Your hairstyle and clothes

[Tsukiko]

Forgive me if there's already a thread on this topic, I am sure I've seen one before.
I am about to update some stuff for the season ahead and started thinking about what I like versus what I think works for me personally.

I love oxford shirts, wool or velvet blazers or huge chunky jumpers.
I also love the drapey multilayered look of Japanese styles and baggy barrel trousers, and the type of styles from the Monty Don thread.
BUT!!!! I really don't seem to suit them, aaaagh! I always look best in very simple clothes that aren't too structured but not baggy or wide either. A smart long sleeve tee with decent slim jeans and a long wool coat look great on me. As does a simple black dress. The simpler the better really.

I then realised that it's my hair most of all, far more than my bodytype, which is what a lot of women put most attention on I suppose. But my hair is longish, wavy and blonde, a bit romantic looking I suppose, and anything patterned, boxy, chunky or structured makes my head look out of place
Pretty, flouncy dresses don't work well either as they seem to swallow me whole.

Anyone else noticed this? Does your hair type/style dominate your look? I often think that if i had very straight tidy hair i might get away with more structure, but I don't know. It's interesting to think about! I have heard people discuss clothing and hair length but not so much texture.

Incase this is a bit TLDR - what is your hair like and do you think it influences how you dress?

Hmm, I suppose I see what you mean. But I actually think that the contrast can work well. Say Grace Coddington with her shock of red frizzy hair and her often stark androgynous style. Or Anna Wintour - sleek sharp bob vs floral dresses.

I definitely felt like half my clothes no longer suited me when I had a pixie cut a few years ago. But that's more about dimensions etc - no longer having hair around my shoulders made dresses especially look really different.

It changes my look completely when I straighten my hair, as if it backs off into submission
Maybe it is more than hair, something not so easy to pin down?

Yes, going very short would change things up, i'd probably look like jean seberg but with a different face. Or Mia Farrow, lol.
I still feel deflated about the Monty Don stuff not suiting me. Maybe ive got a little head..

I have a short elfin cut. I tend to wear close fitting tops/ jumpers with straight leg Jeans/trousers. Also like knee length slim fitting dresses.
Today I’m wearing a close fit polo neck jumper and straight jeans.

Cant get away with baggy clothes or wide leg trousers, with a small head and very short hair I would look “all clothes and no hair” 😂

Haha, yes..I feel that I don't possess the necessary gravitas for blazers and shirts. Or workman's dungarees. Shame though.

There are things I would like to wear that I can’t - a crisp white shirt, man’s trousers and brogues - like Annie Hall or Katherine Hepburn - but I’m 5’4” very petite and also very booby and that look does not work on me at all.

Ultimately my style is partly dictated by taste - I love 40s and 60s influenced clothes but more Prada/DvF/Rixo than actual vintage; and partly by my shape and what suits my figure.

My hair doesn’t influence my clothes - partly because it can be curly or straight, up or down, shoulder or more length - but my face does - there’s something about my face that does not suit band t-shirts, slogans, rugby shirts, fleeces, sports gear, scandi minimalism - I tend to look like I’m going to the dentist.

Having short hair can sometimes be not much different from long hair tied back. I've had both, with short hair I've upped my earring game to bring back some balance to my outfits that longer hair would have given me. Not in a Pat Butcher way!

Long live Pat!

I noticed that when I wear my hair in a neat updo I always feel taller and more elegant. I spend most of summer like this as can't stand hair on my neck in heat. Winter I look a bit more feral.

I had short brown hair most of my adult life and didn't ever think about my clothes accordingly. I've now grown my hair (bra strap length), it's completely silver, but I keep it a wacky colour as not ready to embrace the grey completely, and don't feel I can wear patterns or much colour anymore - my style has definitely veered to classic polo jumpers and jeans in blacks, navies and other darks.

Op if you like one style on others, and think another looks great on you personally, , then this simply means in reality you like a certain look on others, but you much prefer and think you look better in something else, as such, this your style preference. Your clothing and hair is a choice.

its not those clothes don’t suit you, you look the same as anyone else in them, it’s just you don’t really like the look of them on you, it’s not your personal style.

That's probably true, hadn't thought of it that way. The last time I tried wide leg trousers and a chunky jumper I felt weirdly untidy and wrong, although other people look elegant and fantastic in them.

I kind of like the lagenlook 'look' too, but it seems to make me look a foot shorter, wider and more like Columbo than I am comfortable with, and again this look is wonderful on others, it makes me sad.

So maybe it is intangible, that sense of feeling like an imposter in certain things. It perhaps comes from an unconscious, fixed perception of ourselves?
My hair has never felt like a choice to be honest, but I see your point!

I don’t agree I think some clothes suit certain body shapes better. I can’t wear wide trousers as I’m small, I look swamped. But they look very good on tall slim people.

Lagenlook style I have discovered looks much better on larger ladies - they fill out the fullness whereas I look like I’m wearing a loose sack.

