Perfecting the Art of Signature Style

Diane Keaton as Annie Hall - the actress wore her own clothes when portraying the character. Image courtesy of Annie Hall, Rollins-Joffe Productions.

​
​
​​In an age of fast fashion trends that emerge and peak within a matter of weeks and a confusing multiplicity of fashion collections, knowing what to wear is becoming an increasingly fraught dilemma. At some stage north of thirty, you may start to look at fashion with a slightly jaundiced eye – the schizophrenic trends are best left to the teens and twenty-somethings, the fits are increasingly skimpy and the aim of the fashion cycle to maintain us in an eternal cycle of sartorial dissatisfaction starts to wear thin. 

How does a woman stay sane yet stylish in the face of these conundrums? The answer is to develop a signature style that is reflective of you - your body type, personality and aesthetic preferences, that has everything to do with who you are, rather than who you think you should be. It’s about having the confidence to say “No” to trends that don’t suit you, silhouettes that don’t flatter you and too much product that is designed to lift balance sheets rather than your sense of self-esteem. 

As a woman matures, she learns to know her own mind as well as her own body and a signature style is visual evidence of this sense of self-assurance. In the face of fashion hysteria, the art of signature style is a survival tool that allows you to ignore the noise, focus on what it relevant and maintain a distinct visual impact that sets you apart.  Women who have honed and refined a signature look or personal uniform are recognised as some of the most stylish -   Audrey Hepburn, Coco Chanel, Kate Moss and Tilda Swinton. They are women who have a defined visual template, a finely-honed look that they wear with confidence, be it a whalebone corset or a man’s tuxedo. Their clothes reflect the essence of who they are - they never look like a fashion victim. Clothes are a potent blend of armour, seduction and self-expression - as YSL wisely observed: “The fashionable woman wears the clothes. The clothes don’t wear her.”

The advantages of adapting a signature style or personal uniform are multiple - it saves you time, money and unnecessary stress. By defining your own style template, you streamline your life and make your wardrobe your ally rather than your enemy. Wearing what you love and feel comfortable in is hugely liberating – if you are happy in your sartorial choices if gives you confidence and promotes a state of being which the French term “Bien dans sans eau” – literally being comfortable in your own skin. 

To follow are some suggestions to help you purge your wardrobe and adopt a streamlined style. Having a signature style doesn’t mean that you become stuck in a rut and buy the same things repeatedly – you can still experiment with colour, texture, pattern and detail once you have selected your key look and silhouette. Try to avoid being an impulse shopper and think before you spend - just because an item is in fashion, you don’t have to acquire it - use your critical faculties to assess trends and see if they have relevance for your style. If they don’t suit you then don’t go near them. Cultivate a relationship with an excellent customer shopper or a boutique owner that you like and trust and use their expertise to help you isolate and identify your style. 

•  Analyse your wardrobe and which garments you wear the most. Look at why you gravitate to those items and the features that you like about them.
• Trust your instincts and pull out your five favourite garments across various types of garments e.g. – trousers, dresses, jackets, tops etc. 
• Begin to define your style based on your favourite pieces – are you crisp, clean and minimal, soft, feminine and romantic, edgy, cool and distinctive? Assess which colours work for your complexion – warm tones or cool? What kinds of fabrics work for you – natural fibres or easy-care synthetics? 
• Look at which body parts your favourite garments emphasise? Which features do they conceal or minimise? 
• Also look at the items you rarely if ever wear. Evaluating your mistakes can be just as beneficial as admiring favourites.  Analyse why they haven’t worked for you or your lifestyle – do they match other pieces in your wardrobe, do they require lots of maintenance (e.g.  frequent dry-cleaning and hand-washing) or are they simply too old and frumpy or too young and revealing?  Get rid of item you don’t wear.   
• Review the quality of your clothes – do they look cheap and shabby or smart and polished? Buying an item purely because it is on sale isn’t “a bargain” if you never wear it. Also, never buy anything that you will have to slim down to fit – shop for who you are now, not some aspirational size that you may never achieve. 
• Avoid shopping under pressure for a special event – panic purchases are rarely a good idea. It is much wiser to have a few items on standby for dressier events that you have bought when you have seen them and loved them, without a looming deadline. 
• When shopping for new pieces at the start of a season, try to ensure that your wardrobe contains a ratio of approximately 3 to 1 when it comes to jackets, tops and blouses to bottoms. Most people take note of us from the waist up, so spend accordingly. Build your wardrobe around a core of 70% staple or classic items and 30% novelty colours and prints.
• Shop smarter – before you part with your money stop and reflect.  Look at what you are missing – are there clothes you never wear because you simply don’t have co-ordinating pieces to match them? Make a shopping list before you go so that you have defined what you need. It will help you to stay focused. 
• Versatility is the key to a functional wardrobe – invest in garments that allow you to get the maximum wear out of what you already own.  
• Shop to reflect your lifestyle – where do you spend most of your time?  If you are a working woman who needs to look smart and polished then shop accordingly. Invest appropriately – look at pieces that might need to be replaced or refreshed. 
• Always ask if a piece suits you and your lifestyle. Ensure that any new investment goes with at least three other items in your existing wardrobe. 
• Be ruthless – do you really love it and can you see yourself wearing it past one season and into the future? 

