What makes someone look cool/edgy?

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I wear similar clothes to a friend, she looks cool, I look ok but a bit dull. Is it down to hairstyle? She has short funky hair, I have shoulder length.

What do you think makes someone look cool, edgy?

@EleanorDeCleaner

I used to be edgy. Bright red mohawk, punk make-up, short skirts, heavy boots.

Now I'm fat so my look is a bit more "overstuffed pillow". If anyone knows how to be fat and cool, let me know. 👍 I'm good looking which helps, shame my body is such a disappointment.

As I said above, there’s more than one way to be ‘edgy’. And the outfits you describe would’t be considered edgy now - so it’s a waste of time to hark back to them. Body confidence is much cooler now than a red mohawk.

Otherwise … A great way to make a wardrobe more exciting is to choose one fabulously extravagant accessory each season and dress to show it off. So for winter - one astonishing beanie / balaclava is far more effective than half a dozen cheap jumpers. (Can’t offhand think of the Summer equivalent. I hate Summer dressing.)

Isn’t Barbie Ferreira just incredibly gorgeous?

It's just the way some people are, some people look cheap or uncool no matter what they wear, some look expensive or cool. Some like preppy etc

hairstyles, mannerisms, attitude, knowing your body shape, proportions & style helps but I think it's largely innate.

My friend has broad shoulders and killer cheekbones, She looks edgy in everything.
I tried on a shaggy lace dress she had been rocking and I looked like a milkmaid.
I would LOVE to look edgy.

Isn’t Barbie Ferreira just incredibly gorgeous?

stunning that's why I don't buy the thin = beautiful. A beautiful face is a beautiful face but they are just quite rare.

I never see anyone looking genuinely edgy. Maybe I'm just not observant enough. What I do see is people dressed in a way that where they obviously want people to think they look edgy but it just looks try-hard and attention seeking. It's all bullshit.

I saw an absolutely bloody ridiculous woman walking around a National Trust garden yesterday. Desperate for people to think she looked cute and unique. She was dressed in some kind of Hello Kitty dress-up thing. A tiny skirt and cropped top with clouds and kittens on. Like something a 3 year-old would wear except she was in her thirties and obese.

A tiny skirt and cropped top with clouds and kittens on. Like something a 3 year-old would wear except she was in her thirties and obese.

Perhaps it made her happy. I'd far rather people dress to express themselves then everyone look the same. So what if she was older & obese?

I’m not cool or edgy (today I’m wearing white stuff jeans and converse ) but I don’t like traditional nail polish colours and do my mails myself in khaki / navy/ grey etc. My SIL is very groomed and usually has a red mani. She made a comment to her DD that I was a bit more urban than her so I guess it’s all relative

'Desperate for people to think she looked cute and unique'. Yes, but was she?

Maybe think about more colour? What about going to one of the stores and booking an appointment with a person shopper? You're not committed to buy anything but they would be able to assess your lifestyle and preferences and your figure and bring you things to try which are current. I did it and they brought things I would never have considered in a million years but actually once they were on I could see it (and bought some of them!).
Can't remember who it was but some fashion person suggested a basic capsule wardrobe which could then be dressed up with different accessories. It sounds as though you need to find your style whether edgy or classic or elegant or boho or mannish - whatever. Think of your clothes as a vehicle of self-expression. If you love what you're wearing and feel a million dollars in it you'll come over as YOU and people will love it whatever it is! As others have said it's a matter of confidence.

personal shopper

@TottersBlankly your pics seem to be at the Kardashian end of the scale to me?
Maybe it’s a case of wanting to appear something (anything) other than attractive+sexy and loving your clothes (and not feeling self conscious)
So… knowing you’re worthwhile (attractive and sexy if that’s what it takes) so that your outfit can do another job?

Cool, edgy people never think about being cool, or edgy.
Nothing wrong with being more classic.

I am neither cool nor edgy, have no desire to be, nor any idea how to achieve it if I did want to.

