style philosophy - life philosophy? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

style philosophy - life philosophy?

Helena

Veteran

Hi all, I was just posting about my wardrobe analysis and it occurred to me that pretty much nothing in my learnings could not be applied to other areas of my life e.g. Keep it simple, do a small amount better vs. do a lot, learn to admire others while knowing what is and isn't for me, keep it understated, focus on the basics. These are premises that make me happy to LIVE by, not just dress by.

Do you find the same - how does your style philosophy reflect your broader life philosophy? This kind of dovetails with recent discussions started by Gryffin and Isabel, so thank you both for the thought-provoking inspiration!

General

25 replies

Latest reply was from Helena

ironkurtin

Veteran

Of course they're all part of my total package but I think my unifiers would be easy, good quality, comfortable, subtle, and interesting.

Alassë

Veteran

Yes, perhaps - feminine, competent, ladylike style is what I wear, and competent/feminine is what my daily life/aesthetic preferences reflect.

ETA: Oh yes, simplicity. In style, environment, and life philosophy.

viva

Veteran

This is a really interesting question to ponder, and for me, the answer is most definitely yes.
My life philosophy, or my approach to life, is really about simplicity and directness. This is how I write, how I work, how I engage in personal relationships. It's not always easy, because directness is not always pretty (!) but I have very little tolerance for coyness, secrets, or indirectness. (I have six sisters, and our family dysfunction centers on indirectness and secrets, so I have a permanent position on the outside.) My home is casual and eclectic, with a lot of personal touches but a minimum of clutter.

When I think about it, this all adds up to my fashion style: simple, direct, casual, minimal accessories, with some items of personal interest.

Peri

Veteran

Love what you said...that is a great realization and great advice!

celia

Veteran

I have the firm belief that we cannot escape being ourselves no matter what we do.
My answer would be a most decisive yes.

Day Vies

Veteran

Attention to detail. That is necessary in both my style and my profession. Don't neglect your foundations. My style starts with my foundation garments. I work from the inside out. In life that's the same. Thought then action. I've never gotten anywhere by thinking about what I'm doing and planing it out as a last step.

Thistle

Veteran

I second Celia. I beleive fashion is a natural reflection of the inner person, and certain fashion choices reflect that. Others reflect the level to which we wish to meet societal norms.

Adelfa

Veteran

I dress to help people embrace some apparent contradictions. Maybe I'm the one that has trouble embracing them. Competent yet understanding, flexible, and with a sense of humor. Dramatic yet reliable. Not without power, yet not without humility.

fuzzylogic

Veteran

What an insightful comment, torontogirl!

I am another for whom, in life and fashion, it is all in the detail (waving to Day Vies!). Photographing my outfits has been useful as I see the whole picture more easily. Now to do that in life......!

Viva- six sisters! That is intense!!!

Isabel

Veteran

What another fascinating question. For the last several years, my life philosophy has been : Just show up and then do the best that you can with what you have. And often, you have a lot more than you think. Spend your energy on what matters.

This came during my cancer treatments and surgeries and a ruptured artery. I obviously didn't feel well a lot and I suffered from severe fatigue because of the treatments.

Interestingly enough, as my body drastically changed and I had to learn to dress this new "me" from the neck down, I got kinda brave. Trying things ( because of YLF ) that I never would have tried before. I used to wear black all the time. I tried red, orange, cobalt ! Oh my ! I broke out of black shoes ! Oh, it was beautiful. : ) I started wearing navy and grey and spending money on things that I loved and wore all the time. I didn't love everything that I tried, but I got a "what the hell" attitude. ( I am regaining some my old self back, but I am alot more focused on "enjoying what I am doing" and not getting too hung up on what doesn't work. Just show up..... )

Additionally I am a total accessories person. I like to have a "core" of something, something that I feel grounded in ( my clothes ) and then the "what the hell, I am going to wear a hat with a flower on it and every bracelet in my drawer." I think that my life is like that too.....if I am going to jump off the roof, I want to make sure that I have health, life, umbrella, any type of insurance I need before hand. And all the right gear, of course. I love gear.

I think that I have always been an "open" person. I am very curious about other cultures, languages, types of living, and so on. But my clothes really said, "Hey, I live on the east coast of the USA and I only wear black..."

I am starting to think that my clothes are actually shouting things that I haven't been paying any attention to. I feel as if my clothes are using American Sign Language and I haven't picked up on it. LOL

Anonymous

Hmm, what a great question and one I've be pondering a little lately. On the whole my look does echo 'me' in that it is quite polished and has certain eclectic qualities. I like quality and detail in outfits and I pay attention to relationships with, I hope, the same attentiveness. However, in my work sewing for clients(which is also my hobby) I've been feeling increasingly creative and I have a feeling lately that I want what I wear to mirror this more and as such I'm feeling a subtle style shift.

Helena

Veteran

Thanks everyone and especially Isabel for sharing your amazing and inspiring perspective. I'm sure we could all use a little more "what the hell" in our lives

rachylou

Veteran

I will have to spend some time digesting this. Off the top, my style is in service to my life, so there's that. But I've got an extremist, absolutist streak and I'm not sure there's much cross-over between my style and life philosophies. In fact, my style philosophy is "be interesting" and my life philosophy is "do not be interesting."

