I have been struggling with style descriptors, moniker, whatever, for months now. Part of the issue is coming up with things that reflect the style that
feels most like ME, which is not necessarily how I dress. Sometimes I nail it, sometimes I look good, but don’t feel like I reflect myself well.

It’s very easy for me to end up looking “classic, polished, elegant”, and those words are often used to describe my style, yet I’m not really comfortable with those three words. At least, not in the same sentence. I feel so much more down to earth than that. Or am I one of those “naturally polished sorts” as Shevia said on a recent post of Diane G’s. Seems counterproductive to fight what is obviously my natural tendency, so perhaps I should work with it.

I had a long chat with a friend about this yesterday, and we came to the conclusion that I am NOT elegant, however we can live with polished. She thinks of me as more “earthy”, I have an environmental bent, like to be outdoors, like to be casual, comfortable, and practical. Yet I approach life in a polished way – I’m organized, like things to be done “just so”.

The question: is it possible to be both polished AND down to earth/casual? (Thus the “confusion” I alluded to in the alliteration post)

So here are some words I think I’ve landed on:

Polished:
I DO like and seem to gravitate to classic, simple lines, and this seems to be something I can’t fight, so why am I?

Edgy:
I also like a bit of a hard edge, an unexpected element. I love zippers, chunky jewelry, asymmetry, textured fabrics, but not to the level of being RATE.

Easy:
I want my clothes to feel and look comfortable, and unencumbered. I’d love to look more “effortless” (ha, don’t we all), even though I’m well aware that takes work. I want so much to be dressed “just right” for the occasion. I often feel like I look like I tried too hard. And I don’t like this, even though it seems to happen to me without much effort. Perhaps using the word easy to help evaluate as I put outfits together will help stop this happening?? Perhaps I’m wrong, and it isn’t actually happening? J.

Bold:
I like black, white, high contrast, bold colours. Or at least, they seem to like me….

I’m wondering if I can think of these words when I’m dressing, purchasing, purging, and if it will help hone my style a bit. I really want to get this figured
out, as I head into possible new style territory with my new hair, and a new
season. I want to be able to purge with focus (cuz Lord knows I can’t purge otherwise).

Suz recently said that my style quotient was “through the roof” and it totally floored me. What does she see, that I don’t, and what is it called?

At this point in writing this, I went to pick out some of my favorite outfits to illustrate. Last time I did this, I think I found about 10 outfits in several months’ worth. This time, I like a whole lot more than that… yay! Must be getting somewhere…

So here are some photos:… do they fit this descriptive words?

1-5: I’ll start with casual.
6-10 Then on to “going out”. Nothing fancy, parties, dinner, etc.

10-16 Then work looks that I like.

17-21. So now that you’ve seen things I like, the last few are looks that I feel are just “meh”. Nice enough, just not necessarily “me”. Why? Is there something to do to change these outfits, are the pieces put together “wrong”, or are the pieces just not right for me?

If you’ve read all this, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I’d love any comments you might have. Am I on the right track? Are there other words,
descriptors you’d choose instead? Add to? Can all this be synthesized into a
nice two-three word style descriptor?