I think some of my favourite outfits work better when I style my hair wavy/curly vs straight. I don't think anyone would look and say the outfit looked awful with the 'wrong' hair, but the whole vibe feels better when the hair matches.

I'm the same as I don't suit wide leg trousers/ jeans believe me I tried, or bulky jumpers, I'm 5ft2 9 stone so not big, but these styles make me feel large and scruffy,

I suit skinnies and slim tops, but feel unfashionable as everyone seem to be wearing oversize clothing.

Yes your hair is a choice, you can have it any colour, length or style you wish, from dark and very long with extensions to a bright pink Mohawk to short and blonde, it can be straight, it can be curly, . It’s all a choice.

i like certain looks. Flowy Dresses and boots, but don’t like it on me. But I wear a lot of fitted tops and bias cut midi skirts, I’m tall, my friend is short, loves the look, she is short, she thinks she can’t wear it, she can, she just needs to buy the petite version , plenty do . She thinks she looks daft. She doesn’t. The reality is it’s not her preference on her, she prefers other
styles

we all wear what we think we look best in, we don’t really look any different to any one else in the styles we think we like, we just find we don’t really like it in reality.

I've often found myself a bit lost if I am honest, over the years.
I have a fairly definite sense of self in most other areas, but have never truly felt that I have known what suits me best.

I know that I suit pale, whispery pastels such as baby pink and blue, soft mint, beige and pale grey, but this works much better in summer. Apart from navy, white and grey, I am a bit lost in winter, and many darker, sumptuous, seasonal colours seem to fade me out. I once had a beautiful dark charcoal cashmere jumper, and no matter how healthy/radiant I may have looked that day I would immediately look ashen and drab when I put it on.

When I wear mint and pale pink my skin, eyes and hair just seem to come alive, they really flatter my skin tone.

Simple things work best for me, I am prone to overthinking clothes (which is nice sometimes!) but don't like high maintenance in reality.

I also never felt comfortable in skinny jeans or trousers

I think haircuts and hairstyles can massively change the way people look overall. Maybe a certain style gives you a certain confidence? Or lack of confidence? Or highlights androgynous look? Or feminine look? Or as pp said contrast? Otherwise we wouldn't have threads on here where people have been traumatised by the hairdressers?

So, what I mean is, hairstyles play a dominant part in overall look. People can look fatter or thinner even.

Interesting! I have long ish naturally wavy/curly hair and have been experimenting with wearing au natural/curly girl method.
In summer it looks fine- I get away with it and go for more of a boho look.
If wear jeans/cords jumpers in the winter and it just looks like I've got out of bed and not done my hair. The frizz looks chaotic and I feel disheveled. Can't quite pull it off.

As someone with somewhat wild, wavy hair that has a mind of it's own, I always have to wear it up in summer, brushed out and in a twist, as the mass of it makes me feel too hot around my neck and shoulders. It also suits being up in summer as i wear lower necklines and more delicate fabrics, and it's nice to lift off the neck to show them.

In winter I wear it loose more as the rain and outside moisture is kinder to it than our indoor, chlorine heavy water pipes!
I agree that it can add a 'noisy' feel to outfits though, which is why I think I like to keep it sleek and simple - the hair speaks!

I have curls (and never straighten). I struggle with patterns - as pattern + curl feels overwhelming. Just too much going on.

I also struggle with fussy necklines/shoulders. Not sure if that is my body shape (wide shoulders/reasonable sized boobs) or again the hair.

In my experience, ABSOLUTELY.

I had a buzz cut for 30 years, then randomly decided to grow it out during the pandemic. Complete disaster. The bob I finally achieved made me look like a million other middle-aged ladies.

3 YEARS of bad hair days, and not feeling like myself, because it had been kind of my "thing", and, honestly, a jumpstart to a look.

I spent waaaay more time and money on trying to do my hair in those 3 years than I had in the previous 30. I don't have good hair - it's toddler-like, fine, not curly but crazy, and then I had wiry greys mixed in with that. I had sharp haircuts! They just .... blew up the minute I walked outside, lol.

I'm petite, with small features, and a close crop works really well with my minimalist (lots of black) style. That granny bob made everything look sloppy and less considered. I shaved it all off again, and my "plain" style - with a red lip, and statement jewelry works again.

Hair definitely makes a difference. I have some outfits that just don't look right unless I style my hair in a particular way.

When I wear mint and pale pink my skin, eyes and hair just seem to come alive, they really flatter my skin tone.

Try pale jade. It looks at a glance like mint, but it isn't and is more silvery. Pairs well with silver and also with dark sea green. Which looks like navy until you put it next to something that actually is and then you can see the difference, the teal undertones. It's not teal though, it's far too navy for that. It's even sold as being navy sometimes. Then you receive it and find the things that match with navy just don't look quite right (with dark sea green) and it's only when you figure out the item isn't navy that you realise why.

I find the pale jade and dark sea green nice colours for winter. They make me think of ice.

I have hair as you describe op

I do find it difficult to look neat, unless my hair is pinned up, or straightened