an outfit needs to convey all three of those words. She goes deeper into it in the videos, but that’s the basic gist. At the moment my three working words are edgy, ease, and refined, but they’re not perfect. Some days I lean a bit more into creative or sporty or tough or sophisticated, depending on my mood and what I have going on.

Sal

Veteran

I agree with Janet - it's a way of working out why something feels off. Maybe it feels too preppy or too romantic or too classic or too edgy. I simple piece that many of us may own - a striped tee, a pair of straight jeans etc.. We might all choose to tweak them to feel more like us. Large earrings and loose hair for some, a baseball cap for another, or potentially a silk scarf for yet another...

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Great illustration, Sal, and excellent explanation, Janet. I agree that the 3 words or the moniker are really useful for putting together outfits as well.

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Okay, so my first thought for myself is: hip-hop librarian, which is a fun image, but I think I need to dig a little deeper.

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

Ket--Pinterest is one of those things I don't go on a lot, but I am going to trust what you say and spend a few minutes there. If it works for others, it could work for me.

Angie--I like your words and your moniker a lot. I do think it helps, though, that you are so familiar with this world, because your wardrobe seems even more focused than that.

Star--that sounds like a super-promising moniker that maybe a lot of women would like to borrow. I think I remember the red loafers--I can see how they stick out, but styled right, I think they fit.

Jenni NZ--eehhhh, don't count the handbag! Since it was gifted. That frees up one item. Your moniker is fun--I get an image in my head almost immediately.

Liz--thank you for the complete description! It is true--I maybe need to buy clothes for my "new style." But I feel like that has been me my whole life.

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Dee--yes, this does help. Seeing that there are different ways to go about it helps, esp. even using the three style words .Thanks.

Jenni NZ--that is so interesting. I did not think that it could be a persona or not. That does open things up.

Jaime--maybe I am like you. You are the "professional" thrifter, right? As in, you try to thrift before buying new? I do like the ease of finding items that are appealing but unexpected.

Star--that is a great plan. I like that. Straightforward. Thank you.

Suz--such a great moniker, and I know about the feeling of buying things that don't fit with my style. As a former French speaker, I had to Google if garconne was really a word. I guess not really, but it has titled many movies and books.

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Whidbeygirl--I would also like to update my words/moniker. The ones I last had: casual, Italian, classic are great, but I just was not shopping enough like that.

Sal--that is one of the stronger monikers I have heard, but that's probably because I love film and TV references. I do recall you look tall, like Farrah Fawcett, although I don't know if you are tall.

Janet--that is very informative, thank you...especially makes me hold onto the three word idea. I love your idea of how to style chinos. I probably will check out Allison Bornstein's videos!

Sal--great illustration, and Janet, too. I like the idea of knowing yourself enough to know when something is off.

Sal

Veteran

I think the main thing is that something is useful to you. It's hard sometimes to get past the practicalities of dressing for your life - for example work dress, climate etc...

I think you have a creative style - and think about the details.

I love TV and movie references - this is a bit of a wildcard but you have some similarities with Phoebe from Friends?

A few years ago Brooklyn did a series of outfits inspired by Orphan Black which was really fun. I remember dressing up as Elaine from Friends and the assassin from Killing Eve too.

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Sal--great guess, Phoebe is totally a style icon of mine. She is a little more elevated, but I loved her ragamuffin style.

I do love references, that usually link to a place or time period. That lets me "be a part" of whatever that was--Woodstock, breakdancing NYC, etc. I just put together that that is also how I listen to music--I like to visualize the place and time it is from when I am listening.

I guess I do have a creative style. Will have to figure out what direction to take that...

Suntiger

Veteran

The style moniker Angie gave me was Earthy Sophisticate, though I've used Exotic Bad@ss too They still work, but I've been trying to narrow down to the most essential. I decided that having just 1 word that every piece of clothing and every outfit must be for me was the way to go. After all, we have different needs, and wishes for variety.
That said- my One word now is Streamlined. No matter the occasion, weather, level of classic/trendiness/vibe I want, it fits. That means clean, long lines with no extra volume or faff. That could look more minimal, more boho, more rock and roll, more coastal grandma, or any other style I evolve to.
What would be your one word?

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Suntiger--isn't that great? That you narrowed it down to one word? For me that may take some time. I do notice that I like natural, everyday materials, and....possibly cuts or styles that have become classics, but beyond that, I am not quite sure. I have been working on it, though.