My Style Evolution

How I found my personal style

I was chatting with a friend recently, and she asked me how I found my personal style and if I could remember at what point in my life it felt easy? Like when did it click for me that I had found it? I’m going to try to answer that in this post AND I have a special something for you to help you find yours.

Photo Drew Blackwell

If I look back over the years there are little clues sprinkled throughout my style journey that indicate where my style evolution was headed. One in particular is blazers. If I look back at photos of me from aged 16 to now, blazers have always been something i’ve worn, in particular mens blazers. My mum taught me from a young age how to shop for quality items in the charity shop (thrift store) and what kind of fabrics to look out for (cashmere, wool, silk) and she taught me how to identify real leather via the smell. With this knowledge I became obsessed with 80’s cut mens cashmere blazers and 80’s Marks and Spencers double breasted wool blazers. I got to a point where I had that particular blazer in nearly every colour.

At a time when everyone was very anti shoulder pads, I just loved the way it looked on my body. The 80’s blazers were mostly oversized, and I loved that shoulder pads completely changed the silhouette of my body. To my eyes any outfit always felt elevated the moment I put a blazer on, especially if said blazer was bigger and had shoulder pads, and that is still true for me today. As a teenager who wanted to look ‘grown up’ the structural elements of tailoring gave me that feeling.

(Above - Age 21 Living in London wearing my vintage Burberry Trench Coat bought for $50 at Camden Market. My necklace also has two enamel H’s on, which is funny considering how much I still love anything that is monogrammed with my initials).

I definitely experimented, and I can clearly see how I used clothes as a way to separate myself and as a way to belong. Case in point moving to London for University to become a makeup artist. I knew this was a turning point in my life because I was officially an adult, and I was starting somewhere no one knew me. From a styling point of view this was incredibly exciting and its safe to say living in London had a huge impact on my style, because for the first time in my life I saw first hand how experimental you could really be with how you dress. London had always inspired me, and living there for over 12 years definitely shaped what became my personal style.

The ‘experimental’ phase

During my early years living in London I fell in love with the vintage scene, and when I say I went to town, I mean it. I wore pieces from all decades, in every colour and I just had so much fun trying things out. I think the clothes I wore represented a time in my life when I felt so liberated being around so many other creatives and I felt so excited to be somewhere so different to what I had experienced growing up. Growing up in a small town in the countryside, I didn’t have friends who wanted to go to art galleries or museums, so moving to London was an explosion of culture and art I had been craving all my life, along with people who also appreciated those things.

I remember two stores in particular I probably spent most of my student loan in, first was Absolute Vintage and the second was Beyond Retro. The pound bin in Beyond Retro was probably where the majority of my clothes came from. Polyester and acrylic gowns (mostly 80’s) that I would take home and change up the hem line to be way shorter. I vividly remember sweating so much in these and dreading the tube in summer as I melted in my 100% polyester dresses.

I wore a lot of dresses in those early London years. I think around this time was also when I started to develop a very unhealthy relationship with my body and for some reason I didn’t believe I could wear trousers. I don’t know where this belief came from, but I think I made an executive decision to go ultra feminine in how I dressed because I had seen the likes of Marilyn Monroe and other fifties movie stars with bodies that looked somewhat similar to mine so I naturally presumed I should dress like that. I moved from buying cheap polyester dresses to saving up for pricier 50’s dresses made of better quality fabrics, and at this point, it wasn’t just my clothes that changed, I started to do my hair and makeup with a nod to the forties and fifties.

My mid-late 20’s

My mid twenties was when I first moved away from anything extremely feminine and wore more oversized pieces, whether that was vintage denim, shirts or surprise surprise blazers. This was shortly after my ED recovery and while I initially found comfort in the safety of oversized pieces, what started as a need to feel safe turned into a feeling of empowerment from wearing oversized pieces. I liked the proportions of things that were oversized and long line. I felt powerful in those silhouettes.

I loved tailoring and I loved monochromatic looks with little to no bright colours. There were still some bolo ties, some statement jewelry and I was buying more pieces on ebay and in second hand stores because I knew how to find high quality items on a budget.

Moving from London to LA (My 30’s)

Moving to LA was another huge life change and another pivotal moment in my style evolution. Firstly, I would have to adapt to a completely different climate. I found it hard at the beginning because LA is VERY casual, and for the most part, my style isn’t. I like to feel elevated, even if what i’m wearing is simple or minimal. I like at least one element to feel somewhat polished and I actually feel way more comfortable being dressed up. Cutting my hair super short and adding bangs was a fun way to mix things up again. By my early 30’s I was wearing less and less colour, and leaning more than ever into tailoring and a little something that elevated my style, usually via an accessory. Around this time I also started to focus on less but better approach.

(Above - So many blazers! I found this cute little basket bag at an LA flea market. I think this is also when I started to wear earrings a lot more to elevate an outfit, especially anything with a baroque pearl).

I was travelling more and more for work at this point and I think it was around this time when my wardrobe started to become more streamlined and more cohesive. Travelling a lot meant I needed a more uniform like approach to my outfits in order to save time, and I had started to identify what felt like the best version of me no matter what my weight was.

It was around my mid thirties I became the most in tune with which clothes and styles did (and didn’t) make me feel good, irrelevant of what anyone else said or thought. I didn’t care if what I wore was ‘on trend’. I leaned into what felt good, what felt like me. I dressed for me. I felt bolder, braver and more empowered by my clothes than I ever had done.

I was also earning more money than I ever had done before, and as a result, I started thinking more and more about the fabrics I wore, the cuts, and the overall quality. There’s pieces in these photos above I still have today and still love.

As I entered my mid thirties, I became more and more grounded in who I was, and I think that was reflected in my style. There was, and remains a lot of outfit repeating. I can see how everything that came before led me here. There were always blazers, there was always shape and texture, and there was always an appreciation for how an accessory could change an entire look. Whether that was a statement necklace, a bolo tie, or a hat, I look back and I can see how I was finding my way, I was testing out what felt most like me.

Overtime, the outfits have simplified and they have matured. The lines became cleaner and I like to think what I wear now always looks expensive, even if it isn’t. Structure is still there in some shape or form in most of my outfits and I still love an oversized fit. Getting dressed is a hobby for me. Expressing myself through the medium of clothes and makeup is my happy place, it’s where I find my calm and my joy.

The key to finding your personal style is play and experimentation, and being open to what you feel drawn to. I’ve put together a 10 day style challenge to help you find your personal style using your existing wardrobe here and It’s completely free! Each day you’ll have a new style lesson to implement and it comes with a free workbook too. Of course you can do it quicker than 10 days if you like, but I wanted to make something that removes the overwhelm of finding your personal style and gives you something you can reference in the future too.

Finding my personal style has been a very therapeutic experience in more ways than one. My hope is that everyone gets to experience the joy of getting dressed for themselves and building a forever wardrobe of pieces that make you feel at home in your body.

Enjoy!

Harry xo