Strategies for Changing Your Style

From about the middle of the 19th Century until the final quarter of the 20th Century, there were rigid rules for dressing: Hats Must Match Gloves, Never Wear Clashing Colors, Never Wear More Than One Print, etc. No variations, no rule breaking allowed. 

Understandably, modern women rebelled and threw out all of those old rules. But then, many women seemed to lose confidence. They’d thrown out the rules, but now they didn’t actually know how to dress in a world without them. 

In the end, they wound up with something worse than rules, they got a veritable uniform. Nice and safe, they couldn’t be criticized if they just wore jeans and a T-shirt or some other sort of drab knit, a sweater or hoodie - black, gray, navy.  

There were variations for professional dressing, of course, but they were almost as rigid as the old rules: Black, Brown, Navy, Beige, Jacket, Shirt, Pants or Skirt, Pumps and Shoulder Bag.

I’ve listened to so many woman mourning the loss of “dressing with style, looking chic.” I tell them, “You’re the only one who can change it. You can’t wait for somebody else t do it. They’re waiting for you to do it.”

But, where to start? I’d like to offer some general guidelines, not rules, to help you develop your personal style and convince those around you that it’s safe for them to do it too. So, ready to begin your mission to change your fashion world? 

It starts with you and your friends. You won’t get far if you can’t bring them along with you. Very few people want to be thought of as “Odd.” 

So, I’d strongly advise small steps. If you show up at some gathering looking like you just stepped out of a 1980’s look-book, people will be shocked and you’ll feel like you’re wearing a costume. Then, it’s all for nothing because you’ve cast yourself as stylistically unreliable. 

The idea is for you to evolve naturally so that you’ll feel confident and your friends will feel comfortable trying new things along with you. And that’s really the whole idea behind initiating broad-scale changes. 

You can’t just radically change the way you look and expect everyone to applaud. If you suddenly appear looking like Fashion’s Sweet Child, people may tell you that you look awesome, but your Jeaned and T-shirted friends might defensively decide that you’ve become a little “pretentious.” 

One of your most obvious first moves might be to get a complete make-over of your hair and make-up. I’d advise against that. New hair and make-up can be pretty dramatic (not to mention expensive). 

After such a change, friends may be very quick to single out other even small subsequent changes. Once again, they may think you’re moving away from them instead of encouraging them to join in the fun. So, save the neck-up make-over until your friends are a little more confident of your intentions. 

A good approach would be if three or more of you decide to re-do hair and make-up together. Then the whole enterprise becomes easier because other changes would flow naturally from that. But it would have to be three or more because. if there’s only two of you, it would be much the same as if you did it alone. Metaphorically, you have to raise enough voices to be heard in the crowd.

In coming weeks, I’ll offer specific advice on small changes you can begin to make that will add up to a more stylish look. 

Thanks for joining me. We’re going to have fun on our brave journey to make your fashion life look like you always dreamed it could be.

- Gabrielle