How To Create Your Personal Style Keeping Just Five Steps in Mind

By Pam Lutrell –

We are all blank canvases just ready to be painted by a master. That is what is so beautiful about all of us…we are different portraits…not meant to look the same. Personal style and fashion are so much fun for that very reason….it is PERSONAL…Unique to each individual.

At the time of my weight loss this past spring, I did not want to replace the oversized clothes with just anything. I wanted direction, so I gave the question of HOW DO I CREATE PAM STYLE?…much thought. I looked at magazines…considered trends…wrote down things I like and don’t like…but I kept coming back to this: WHAT DID I WANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH MY STYLE?

Every time we get dressed each day, we are sending a message to ourselves as well as the outside world. If I throw on a large oversized T shirt and do not fix my hair or makeup, then the message to me and others is that I don’t care or matter. If I go to the wacky extreme, then I am saying I want attention and do not really feel confident in my skin…though it might appear to the outside world just the opposite.

WHAT DO I WANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH MY STYLE? I decided for me the best way to answer that question was with adjectives and descriptions. I narrowed it down to five…because if I focus on more than five then my style lacks direction, definition and gets, well, schizophrenic again.

Now, when I go into a dressing room I take with me THE OVER50FEELING40 FOUNDATIONAL FIVE…how’s that for naming a plan??  When I try something on, it has to answer all five questions or I don’t buy it!!  Since beginning to shop with this plan three months ago, I am leaving more behind and loving more of what I bring home. I am also testing this with friends and so far the response is great…they love having this type of direction when they shop!!

Because, we are all different canvases, our foundational five will be different. But, here are mine and I am going to spend five posts explaining them further:

1. Strong:  Does the piece give me a feeling of strength…in charge…professional success?
2. Class:  Do I feel classy, chic, dignified?
3. Creative:  Is there a creative touch to what I am doing that is unique to my artsy side?
4. Youthful:  Do I feel “young at heart” in the look in an appropriate manner?
5. Fitted:  Does it fit my body in a fabulous way…not too tight or too big?

You might add any of these to your lists: romantic, trendy, country club, preppy, bohemian….there are a plethora of words that could compose someone’s foundational five. But, I would like to submit to you that if you shop with five goals in mind, then you will begin to define a style of your own. You will also take less clothing to Goodwill and return less to the stores. You will have fewer moments of WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Since I began shopping with this new guidance about two months ago….I have to say I LIKE IT!

Please let me know what you think? What would your foundational five be? What do you want to communicate with your style?

During the 1980s, Pam Lutrell left a thriving public relations career to be a wife and mother. At the age of 47, she began to teach high school journalism and prepare for life at middle age. After a huge wakeup call on her fiftieth birthday, Pam made some significant changes in her life and today has added several awards as a teacher, freelance writer, lifestyle blogger, and public speaker to her resume.  She is having the time of her life with her developing fashion & style blog for middle aged women….women of strength, dignity, and joy!

Blog:  http://over50feeling40.blogspot.com/,  Twitter: Over 50Feeling 40;  Face Book: Over50feeling40; and bloggers for http://www.mysa.com/, The San Antonio Express News.