But I suspect that it's one of those things that if you need to try, then you are not, and highly likely never will be. Which is OK, because we can't all be cool and edgy 🤔 🤪

My own style is centred around being comfortable. I have only just jumped on the trainers with a dress bandwagon, which someone upthread said was several years out of date. Oh well 🤷‍♀️

Barbie Ferreira looks lovely but her body shape is unusual because she’s perfectly proportioned. She’s big all over and her stomach is fairly flat and doesn’t hang down. Most big women don’t have a stomach like that. I’m a size 16 too, but I have skinny arms and no boobs, and my stomach hangs down with a fold underneath. I probably weigh less than her but I look a lot worse.

Photo from a news article - I think this is a more common body shape for big women - small boobs and bigger bottom half with a saggy tummy. Not like the plus size models who are perfectly proportioned with flat stomachs. I can say from experience that no clothes look nice on you when you’re this shape.

@Arianya

Barbie Ferreira looks lovely but her body shape is unusual because she’s perfectly proportioned. She’s big all over and her stomach is fairly flat and doesn’t hang down. Most big women don’t have a stomach like that. I’m a size 16 too, but I have skinny arms and no boobs, and my stomach hangs down with a fold underneath. I probably weigh less than her but I look a lot worse.

I know what you mean but I think the comment still stands that women who are plus sized can be edgy / trendy. I don’t have a perfectly proportioned figure either but I see what BF wears - in real life and in Euphoria and it’s given me a bit of confidence to try new things. Most importantly it seems younger plus sized women aren’t trying to wear specifically plus sized clothes anymore. They’re wearing the same things their 6-12 sized peers are wearing, just bigger. And I like that. I remember growing up that my Gran was a size 22 (which isn’t even considered that large anymore) and she would only shop in plus sized shops for things that resembled tents. I am plus sized myself now and I refuse to give up on fashion. It’s more difficult because I am nearly 42 and have multiple health difficulties which make certain things very uncomfortable for me but I’ll give anything a go! And people like BF inspire me to do that, without feeling like I need to lose weight to be edgy.

For the older woman at the more groomed end of the scale, I actually think Trinny Woodall is a bit edgy. She's tall and thin with a great body shape but she puts clothes together in a pretty unique way. Lots of layers and quirky accessories. She mixes designer with zara with vintage. Her hair is often touselled and windswept. She's not the gothy, urban, young kind of edgy, as per the photos above but she's a version of edgy.

I think most of cool/edgy (as opposed to stylish, beautifully dressed etc.) is about not really giving a shit. So it's always going to be hard to try to look edgy, because that's not an edgy or cool thing to do.

That said, lipstick with no other makeup, whatever cut of trousers is least fashionable and mainstream (never forgetting the power of dungarees), mismatching patterns / colours and / or textures (playing at the edge of looking genuinely crap and ugly), and an insouciant cocky way of standing. A lot of it is to do with how you stand. I agree with others that a big bust is almost impossible to rock as an edgy person. (That woman in the other stories advert looks nice, and sort of alternative in a soft-focus way, but I don't think she looks edgy.) There's something more masculine about edgy.

I say this as someone who doesn't look remotely edgy. I can look like an art teacher, and like a dishevelled and impoverished art teacher. But I can't look cool. I stoop, I lack confidence.

Refusing to abide by clothing norms (in this case a bra) can work. Of course it is easier to do that if you don't really need one.

unusual expensive vintage clothes.
Denim or leather jackets.
Trendy haircut.
Big sunglasses.
Red lipstick.

Very tight clothes for men. Very baggy clothes for women.

I agree @Bagelsandbrie, and I'll happily be the first person to bring Beth Ditto to the thread .

Arianya, the woman in your photo appears to me to be exactly the same shape as these Cecilie Bahnsen dresses, which, as I said above, are so edgy as to provoke actual outrage.

If I ever suggest this type of clothing to a non-thin woman they react with revulsion. All anyone wants is skinny jeans and a nice top, so they’d rather feel annoyed about not suiting that outfit than try something new.

@TottersBlankly I love those dresses but the I'm afraid the idea that they'll look good on someone the same shape as the dress just isn't right. The look works because of the contrast between the voluminous dress and the slim person inside it- the largeness of the dress emphasises the slimness of the wearer. If the person inside fills the whole dress it's a completely different look.

I'm generally completely with you on the idea that one can look cool at any size and age but I'm not sure that's a great example.

But at the right size the person - of any size - won’t fill the dress because they’re cut to be voluminous.