The Personal Style Edit: Five Lessons in Finding Your Aesthetic Without Taking a Quiz

I have a confession about my wardrobe, and it is that I can lose approximately forty minutes on a Sunday evening standing in front of an open closet, asking it what I am. The shirt I keep reaching for, the shoe I keep resoling, the one coat I defend in every argument. I have no shame about any of it.

 

But somewhere between the quizzes, the color seasons and the fashion styles that now arrive with their own hashtags, personal style has gotten a little exhausting. We are told to find one signature look and also to keep our options open. We are told to be authentic and also to know what is trending. Everyone seems to be googling what is my aesthetic as if the answer were a personality test result instead of a closet.

 

Which brings me to 1985, when Donna Karan launched her Seven Easy Pieces: a bodysuit, a tailored jacket, a skirt, pants, a cashmere sweater, a leather jacket and an evening look. They were meant to carry a woman from day to night and from home to office, and Karan described the idea herself as a system of dressing built on a handful of flexible, interchangeable items. I love how unbothered that is. Seven pieces, and a whole life.

 

Some of what I read while researching this made me feel organized. Some of it made me feel very seen in a mirror. And some of it made me want to lie on the floor under a pile of cashmere.

 

So, here are five lessons on finding your own look, in the order I would work through them, from the pieces you already love to the tailor you should probably call. If you want to keep going, The Coquette Style Edit: Five Lessons in Wearing Bows Like a Grown Up is the one I would read next. I went deeper on a related idea in The Grunge Style Edit: Five Lessons From Seattle, Circa 1992.

Before you buy anything, pull out the three pieces you reach for most and ask what they have in common. That is the whole of how to find your style, and it takes about as long as a cup of coffee. Karan built her 1985 system around a bodysuit because, as one museum account puts it, she spent much of her at-home time in leotards and added a skirt and scarf to go out. Her personal style began with what she already lived in.

 

These eight pieces are that idea in its most wearable form. The Comme Si La Classica silk-charmeuse shirt in cream is the dressy-but-not-fussy one, and Agolde's Morgan jeans in dark denim are the straight-leg answer to nearly every Saturday. Toteme's oversized cotton trench in beige and the Almada Yara sweater in camel handle the layering, while Comme des Garcons pleated wide-leg pants bring a little architecture. Flore Flore's Steffi ribbed tee is the black base layer, and The Frankie Shop Gaia coat is the one for days with serious weather.

 

Try this test: lay your most-worn pieces on the bed and take a photo. If they are all loose and dark, or all cream and soft, you have your answer already, and it is also faster than any quiz.

 

What I would skip: anything that only works with one other thing you own. Although a scarf-detailed blazer like Toteme's does have a way of making the rest of the closet behave.

Color is the fastest edit there is. For a long stretch in the 1980s, as GQ tells it, knowing your colors was as common as knowing your star sign, and the idea behind Color Me Beautiful was that skin, hair and eye combinations match a palette named for a season. I do not need a stranger to drape me in fabric to know I get compliments in warm neutrals, and I suspect you already know your version too.

 

This palette is mine: camel, cream and brown, in knits you can pile on. The Staud Hudson striped cashmere turtleneck in brown and the Allude striped cardigan in beige are the pair I would wear together within approximately four seconds of getting dressed. The Allude camel cashmere sweater, the Loulou de Saison Anzor in ivory and the Frame Gathered Honeycomb in cream give you soft, quiet tones that sit well beside each other. The Citizens of Humanity Simone polo in brown is the collared one for the office.

 

The practical test: stand by a window in daylight, hold each sweater under your chin and look at your face, not the sweater. The right color makes your skin look rested. The wrong one makes you look like you are about to apologize.

 

Then add the Gucci Bombshell 85 suede knee boots in dark brown, or the Le Monde Beryl Luna suede flats, to finish the story in one tone.

 

What I would skip: a color you love on a hanger but never on yourself. Although a good scarf can negotiate, it usually loses.