One meeting point, tho, is probably "be solid."

Sarah A

Veteran

This is a great question. I do think there are many areas of crossover between my style and my life philosophies. I think a big part of my recent feeling for a style shift calling me was to align my style persona more in line with the aesthetic I enjoy in other areas. I will certainly ponder this question more.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I can definitely see how the two mesh for my life and my personality. The overall theme would probably be balance.

- A sense of adventurousness, while still keeping my wits about me
- Creative but also thoughtful and professional
- Introspective but still open
- Embracing color but always keeping it balanced and grounded
- A bit of rock'n'roll/indie rock cred, but sophisticated
- Appreciation for and attention to special details (accessories, etc)
- Neither minimal nor maximal to either extreme, but tending more lately toward minimal.

Interesting stuff to ponder!

Caro in Oz

Veteran

I agree. We express ourselves in everything we do & wherever we direct our energies imo. That's why I don't believe fashion/style is trivial

gryffin

Veteran

torontogirl - I love this thread!! Awesome question!! I do believe that many of us, okay me, have a philosophy that informs all areas of our lives, but it may not be superfically obvious. My sartorial style is black and gray, blazers, sharp tailoring, sheath or shift dresses, tunics, leggings, booties. boots. My goal quiet, comfortable, elegant, refined, understated, timeless and unique. But if you imagine that I live in a world of chrome and glass you would be completely misinformed. My home is based on cream, apricot and mossy green. Light from many directions, long sight lines, heavy molding, Louis XV and XVI style furniture, faux paint, stencilled floors, gilt framed mirrors, leather bound books, silver hollowware and beautiful antiques and porcelains. So how does this all fit together, well I read a marvelous book called Style Statement by Danielle LaPorte and Carrie McCarthy and after working through the exercises I call myself an "Enduring Classic." By that I mean I love things that have stood the test of time, style and quality - in clothing, in art, in books, in friends and in life. Pieces that have an iconic and enduring style from moto jackets to loafers, a shift dress to a denim jacket. I don't like fads. I don't like poorly made things that fall apart. But I love to juxtapose different and unique pieces and levels of formality together in interesting ways. The quality of "grit" the ability to endure though difficulty and still remain true to yourself is something I aspire to. I try to create an environment that is a tranquil and reaffirming backround for the events of living. Beauty, elegance, genuineness, timelessness, warmth, generosity, intelligence, civilization, courtesy, authenticity, uniqueness, the power of being understated - this is what I relate to. Maybe that's why in Angie's query on aging, I seemed a little less upset about it than others. I value things that last, I expect things to endure - a few dings and creases are to be expected. Like the velveteen rabbit those things make everything real!

Caro in Oz

Veteran

gryffin - I love that book too - I ended up as an organic/creative. I don't worry too much about aging either- but from an organic perspective - birth & decay as part of our journey through life. The bud & the full bloom are both beautiful

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Interesting question, and fascinating responses as usual. In life and in fashion I am always digging around for hidden assumptions (mostly my own, but also others) and trying to challenge (but not necessarily defeat) them the best I can. I was born thinking a bit outside the box, my challenge is to see the box and realize how very many different boxes there are.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

Maybe, in that I certainly like to be in control, understand how things work, and have a plan. But I tend to take more risks in dressing than I do in some parts of my life, and I'm not wedded to a particular approach - that has changed over the years, appropriately so I think.

For me it's more about having an aesthetic sense that I enjoy and respond to. I can't always articulate why I like some things and not others, but I do know what I like and what I don't.

Helena

Veteran

Thanks everyone - great wisdom as always!

Gryffin and Caro - I also liked Style Statement - I can up with "simple cultivated" for mine. Hmmm, maybe if I'd just followed that in the first place, I could have skipped all the analysis .... but that would be too easy, wouldn't it?!?

abc

Veteran

rachylou, your "be solid" reminded me of my late grandfather who used to say, "Be brave" instead of goodbye. Happy memories. Sorry for the tangent...

Janet, are you a LIbra? Your response seems very much like something I'd say - all about balance.

What Laura said sums me up pretty perfectly.

gryffin

Veteran

torontogirl & Caro - I found that book so helpful. Having to sum up everything you feel that represents you in two works - I found those words were so full of layers of meaning. If I filter them though how I want to be perceived, I think that's going to help me make better choices. ie those overalls Cocolion was showing. Yup, I want them. They just look so comfy and fun. They are an enduring classic obviously but that's not the look I want to project right now and that means an expensive purchase would be limited to knockaround. So it helped put aside clothing lust and resist temptation. Do you find it helpful?

Janet

(website)

Veteran

ABC, that's funny! I'm a Leo. My sister is a Libra.

You all have me curious -- I may have to check out that book as well.

Helena

Veteran

Gryffin, definitely - when I do pay attention to it, I end up with pieces I feel good in. When I don't, I end up with beautiful closet ornaments!!