How does one find one's style?

[soasnottoappeargreedy]

All the online quizzes ask about what I already have in my wardrobe. But basically what I have is whatever was cheapest, and maternity stuff that hasn't fallen apart yet. I'm 33 and just have no idea where to start.

Trial and error. If you’re lucky you do all that as a teenager and in your twenties, ready to emerge with an enviable je ne said quoi by the time you’re a proper adult

Or for us mere mortals, figure out what you do day to day and then lots of trial and error, lurking on here and Pinterest. The Venn diagram intersection of what I think looks great, what suits me, what I can afford and what is actually suitable for my life is really quite small. Stick around here, everyone chips in with their 2p worth and will come up with loads of things you never thought of - and tell you straight what’s not for you.

Thanks, that's pretty much exactly my problem, I think. I'm not sure what I like to start with. Every so often I do see something I think is nice, but it doesn't work with my body shape or it's crazy expensive, or it's just not compatible with what I spend my time doing...

Hmmm, I think rather than trying to find a style, focus on building a wardrobe that works for your lifestyle and body shape.

For example, if you mainly wear jeans, then research the shapes that are best for your shape and put in the legwork to find the ones that make you look and feel fabulous.

I spent a lot of time working out what suits me in terms of colours, shapes, proportions etc and when I walk into a shop I now only 'see' things that are likely to suit me.

Audrey from putting me together blog has lots of resources on building a wardrobe. She spends a lot of time explaining why she wears what she does

Start noticing which celebrities or characters in films and on TV catch your eye for their dress sense. Then narrow it down to the ones with your colouring and closest to your shape. Try on some clothes similar to the outfits you really loved. Analyse what you love about the outfits. Is it the colours, the cut, length, fabrics? The accessories? Play around until you put together an outfit you feel really good in.

You could try working out your body shape, then looking up style suggestions for hourglass or apple or whatever you are. It would give you a starting point to work from

I’m in exactly the same boat. What I like either doesn’t suit my body shape, or work for my life style. It’s very frustrating.

Yeah I feel your pain OP. I took the advice of thinking about what celebrity I most looked like and came up with "Kelly Brook when she's let herself go" which sounds rather bitchy and unfair to poor Kelly but it's the most appropriate description I can come up with.

So I looked online at what she wears and funnily enough, she appears to have the same sort of crisis as I have. Either in a flowery dress, or in something tailored and plain. I cannot seem to stick to one or the other.

Another fab Mumsnetter encouraged me to sign up to stitchfix so I did that and had my first delivery recently. It was really lovely stuff, I was most surprised that the stylist had really understood me. Although I probably shouldn't be surprised as I reckon I spent about half an hour telling them what I did and didn't want in my box!!

I didn't want to sign up to anything with a big financial commitment but this one you can have whenever. I do feel a bit more put together now as they also send you style cards with the stuff they send, to give us mere mortals a bit of a clue. My box of 5 items included a dress, two cotton tops, a shirt and a pair of jeans and cost me £137 I think. There's a £10 styling fee you get back if you keep at least one item, but I got an additional 20% off as I kept the lot.

Here's my £15 off referral code if anyone else fancies it.

www.stitchfix.co.uk/invite/ffztmxfkwh?sod=w&som=c&g=w

I used to dress like I was going to a rave (which mostly I was) or in work uniforms. Then I spent the better part of a decade wearing nothing but maternity clothes/ leggings and a T-shirt. I know the style I wore before (raving clothes) was stuff for a different time in my life, a different figure, a totally different lifestyle. But then so are the maternity/post natal outfits. It's like I'm having to go totally back to the drawing board.