How to ‘discover your personal style’ is one of those illusive #lifegoals that has been pondered by fashion magazines for decades and, undoubtedly, baffled women for an similar period of time. The way it’s phrased somehow infers that this is something that should spontaneously pop into your mind’s eye after you’ve put in the required number of hours staring blankly at your open wardrobe. The reality, however, is not quite so transactional, and some people will pin-down their ‘look’ at the age of 16, while others need a longer period of experiment to refine their taste. To be honest, there’s also nothing stopping you from constantly reinventing your style every 5 years—this is not, after all, some sort of life-long binding contract.
Yet, I also can’t deny that there is something so alluring about the idea of finding your ‘uniform‘— if nothing else so you can sneak in a couple more hours in bed in the morning due to having a good sense of what works. I also think that as we move into a more sustainable future, there’s something to be said for investing in pieces that are timeless—and by that I mean styles that you’ll want to wear both now and in 5 years’ time. And no, that doesn’t have to mean becoming an austere minimalist (although that certainly makes things easier). There are plenty of print-loving editors who have stuck to their extroverted staples for decades.
It was Brittany Bathgate who triggered these contemplations on personal style. I was scrolling deep into her feed (for writing, not stalking purposes), and was impressed at how her outfits felt so consistent over the passing seasons. An ensemble she shot back in 2017 could easily be replicated in the present day. So, I set about finding other fashion girls who have nailed this fashion consistency and identified the key pieces that have stood the test of time. Scroll down to see what I found.
