Should you be wearing a uniform?

The word uniform conjures up images of school assemblies and military dress codes. Literally meaning one form, a uniform is a prescribed set of clothing worn by a group of people to signal their identity.

Standardised and regulated.

When we think of personal style, a uniform is the last thing we think of. Why then is a style uniform the key to having a wardrobe that expresses who you are and works like a dream?

Consumer culture has us believing that being on trend is what makes you stylish. That turning over your wardrobe with the seasons is not only normal but aspirational. Shopping centres, retailers and brands vie for your attention and money with marketing campaigns designed to attract you like a bee to a honey pot.

The latest ‘It’ bag or boots guaranteed to launch you into the style stratosphere. That is, until next season when the boots are no longer considered cool and the cycle starts again.

What you are left with is a wardrobe graveyard.

A haunted closet full of clothes you didn’t actually choose. Ghosts of seasons past, full of promises they were never designed to deliver.

Developing a personal style that expresses who you truly are amongst the shiny lights and urgency of the trend cycle is an impossible feat. The spinning kaleidoscope of colours and styles confuse your identity every season.

You can’t purchase your way to style freedom.

You need to liberate yourself from its trending chains.

When you are in a transition state, your body is changing, your lifestyle is changing, you are changing, it can feel destabilising. Trends and influencers offering outfit inspiration can act as a guide along an otherwise unknown path.

But the truth is, trends can’t tell you who you are or what you need, they can only sell you desire. You have to get to know yourself. No one else can do that for you, despite how good the dopamine feels when you walk out of the shop with the shiny new boots.

Women with exceptional personal style aren’t chasing reinvention. They understand themselves well enough to return to the same themes, colours, silhouettes and ideas again and again, refining rather than replacing.

Artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s monochromatic minimalist style was as iconic as her paintings. In many photographs you see her wearing the same beautiful handmade brooch, time and time again.

Anna Wintour’s outfit formula is as recognisable as her bob and dark sunglasses. Even Iris Apfel’s outrageously eclectic style had a rhythmic consistency and textural certainty that made it unmistakably her.

Style isn’t something you throw away each season.

It is something you inhabit. It is a deep understanding of yourself. Your values, your beliefs and your needs.

Endless dopamine fuelled consumption won’t express the beauty of who you are. Only honesty, bravery and a willingness to truly know yourself can do that.

You have to do the work.

A style uniform is an outfit formula or blueprint that forms the foundation of your wardrobe. It is a look that honours your body, your colouring, your features and your energy. It creates your personal, visual language. It is the formula that you return to over and over again.

It doesn’t cloud, it clarifies.

A style uniform reduces decision fatigue, builds confidence, reduces impulse purchases and most importantly, brings joy and clarity back to your wardrobe.

When your body is changing and your identity is in transition, not only is this a welcome relief, it acts as a stable platform on otherwise shifting sands.

The embodied style practice

This week I want you to identify the outfits you wear on repeat. Ask yourself, what makes me return to these pieces time and time again? Not what you want to be wearing, what you think you should be wearing or what you’ve worn in the past. What pieces you are wearing on repeat now and why.

Maybe you can identify similar fabrics, shapes, colours? Are they dressy, casual, urban, pretty, fabulous? Is it your jewellery? Your shoes?

When I did this exercise myself, one of the key characteristics that came up was comfort. This was something I had to be really honest with myself about. As much as I used to love wearing fitted styles, that was not a reality for me any more. Comfort was key.

This is the time to be really honest with yourself. There is no point building a style around pieces you will never wear. Take your time understanding why you keep returning to these pieces. They may be showing you the foundations of your style uniform.

Style is a living, breathing expression of you. It has nothing to do with trends, fashion rules or standards of beauty. Style is who you are, it’s the way you live your life. Your style uniform should embody that.

Julie x