I am nearing the end of my 5th year as an active member here on the foum. I started with a rudimentary to poor sense of how to create and maintain a working wardrobe that was complementary to my physique and that reflected my unique personality. I decided to dedicate as much time to learning about style and fashion/wardrobe management as I would one of my favorite hobbies. Style and fashion were not previous interests and did not come naturally. As many of you may recall, I went from a childhood where my mother chose and purchased all clothing for me to college/graduate studies where I was able to wear hospital scrubs and long white lab coats and therefore did not require much in the way of fashion sense. I also did not attend much to style when my childlren were young. However, as my professional status changed, the need to look appropriate became even more relevant. My first attempts were disastrous, and resulted in a bloated closet with too many items that were disconnected and mostly unflattering. I have decided to write up a summary of the factors that have been most helpful in my ability to develop a signature style, and manage my wardrobe.

Color: I decided to start with something that had been done several times already, a color analysis, and this, for me, proved to be remarkably helpful. I know there are mixed feelings about this on the forum, but for me, it was remarkably helpful: 1. It instantly gave me a focus for cohesion and coordination around which to create a wardrobe. 2. I loved the resulting colors. 3. My skin tone is almost neutral, very slightly cool and suits a wide range of colors including both warm and cool making it reasonable to arbitrarily narrow the field when trying to build a wardrobe.

Angie has referred to me as "Miss Mid Tones" which proves very helpful when shopping. I have also heard the suggestion of holding up clothes to see if my eyes sparkle. My eye color definitely changes to either a flat grey, grey green or blue grey. In my case, the more complex colors are more flattering. My current wardrobe colors are reds that range from pale to light pinky reds to true red; blue greens (turquoises/aquas/some teals); greens; some cool toned violets; and some cool toned blues (sky blue, periwinkle, cornflower, lavender), and a few yellows including mustard and very pale yellow.

Neutrals: My neutral choices have evolved. I recently excluded almost all white. It probably suits me, but I do not feel happy with it because of my history of wearing white lab coats. I also do not wear black, and have only a few black items - some boots and maybe a belt. It's too dark. When hues are in the cool range, then grey/charcoal, taupe, and indigo/navy are my best neutrals; when warm earth tones are in vogue than chocolate brown, eggplant and forest green work.

Eyeglasses: One of the first things I did when I started following YLF was to get new glasses frames. For whatever reason, I was wearing Silhouette style frames at the time.....the sort that are barely noticeable. It was the first time I have tried them. Prior to that, I typically had two frames that I would switch between. I currently have 3 eyeglass frames that I switch beween depending on my outfit and a fourth that serve as reading/computer glasses. I cannot recommend to anyone that they invest that much in eyewear. I love glasses, and have made them part of my signature style.

Hair: For most of my life I have had a pixie cut or at least what most people would consider a short cut. I had longer hair for a time in high school, cut it short and grew it long again briefly in college. The historical problem for me with longer hair is I was always swimming. My parents had lake property, I participated on swim teams, and worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor.......so my hair was always wet! I am currently growing it out again, and so far am happy with the results. As many of you know, a few years ago, I decided to stop coloring my hair. It was the best decision ever! My silvery hair color gets more complements than ever, and it is part of my signature style.

Texture, Pattern, Shine, Grooming, Motion: I could spend a lot of time on each of these categories. I am not however, because this is already going to be a long post. I expect that these factors are either obvious or so unique to me that they are not going to be particularly useful to anyone else. The one exception is about motion. I have put a lot of thought into how my garments move. The swish and movement of fabric and items I wear is a big part of my signature style. I am sure some of you remember my post about long cardigans feeling like superhero capes!

Style Adjectives: I have gone through a series of style adjectives. Choosing them involved soul searching and also asking friends and family for words they would use to describe my style. I still use two words given to me from the original set....Fresh and Classic, and have switched out Soft for Light. Suz once recommended a book about style statements which I read, and than worked to come up with something that reflected not only my wardrobe but a more global personal style vision reflecting my personality and environment as well. My current statement and adjectives seem to be working fairly well, but may need a small tweak, I am not sure I still need the word practical, and am considering options for it's replacement.....for now here they are: Genuine Composed (style statement). Sleek, Fresh, Classic, Light, Practical (adjectives). Adding the word Sleek to my style adjectives occured back in January, but it has proven very effective. I have had statements and words that sound nice, but in practice do not function in a helpful way. These do.

Proportions: Clearly a big part of personal style has to do with proportions hence the frequent forum ruminations about Kibbe and Body Shape. My body shape is rectangle. I am athletic, tall, slim, and fairly straight and angular. Angies' body shape guidelines were very useful to me when I was starting out and trying to figure out what items to try. In a sea of dresses, the worst shape for me is going to be an A Line but my closet was filled with them when I started this style journey. I have learned ways to make an A Line shape work, and to manage some things that are conventionally unflattering with Angie's wisdom. Angie's encouragement to try things and see how they feel and look has been incredibly helpful. I have found that there really are versions of almost every style for every body type..... although it is also true that the items I try that consistently garner the most complements from YLF are tailored, have fitted shoulders, are sleek not body con tight, skim my shape, have a strong vertical line, and are not bulky, billowy, cropped or boxy. I have been paying attention to the feedback! If anyone reading this read my posts while I hunted for trench coats, many of these factors became relevant.