Ask any of the fashion styles you admire what its shoe is, and you will get a very fast answer. A penny loafer is one personality, a ballet flat another, a patent pump a third. Susie Faux, who owned the London boutique Wardrobe, revived the term capsule wardrobe in the 1970s for a few essentials that do not go out of fashion, and the shoes are where those essentials show their nerve.

 

For the loafer person, Our Legacy's Cypher penny loafer in black is the sharp one and Church's Shelby in tan is the classic, with a long English-shoemaking reputation behind it. For the ballet flat person, Acne Studios' lace-up silver flat is quietly odd, and Alaia's Criss Cross calf-hair flat in burgundy is the one people ask about. Paris Texas's Jane ankle boot and Le Monde Beryl's Carole 30 suede boot cover the days that need an edge. Gianvito Rossi's Margot 70 slingbacks in black and the Gianvito 55 patent pumps in red are the evening answer.

 

Do this: line up your shoes by the door and pick the pair you walk fastest in. That is the pair your clothes should be designed around.

 

What I would skip: a shoe you only love sitting down. Although a red patent pump has been known to talk a person into standing.

Carolina Herrera told Vogue in 1987 that she prefers clothes that are simple and well cut, with one major extravagance. Her signature is a crisp white shirt, often turned back at the cuffs. That is a masterclass in personal style: one repeated gesture, and the rest of the room fills in the story.

 

The signature does not have to be a shirt. Here it could be a bag, a cuff, a scarf or a watch. The Row Alma Baguette in mustard is the loud one, the Khaite Joan small shoulder bag in burgundy is the moody one, and the Loewe Whisker in black is the sculptural one. The Suzanne Kalan and Mizuki gold diamond cuffs are the kind of thing that gets noticed on the wrist during a handshake. The Burberry printed silk-twill scarf in brown and the Gucci Flora scarf in navy can go on a neck, a bag handle or a ponytail. The Stephanie Windsor vintage 1990s Tubogas watch in gold is the one for people who like their jewelry to have lived a little.

 

Try this: choose one piece and wear it five days in a row with five different outfits. If you feel more like yourself by Thursday, you have found it.

 

What I would skip: more than one extravagance at once. Although Herrera herself would probably allow a second, if it was a sleeve.

Every list on how to dress for your body type gets to the same place eventually, and it is not a rule about proportions. It is a tailor. Vogue asked tailor Erin Hogan-Braker about denim, and she said that once your clothes fit really well, you never look back. Her advice for jeans is lovely and practical: they should fit comfortably over your largest body part, and the rest can be taken in.

 

That is the thinking behind this last set. Maria McManus's wool-blend fresco wide-leg pants in beige, Gabriela Hearst's Norman herringbone pants in gray and Max Mara's Pergola tapered pants in dark brown are all cuts where a hem or a waist adjustment changes everything. Dries Van Noten's wool-felt blazer and the Comme des Garcons crepe blazer, both in black, are made for shortened sleeves. Gabriela Hearst's Freddie midi skirt in gray hangs best when the length is right for your shoe. Nili Lotan's Gaia silk crepe shirt in black and Polo Ralph Lauren's embroidered Oxford in blue need only a nip at the waist.

 

The test: put on the garment with the shoes you will really wear, stand in front of a mirror, and look at the shoulders, the sleeve ends and the hem. If any of the three looks accidental, mark it with a pin.

 

A related fact from Vogue is that letting a piece out is as possible as taking it in, because tailors add panels, and the panel fabric has to match the original.

 

What I would skip: a garment where the shoulder is wrong in the fitting room. Although almost everything else can be argued with.

Five lessons in, here is what I believe: personal style is not a destination you reach, it is a habit you notice. It is the shirt you keep wearing, the color you keep reaching for, the shoe you walk fast in and the one piece you would defend in court. I went deeper on a related idea in The Boho Style Edit: Five Lessons From a Marrakech Rooftop and a Few Clogs.

 

I will still be tempted, naturally. Some Tuesday a trend will arrive that looks nothing like me, and I will stand in front of it with my coat on, thinking about it for approximately nine minutes.

 

But Karan had seven pieces and a whole system, and Herrera had one white shirt. I think that is permission to keep it simple, and to let the closet answer when it is asked.