The Meaning of Personal Style

How relevant is personal style to the fashion industry?

A couple of weeks ago, Kaity and I were styling a coordinated twin shoot. After a weekend of scoring some insane vintage finds in Atlanta, I was excited about styling a green vintage Armani jacket that I snatched from a thrift store. Since our styles are so different, Kaity and I wanted to stick to the same color palette to allow for some creative freedom for the both of us. Kaity was running late from her class, so she asked me to start picking out an outfit for her to go with my green blazer. I already knew what I wanted her to wear with my outfit, so I was glad I didn't have to discretely direct her to picking the same outfit that I already had in mind. I liked the menswear vibes of my outfit, and I wanted to embody that in a more utilitarian, laid-back version for her. I picked out a pair of camo cargo pants, a striped green button-up top that she recently bought on sale at Anthropologie and her Chanel suspenders from Treasures of New York.

"I like everything, but the top," she directly informed me as soon as she got back to our apartment, "I'm not big into stripes." Slightly confused about why she even bought this top if she hated stripes, I avoided conflicting with her strong personality by asking what she wanted to swap it out with. She immediately grabbed this brown thrifted camo baseball jersey, "I like this so much better."

"Are you sure?" I questioned with a little pain, "I really think the stripe looks good with my outfit and it is still a very unique look."

And with her stubborn, opinionated voice, she replied, "We don't have to like the same things, so this is what I am going to wear."

If you follow fashion, you are told so many times, this is what you should wear, this is what makes you cool, you shouldn't wear that, etc. Even if editors, influencers, bloggers, models, actresses, or anyone who is involved with the fashion industry doesn't tell you directly what you should and shouldn't wear, it is definitely implied. Many fashion publications do not celebrate differences in style and only choose to highlight who is cool right now and what is on trend. It makes sense from a business perspective. You need to show what sells and what is popular. But in turn, the saturated industry of fashion bloggers/influencers all look the same and talk about the same trends. Individuality seems to be scarce.

Whenever a brand or fashion publication asks questions on their Instagram stories, I am always the nerdy girl who gives a detailed, double-spaced, 12pt font response. I like the feeling of contributing (even if a small part) to the fashion industry. A couple weeks ago, Who What Wear collection (the Target clothing line designed by Who What Wear) asked what their audience would change about the brand. I replied that I wanted to see more personal styles represented on the Instagram page because there is a wide variety of customers who shop the brand. They do an amazing job with size inclusion, but in my opinion, most of the influencers featured on the page have the same look. After a while, I get less and less inspired because I keep seeing the same thing. I get excited when I see more "newness" and personality in fashion.

Now, I am not saying you should completely shun everything that the fashion industry talks about, but I am saying that fashion girls should have the confidence to put their own spin on fashion trends. I get excited about some of the same things many other bloggers do, like fanny packs, but that does not mean I will style it the same way because fashion and style is subjective. It is dependent on personal interpretation and self-expression. And whenever I find myself comparing my unique style to the thousands of other fashionable women, I have Kaity to remind me that it is okay to not like what everyone else likes and it is good to be different.

So what does personal style actually mean? Personal style is dressing to reflect your personality, mood and interests. It honestly comes from a gut reaction of your own creativity. Can you follow trends while still showing off your personal style? Yes! Again, fashion is interpretation. If you love those trendy utility cargo pants, but tend to dress more feminine, wear them with a collared blouse and some ballet flats. If you hate tiny matrix sunglasses, wear your bug-eyed frames with pride! The meaning of personal style is pretty self-explanatory because it is personal to you. Wear what you love and what works for you.

After all of this ranting, how about you check out our looks below! How would you describe your own personal style?