Discover Your Style
“To uncover your personal preferences, you first need to do a fair bit of experimenting.”
This advice comes from Anuschka Rees in her book, The Curated Closet. The word “uncover” is active and bold. It suggests courage and strength, and a willingness to be surprised. “Experimenting” tells us we must try. It suggest things will get messy. Like the end of a winter Saturday afternoon when I was standing in a pile of clothes— skirts and pants and T-shirts—that I personally preferred but that no longer preferred me.
“If I were a little more….”
“If I were a little less….”
“If I could just…” I said, bartering with what was crumpled at my feet.
“It’s not your fault these clothes don’t fit,” my husband Jesse says, handing me a bag to put what I wished to keep inside of it.
This will be an experiment in not keeping; in letting go. It will be an experiment in uncovering a style from what I can no longer hold on to.
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Synonyms I personally prefer for “try”
- fling—the clothes no longer wearable on the floor
- struggle—to walk in high heels
- crack—open what it is I’m keeping safe; what it is I’m keeping
- essay—on my desk, a giant question, waiting
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“If this is too much,” Anuschka writes, “try this.”
For example, let’s say you want to try a leopard print. Pants, a shirt, shoes, and a headband could feel like too much once you see yourself, and upon reflection think, “No, no. I’m not the LSU women’s basketball coach. No, no. I have not been asked to try out for a reality show.”
No need to stress out, just try one item at a time. The headband could be cute with a white T-shirt and black jeans. And unless you are going to help coach the LSU women’s basketball team, I think you should get rid of the pants.
I wore my leopard print flats with a hot pink skirt, and a navy sweater with a hot pink flamingo—its eye a fake diamond—on the first 74 degree day we had in Michigan. It is 30 degrees and then it is not. The wind is a steel blade and then it is a butterfly delightfully figuring out her wings. The day it is 74 is also a day we’re under a tornado watch. In the morning though, the weather is soft, the sun glows orange through the cracks in grey clouds. It is as if the weather has no idea what she is capable of.
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The difference between a watch and a warning:
A watch means the conditions are right to, let’s say, wear a bathing suit. The sun is out, the pool is open, sunscreen is on sale at Target, Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” is on repeat on the radio.
A warning means it’s happening. You’ve put the bathing suit on.
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Feeling out of your comfort zone has nothing to do with your personal style, and everything to do with your confidence levels.”
—Anuschka Rees, The Curated Closet
Synonyms for “confidence”:
- courage—I put on a larger size; see the beauty in what remains
- daring—I show the picture of the haircut I’ve wanted and I say, “Do it.” “Shorter, shorter,” I say and scissors snip and my hair falls to the floor
- pluck—I take the Zumba class—the one where the instructor turns the lights off and turns the disco balls on—the one where I dance in sparkles
- spunk—I wear Converse with dress pants; a graphic tee with a blazer. I luxuriate in the paradoxes of my life. I tell myself not to be afraid of what’s changing. I try to relish in it. I see what I can do with what I have—with what I have become—with what I am becoming.
Try It: What to Keep Prompt
This week, try your hand at a Hermit Crab essay about what to keep or what to let go of, regarding your life or personal style. Alternately, write a poem using the Hermit Crab essay technique of hiding one meaning within another.
What’s a Hermit Crab Essay?
Photo by Travel Local, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen.
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Bethany says
Great piece, Callie. “The day it is 74 is also a day we’re under a tornado watch. In the morning though, the weather is soft, the sun glows orange through the cracks in grey clouds. It is as if the weather has no idea what she is capable of.”