Minimalism & Finding Your Personal Style

Has anyone else seen these "capsule wardrobes" trending online? Minimalism and being creative with a small number of pieces is apparently really in at the moment. All you have to do is take a peek and you will see the plethora of blogs like Un-Fancy.com and StyleBee.ca and the tiny houses everywhere to notice the fashion/lifestyle trend.

But is simple better? It surprisingly seems like it.

It's 2017 and we have too much space and even more stuff to fill it with. More and more people are choosing to get rid of most of their belongings and narrowing everything down to the bare basics. I can definitely see the appeal when I look around my house and my mom's house. She is a fellow pack-rat and has been moving all of the extra clutter every time she moves. In this way I really don't want to follow in her footsteps, so I have been working up the determination to start. Starting small is (almost) always key. This for me was going through my wardrobe of mainly t-shirts, jeans, yoga pants, and men's basketball shorts.

Decluttering my huge wardrobe has been a process and after several sessions and around 8 trash bags later, I still feel like it's not compact enough and what i do have doesn't have any real style. I had never noticed the style aspect until the other day when I added 1 of those bags of clothes to donate after watching @MuchelleB talk about the Konmari way of decluttering and her personal minimalist lifestyle and advice.

MuchelleB talked about having the same issue with finding a personal style, especially since minimalism has come to reference a certain aesthetic and not the actual lifestyle. What she decided was to pick a color scheme of things she knew looked good on her and then went from there to see if the pieces that she already owns brings her joy or not (the konmari way).

StyleBee had an interesting post on defining your personal style, so I'm going to see how she would say I should describe my style.

Blog Post

Workbook pdf

STEP 1: ASSESS (Describing the Good and the Not-So-Good)

A) How do you feel when you are wearing a look you really love?

- Put Together

- Comfortable
- Cute/Classy/Chic (depending)
- Confident
- Attractive

B) How do you feel when you have worn something you don't love?
- Awkward
- Uncomfortable
- Average/Boring
- Regretful

STEP 2: SORT (Isolate the DOs and DON'Ts of your style)

A) Write down all of the things you don't like to wear and don't consider your style.
- Button-Downs
- Anything that shows too much cleavage
- Collared Shirts
- Itchy Fabrics
- Anything I have to worry about after leaving the house

B) Write down all the things you do like to wear and do consider your style.
- Figure-flattering/Tailored at the waist or under bust
- Scoop Necks
- Three Quarter Sleeves
- Layers
- Tights under dresses and structured shorts

STEP 3: GET REAL (Identify your lifestyle and what you dress for)

A) What activities do you do most? How do you dress for them?
- Drive / Shoes that I can feel the pedal through
-Take Walks & Exercise / Comfortable Clothes and Shoes
- Work / Professional Clothes and Black Heels, Comfortable Clothes and Shoes
- Lounge around at Home / Tank Tops, Loose Shorts, and PJ Pants

B) How does the weather impact your style? What is your typical mode of transportation?
- Hot Weather = Tank Top and Shorts
- Cold Weather = Layers, Warm Socks, Thick Jacket or Coat
- I usually drive my car everywhere
- Sometimes I fly via airplane

STEP 4: EXAMINE (Recognize the specifics from looks you love)

A) List your top 10-20 most worn items.
- Knee-Length Dresses
- Tights
- Cardigans/Sweaters
- Jeans (Pants & Shorts)
- T-Shirts
- Tank Tops
- Flowy Pants (it looks a lot like a floor-length skirt)
- Sneakers
- Flip-Flops
- Black Heels

B) List your 3 Go-To Outfits/Silhouettes.
- Dress, Tights, Cardigan, Heels
- Fitted Top, Flowy/Loose-Fitting Bottoms
- Fitted Top, Jeans/Shorts, Sneakers, Cardigan/Sweater

STEP 5: DEFINE (Put your personal style into words)

A) Write down all the key words and phrase you can think of that accurately apply to your style. (Get that Thesaurus out!)
- Monochromatic AKA Mostly black with some jewel tones
- Bohemian-Inspired
- Gothic-Inspired
- Classic/Timeless
- City Chic
- Modest
- Layers
-Relaxed
- Grunge

B) Finally, Pull the 3-5 words that really resonate with you the most. These will be your personal style definition!

MY PERSONAL STYLE IS:

COMFORTABLE  LAYERS  CITY CHIC  MONOCHROMATIC  TIMELESS

Hopefully this helps someone else out there that's trying to put their style or desired style into words. I'm going to see how I like these descriptions over time, if it helps when I go shopping, and if it helps narrow down my desired wardrobe further.

Have an awesome week!

PS.
This is more for me, but if you would also like to learn more then here are some other minimalist blogs:
Be More With Less
Rowdy Kittens
Anuschka Rees and her post 10 Step Wardrobe Revamp

Cladwell by Into Mind app ($5/month)

Other Good Reads:
"The Crossroads of Should and Must"
"What Else?"
"14 Newsletters You Need in Your Inbox"