How Important Is Personal Style?

If you've known me for any given time, you've probably received a compliment from me. In fact, I've complimented so many people in a single day, the friends I was with accused me of being insincere. I guarantee this is not the case. I have two principals in my own fashion journey that try to always live by:

(1). I never "tone it down" for other people. I wear whatever makes me happy, if someone doesn't like it, they probably wouldn't want to hang out with me anyway.

Though I stress that I wear whatever I want, I'm still mindful of the events and situations I'll be involved in. For instance, I wouldn't wear white to a wedding, or electric lime to a funeral, and if I'm wearing a mini dress (Which is likely.) I don't move in ways which would be disrespectful to those around me.

(2) Because I appear confident in the way I dress, I'm also aware I can make others feel insecure. Due to this, I've made it a point to look for something I like in each person's style that I meet. It's not "insincere," it's intentional. It's a conscious effort, not only to broaden my own interpretation of personal style, but to put others at ease and hopefully convey the idea that no one has to dress like me or meet any kind of standard to look cool or feel confident.

Before I dive into expert takes and explain why anyone cares about this topic or why anyone should. I first want to clear up a common misconception. There's a distinct difference between "having personal style" and "developing personal style." I would venture to say (and I use this term broadly), everyone has some form of personal style.

I have a very dear friend who claims she has "absolutely no sense of style" and "really doesn't care what clothes she puts on in the morning." That may be true on surface level, she has a closet of clothes based not on accessories and flare, but things that are comfortable to move in. However in the ten years I've known her, I've only ever seen her in boot cut jeans. I know she likes tee shirts with a light jersey fabric and a signature style bag she's never without. In a crowd of people, I look for her handbag to find her.

Though my friend may not care if her shoes match her purse, and doesn't like to spend much time picking her clothes in the morning, her style is evident in the way I associate it with her.

Developing personal style is different because it takes conscious effort. The things we choose to wear almost always reflect our personalities in some way. However, to truly make our clothes express us and our feelings requires work. This work often leads to one discovering an aesthetic or creating one.

I feel that Edie Sedgwick captured the essence of discovering personal style best in regards to her own style and image in a quotation from Jean Stein's 1982 book entitled "Edie: American Girl."

" You have to put up with the risk of being misunderstood if you are going to try to communicate. You have to up with people projecting their own ideas, attitudes, misunderstanding you. But it's worth being a public fool if that's all you can be in order to communicate."

The reason I find this quotation so appropriate is even if you're clothes reflect you in the truest form they're still pieces of cloth. and as such are subject to interpretation, like a form of abstract art. A person could dress up, feel their best, and walk with their head held high. While another person may see them, take into account the clothes they're wearing, their good posture and come to the conclusion they're something of a snob.

So what is the value of personal style and how does it outweigh the risk of misinterpretation and judgement? Clothes are one of the most eye catching forms of self expression. In the article "The Value of Style" (Psychology Today, 2005), it's stated;

"Style is important, often undervalued because it is so widely misunderstood... It is a reflection of your unique complexity as a human being."

This backs up the statement made by Edie Sedgwick suggesting clothes are a form of communication. The article goes on to say;

"It always suggest that you are in control of your personal environment. (...) That's one of reasons it is an invaluable tool in moving through the world."

In 2012 Hajo Adams and Adam D. Galinsky preformed a study on the psychological affects of wearing clothing associated with different types of work. The experiments involved giving students a laboratory task and specific piece of clothing to wear, to test the systematic influence clothes have on the wearer's psychological process.

Three experiments were made; the first involving students who wore their everyday clothes with no further requirements of apparel. In the second, students were given a lab coat described as an "artist coat" and asked to wear it while they carried out their task. For the third experiment, students were given the same type of lab coat as in experiment number two, but this time it was described as a "doctor's coat."

Results showed increased selective attention on the task in experiment number three. Giving strong evidence to the idea that wearing specific clothing has a tangible effect on the wearer's psychological and physical performance. Researchers coined the term "enclothed cognition" to describe the affects clothing has on our subconscious.

Emma Feria expounded on this in a 2022 article for The Tartan (Opinion: The Psychological Benefits of Fashion) when she said;

"Personal style reflects how we want to be perceived. "Enclothed cognition" can be good or bad, depending on if it's associated with a positive or negative construct."

Tali Stolovy holds that not only do our clothes effect our behavior, our behavior also affects our choice of clothes. Examples could include someone wo battles depression wanting to wear sweatpants everyday, or someone with lower self confidence intentionally styling themselves in clothes they see other people wear. According to "Styling the Self: Personality Traits and Body Image Among Israeli Women" (Frontiers in Psychology, Sep. 7th, 2021), women who are inclined to express confidence and individuality are less motivated by comfort when choosing their clothes.

"My main research hypothesis is that clothing practices are related to personality traits and can be predicted by body image."

It's important to note that Stolovy is referencing "body image" and not "body type." Suggesting women's personal styles are reflections not of how their bodies look, but how they feel about their bodies.

This research shows that not only is being confident tied to how comfortable we feel in our clothes, but that becoming confident will inevitably affect the way we wear clothes. It's not to say "everyone needs to develop their personal style." Rather that developing our personal style is a natural progression as we become more comfortable in our own skin.

In conclusion, we are subject to misinterpretations and judgement no mater what we wear. So why not wear what we want? However big a crowd wears the same type of clothes, there will always be another crowed wearing something different and likely opposite. I encourage everyone to enjoy their clothes, whether that means wearing feathers and pumps or tee shirts and bootcut jeans. The ideal behind personal style is to make it your own.

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-Coco Elouise Marie