How To Actually Develop Your Style

How to use different mediums of art to develop your eye for style

When I was younger I hated drawing and painting, I just couldn’t do it like everyone else. My eyes were wonky, dresses were stiff triangles, and don’t even get me started on hands. I had pretty much stopped drawing once I discovered people had necks.

However, I’ve started painting again with my flat mate and I had a revelation, painting is simply drawing shapes. It’s a circle here, a triangle there, you’re not painting the whole picture until its’s finished. Now I love painting because it’s not as hard as I once thought, you have to look at the minute details before you look at the whole picture. I had never been one for details.

This is what inspired me to write this, fashion and stying yourself is not looking at the mirror the whole time, it’s looking at seams, cuts and how something hangs. The details of matching a cut of lace to glass earrings. Learning how to paint was great for me to learn detailing of putting an outfit together. It was great for garment construction.

Developing your style

Your style should be a reflection of who you are not who you think you are or who you want other people to think you are. Sure you can buy trendy clothes, wear them, dump them and buy more when they're inevitably embarrassing to wear again. There’s no fun in that though, it’s also incredibly unsustainable. Once you have a wardrobe that feels personal to you, there are endless ways to style your pieces and have it reflect everything you love.

When developing your style look away from your clothes, it might sound contradictory but turn your head to your interests. What's ‘s your favourite album, favourite sport to watch, favourite movie?

Style is art reconstructed

Architecture

Style does not appear overnight it comes from consuming art, looking at the architecture around you. Take Dublin for example I’m always inspired by Georges Street Arcade, it’s a huge building filled with arches, spikes, details and incredible details. I love the burnt red and there used to be a red coffee shop below which made the building pop and now I like to pair burnt orange and a deep red together! The circular windows against the sharp pillars and hard edges is what makes it interesting and unique. Also look at your everyday life for colours you think go together, another one I like is ironically Dublin Bus I actually enjoy the yellow and green pairings. Take your everyday life into account, think of textures, gravel on the road beside the newly painted white line. Think of ripped up tights and lace. There are endless comparisons.

Film

Watching films will teach you about garment composition, watch beautiful films with thought put into every scene. Take for example ‘Before Sunrise’ this slow, foggy film is stunningly nostalgic. The scenes are created in a dreamscape memory, pastel colours, and layers of details with the buildings in the background. Go out of your usual movie catalog, watch old movies like ‘It’s a wonderful life’ watch how they styled clothing for black and white movies. Another fantastic movie is ‘La Haine’ a French film that’s shot in black and white but is crisp and incredibly aesthetic, with countless scenes for inspiration.

Classic paintings

Go to a museum and look at the paintings, don’t just stare, sigh, look back and move on. Look at the brush strokes, everything is chosen with intention. there is detail in the eyelashes. Look at how they paired the colours, what they symbolise, see how they drape their dresses. Take the background look how they blended the shades of blues together used pops of colour in weird places. I find abstract art to be a great way to ingest styling, colours and shapes together.

Music

Pick your favourite album and dive into its full rollout, usually there’s a colour pallet that the singer abides by, what were the colours used on the album and why those colours. Colours represent so much more than just looking good together, they evoke feelings and memories. Listen to the lyrics and think about that you would dress someone in if they were signing this on stage.

Find your style by being more educated, more creatively well rounded, read books, watch movies, see with intention. I’m not saying I’m the most stylish person in the building but these little shifts of perspective have taught me my style, what I like, not what is just presented to me.