A note here regarding the quality of contemporary clothes – with the advent of fast fashion the emphasis on quality has been diminished. Whereas our mothers and grandmothers took great care when choosing new clothes, always keeping in mind that pieces were expected to last and give repeated wear, today we have been flooded with a tsunami of very inexpensive and frequently very poorly made garments. A disposable culture has evolved that promotes a wear and throw lifestyle, regardless of the impact that this has on our environment, our wallets or our sense of wellbeing. I strongly believe this culture is destructive if not downright immoral. Always keep a keen eye on quality when you are buying – cheap clothes come at a price and something that gets shabby and slack after a few wears does you no favours. Instead of always being tempted by the lure of novelty, opt for the beauty of quality. Try spending a little more on quality so that pieces have longevity and become the foundation stones of your wardrobe. 

Key tips re assessing quality would be:
• Inspect fabric compositions, linings, buttons and zips to ensure that they are suitable for wear and tear. 
• Seams should be straight and smooth. 
• The fabric composition should preferably contain some natural fibres as some synthetics are lint magnets and naturals fibres are more breathable. 
• Buttons should be well sewn on and look classic rather than gaudy. 
• The lining shouldn’t pull or dip and shouldn’t crackle with static.
• Checks and stripes should always match, particularly at the shoulder seam.      

When it comes to the fit, critique your reflection from all angles and be ruthlessly honest with yourself. If it doesn’t look good in the shop, then it won’t miraculously look better in the real world. If you know your body shape, then you can review pieces in terms of what flatters your shape and what doesn’t. The fit of garments is key to looking polished and pulled together. 

Key pointers re fit would be:
• Shoulders – upper body garments hang off your shoulders so the fit here is critical. Especially important is that the shoulder-line of jackets and coats sits on your natural shoulder – it shouldn’t extend beyond it of sit short of it.  
• Bust – garments should sit smoothly over the bust. One of the most common mistakes re fit is buying pieces that are too small in the bust resulting in pulling and puckers. Bust darts must sit in the correct position or will simply not do their job properly. 
• Waist –  if it is too tight you will have a muffin top and if it is too loose clothes will constantly move around and fall down. 
• Rise of trousers – if the crotch is too short you will develop the dreaded “camel foot’ and if it is too long your trousers will appear saggy and sad.         
• Thighs – clothes should sit smoothly over the thighs, be that in skirts, trousers or dresses. If the fit is too tight, garments will ride up constantly and as a result will look creased and cheap.
  
In terms of length, proportion is crucial to how attractive a piece of clothing looks. If you are tall and willowy, you can get away with a multitude, however if you are smaller and curvier you need to scrutinise lengths carefully. As a rule, I feel that skirts are most flattering worn just under the kneecap. With trousers, it depends on their style, your height, and your choice of footwear. Generally wider trousers need a heel and look most flattering brushing the tops of your shoes while narrower legs look good cropped above footwear.   

When shopping for clothes, regardless of the item, move around in them – bend over, stretch upwards and reach around to give yourself a hug to see that you aren’t too restricted. Even if a piece looks great initially, if it isn’t comfortable, you will soon tire of it and will eventually stop wearing it. 

Once you get home before you remove tags etc. review your purchase against existing pieces you own, to assess if it is worth keeping.  If in doubt put aside and look at it again a day or two later – sometimes a second look can reveal flaws we didn’t see on the first pass. 

A few notes re shapes – if you are petite, you should control the amount of volume you wear as it can easily swamp you. Watch proportions carefully and if in doubt, discard. If you are prone to weight fluctuations a slightly raised waist can provide effective camouflage.  For hourglass shapes honour your curves and define your waist while avoiding cocoon shapes that will make you look shapeless.     

Adopting a signature style takes some effort initially but repays you amply in the long term. You will find choosing what to wear far less stressful and will be out the door in half the time on busy mornings. Remember that your uniform can be as rigid or as relaxed as you choose - it is totally at your discretion because you are creating your own system rather than being bullied by trends. 

A single note or identifying element can also create a signature style – think of Anna Wintour’s sunglasses, Grace Coddington’s flame red hair or Audrey Hepburns’s pearls. Your wardrobe should be your own creation – you can self-edit, review and refine at will as your lifestyle and circumstances evolve and change. Our signature style reveals the essence of who we are – what we value, how we perceive ourselves and how we negotiate the world. Clothes can give us confidence, boost or sense of well-being and inject joy into everyday monotony.  If you focus on the fit rather than the size label you will be saving yourself time and needless anxiety. 

Always, always wear what you love – life is too short for ugly clothes. Buy classics and inject your own personality into them with how you style and accessorise them. Take time to understand your body type/ frame and choose to flatter it cleverly.  Invest in your grooming not just your clothes – if you have a glow it elevates everything you wear. Remember that accessories are key – buy the best bags, shoes, belt and scarves your budget allows and they will repay you with endless wear. Find labels that suit you and stick with them. 

Finally, simplicity is an art form – by refining your choices to suit your personal style you will feel empowered and confident and confidence is the most flattering accessory of all.  Style is deeply personal and asserting your own personal style is a wonderful form of self-expression.   

---

Audrey Hepburn in her signature pearls and little black dress. Image courtesy of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Jurrow-Shepherd Productions.