I have also shown a clear preference for certain silhouettes which make up my signature style. High necklines (turtlenecks), straight or skinny jeans, longer -midi length pencil skirts and pencil sheath dresses, long cardigans, and more recently longer length blazers, wrap dresses as long as the skirt section does not flare, crew neck sweaters, narrow V necklines, etc. While I wear them, I do not enjoy cropped trousers or jeans and I have struggled with anything flared or even bootlegged (These items tend to sit in my closet collecting dust). I also do not enjoy boxy jackets or coats, which includes most jean jackets which I own but rarely wear.

For those who have delved into Kibbe: I have tried to figure out my Kibbe category several times. For fairness, I have had other people I know answer the questions in the quiz, and compared them to my own. The answers are uniformly the same.... I come up with strong Yang to the majority of the questions, placing me into the Dramatic Category. Somehow, my features seem too delicate for the style suggestions he makes for Dramatics. The same is true for the Flamboyant Natural Cateogory which has also been suggested to me by some helpful YLF members. Someone thought I had Ethereal features, and this was nice to think about for a while. I think it may come close but sadly does not result in anything useful. I am also not symmetrical enough to be classic or dramatic classic. The Kibbe system, as it is laid out, was useful to a point because I learned to think about style in terms of Yin and Yang influences. It was new terminology for me, but essentially similar to structure and drape. These concepts helped me more easily identify problems with certain outfits - too Yin, too much drape.

Angie's post about the different types of drape led to a much more careful evaluation of clothing design and how it would work on my frame. I'm not sure if it was a separate post, or in the body of another post that there was a discussion about collars and Shoulder Neck Point (SNP). Grasping the SNP concept instantly improved my ability to choose flattering tops and dresses. My style quotient probably went up by 60% because I did not have a clue before that about necklines! My most flattering neckline hits or comes very close to the SNP and is narrow, how about yours?

A helpful resource recommended by Suz, "The Triumph of Individual Style" by Mathis and Connor contains a wealth of information. I have reread it several times trying to master the contents. I personally find it hard to objectively make the decisions it requires about physical features. I can only see myself in two dimensions in photo's or a mirror, and am certain that I have a part that wants to distort my body to match my imaginary expectations.

Wardrobe Management: Angie's system of thinking about Capsules is becoming more important to me as I hone my wardrobe. I have color capsules, a gear capsule, a formal wear capusle, a coat capsule, and some accessory capsules. I find it helpful to partition and think in this way. Another Angie system that has been tremendously helpful to me has been thinking about Basics, Essentials, Statements, and wild cards, etc. I could tell you what items I place into each category, but that would make this post much too long. There is enough information on this forum to learn about it, and if you do not understand it I encourage you to do so. I have found this system so helpful that I have started a list of which category each item of clothing falls into so I can think more clearly about their use in my wardrobe. My wardrobe has traditionally been large and focussed on statement pieces. I have realized that for my purposes, a leaner wardrobe would be heavier in essentials, and much more selective around the statements. Budget is also a big part of wardrobe management. I have trimmed my clothing allowance to allow for new priorities. I worked out a system that has allowed me to keep my wardrobe updated and fresh but stays within strict financial parameters.

I finally followed Angie's instructions, to the letter, for a closet edit. I posted my results last October. I plan to do regular closet edits. They are remarkably helpful.

Loose ends: With all the above, it's hard to believe that I would still feel somehow not quite right with my wardrobe, but I still felt something was not right. Perhaps something with the fine details? I kept purchasing pieces, thought that I would like them and wear them, but then did not. Something did not gel.

I happened to be looking at various fashion blogs, and came across a system called Align put together by a woman in the Netherlands (Florentina Mossou). I looked up everything I could about her system but could find very little. It is relatively new and not well known. I took a risk, contacted her and had a consultation. I am very happy with the results. It was an eye opening experience that literally cleared up the loose ends! She placed me into a category called "Mysterious". She gave style icons with my Align type, each with very different signature styles: Tilda Swinton, Maria Sharapova, Jenna Elfman, Taylor Swift, Nicole Kidman and Cara Delevingne. Her guidelines coincide with much of what I have already figured out for myself but added some practical and easy to grasp pearls about what to look for and why it will work, and also about what to avoid and why it does not work. Essentially, I am looking for long vertical lines (no surprises), elongated diamond shapes, and sleek fits. The finer points she reviewed were so helpful that I believe I can now see with a quick glance, if something is worth trying or not.

I have started a new closet edit based on feeling so much more confident about my signature style and my ability to identify clothing that is truly "me". I have been able to cull items that stumped me previously because I felt neutral and so held onto them thinking they were okay. They will go to new homes, mostly to my daughter and her best friend who are both about my height, but have slightly different builds and proportions.

I have finally accomplished the original goal I set for myself. I have a defined signature style and the skills I need to update and maintain my style and my wardrobe. The energy I have put in has been well spent. Many thanks to YLF forum members, Inge, Greg, and especially Angie because I am sure I could not have achieved this without you!