Occasionally when I’m in the midst of about 500-pages worth of grading (no joke), I allow myself a five-minute break to think of “fluff” (not literally of course). /Lately, one of the “fluff” items on my mental agenda has been my style.
I’ve gone through a lot of style changes in my life, from the stretch pants of the 80’s that had the elastic bands that went under your feet to the oversized flannel sweaters and washed-out denim of the 90’s to the puffy vests of the millenial years, I feel like I’ve done it all.
In high school and early college, I got into a groove where I would mostly wear t-shirts (or very plain, basic solids–mostly v-necks–from places like Old Navy), along with a collection of about fifteen “date” shirts that I would wear when I wanted to dress up, most of which were somewhat floaty and empire-waisted and bedazzled with random bits of glitz.
And then, about three years ago, I feel like my style really started to evolve into something I could be a little more proud of—perhaps it was due to the fact that I now had a “real” job I had to dress up for every day, but I slowly started to develop a simple (but appropriately dressy) look that has become all my own. It involves a lot of dresses and skirts (which I wear 3-4 days every week), several pairs of dark skinny jeans, and a few on-constant-rotation heels and boots.
I’ve been thinking all week (during my “fluff” time, of course) about what words I would use to describe my evolving style. At first, it was a lot easier to come up with words that I was sure DIDN’T describe it. The following are words that will probably never be used to talk about my style ever:
*bold
*skimpy
*lazy (unless you catch me at home, in leggings and a t-shirt)
*playful
*wild
*cutting-edge
*Bohemian
*accessorized
*funky
*trendy
*goth
*bright/colorful
*baggy
*unusual
I’m sure there are a lot more, but I think you get the gist. The funny thing is, a part of me wouldn’t necessarily mind some of these words being associated with my style (like playful or bright), but as my fashion sense has begun to evolve, I just don’t find myself attracted to pieces that are super flashy, colorful, or cutting-edge.
I’ve come far enough along though that I’ve gotten to be okay with that.
After deciding what my style wasn’t, I had to start thinking about what it was, and I think I came up with three words that describe it well (or at least they’re the words I aspire to):
*polished
*simple
*classy
Or, if you’d rather that I sum it up in a sentence, you could say it’s a little “professional, working woman” combined with “What Not to Wear junkie.”
The end.
If you had to describe your style in three words, which ones would you pick?
