Following on from my Colour Personality Quiz and the descriptions of how colour choices fit into the six personality dressing styles, I wanted to some frequent thoughts and comments that you may find helpful.
Most Don’t Choose Just One Style or Set of Colours
Going all the comments that all you lovely readers have written, many of you have discovered that you don’t fit neatly into one style, but are a mix of 2 or 3 styles.
You Like the Colours But Not the Styles or Details
You also found that you may like the colours of one personality style, but not the design details. This is what I tend to expect to see. People are not one dimensional, they are each unique, so even if we have some similar personality traits, how we like to express them in our clothing can vary greatly from person to person.
The personality styles are just a guideline to help focus on elements of dress.
A comment I received shows just this mix of different styles that each of us has:
Wow. These are definitely my colors but not many of them are articles of clothing I would wear.Maybe this is the reason I find clothing shopping so difficult. These colors flatter me but the styles do not, and I would never wear them.
Help?
I’d suggest to this reader that she should wear these colours, but choose her design details from other styles. Her jewellery from one style, shapes and fabrics, prints and patterns, structure or formality and design details from others.
I tried with each image set to show some of the design details you might find in a more ‘pure’ form of that style, but you will find that clothing styles come in all sorts of colours.
Understanding the Influence of Your Personality on Your Style
The more you understand about your personality style, and what excites you for each element of dress, the easier it is to shop and put together an outfit that truly reflects who you are. This is why Step 1 of my 7 Steps to Style program is focused on delving deeply into the impact of personality and how you can express your personality through your clothing and accessories.
Remember, just because you may identify with the personality of the Feminine and even like the colours of a Feminine, doesn’t mean you ever have to wear a frill or flounce. You may just choose fabrics that are more floaty, or choose styles that show the female shape, or one of the other many elements of the Feminine personality style of dress.
Why not start a Pinterest board and start finding pictures of clothes that appeal to you. It may be one element – say the drape of the fabric, the pattern, the colour or design details. As you find more and more pictures that entrance you, you will start to see what really appeals to you. Then, when you shop, it will be much easier to know what you’re looking for, and not settle for what is not you. If shopping ends up too hard, you may find that either sewing your clothes or having them made for you is a better option as you can control all the design elements.
Real Life Examples of Mixing Personality Styles
It’s great to look around the net at other bloggers who show their style – don’t try and copy, but you can start to see how different styles are melded together, and how they work for each person.
For example, Audi, at Fashion for Nerds has a strong creative side, but is also often very feminine, and there is almost always an element of drama in her outfits. Here we have mixed patterns (creative) double layered dresses (creative), high contrast colour (dramatic) in a flared dress or two (feminine) and a comfortable shoe (relaxed). And then, of course, there are Audi’s tattoos (rebellious).
Here is Sue from Une Femme – who has a relaxed and elegant chic style. The scarf is in a relaxed fabric (wool) and pattern (check) but has a feminine pink stripe that is also a little dramatic and bold. The boots are fine leather and flat (relaxed, elegant chic) but in black (classic), the jeans are relaxed in style but in a more elegant chic colour of grey. The handbag is an elegant chic crocodile style and texture but in a classic colour. The coat is classic in style and colour, but nubbly textured which makes it more relaxed.
Here are a couple of posts I’ve also written where I explain interpreting personality styles of my outfits – one starring abutterfly topand another with my Picasso print tunic.
So you can see how all different elements of personality styles can be put together to create a style that is uniquely you.
Are you inspired to figure out what is your personal style?
Read About Each of the Colour Personality Dressing Styles
Thanks for this excellent series of posts on colour Imogen – I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
I discovered that my favourites are 1, 3 & 6 – neutral, dramatic & sportive. I find that I prefer the more classic style of dressing and I would rather my accessories were the non-classic elements of my wardrobe.
So now I have more information that will prove very useful as I forge ahead on my attempt to have style!
Thanks
Theresa
Thanks for this great post tying things up! I prefer the dramatic colors that suit my coloring, but I like classic styles and shapes. I love your blog!
This has been SUCH a great series that I know I'm going to refer back to again and again. THANK YOU!
I really enjoyed this topic, too.
I found that I am relaxed/natural/casual with some neutral/classic. Occasionally I burst out into bright colors, but only for parties, and mostly when I was younger.
My challenge is that my style is totally relaxed/natural/casual and yet a-line skirts is what suits my body type best (X with a long rise). Skirts are hard to pull off with the super-comfortable shoes that I require …
Such a useful series, Imogen — I'm playing catch-up here and will have to take time to go over these more carefully. I've recently been thinking about how I'd define my own style — a useful step to refining it, I guess. I have elements of dramatic or creative, and some feminine elements but I like some classic elements (or some balancing restraint, at least). Some useful tools here to help me think this through. Thanks!
Lots of food for thought in this series.
I am fairly certain that I am not a Feminine type (#5) – the only thing here that applied was "the clothes always show off the female form, they tend to have a waisted appearance, never boxy or sack like," but that's due to my body type (with big boobs, I have to wear more fitted clothes in order not to look schlumpy). When I think of wearing something "feminine" it's usually more sexy than girly.
And I'm definitely not a #4 (Eclectic) – though I *love* wearable art-type clothing & jewelry on others, I've always felt like an imposter wearing them myself.
The personality types I relate most to then are Classic (#1) and Sportive (#6), with occasional forays into Dramatic (#3). I definitely relate more to the personality traits of Sportive (social, animated, upbeat, traditional, classy, vivacious) than Relaxed (casual, Unpretentious, approachable, natural, easy-going). I'm certainly Classic in my color choices, favoring browns and grays, with green, plum and turquoise as accent colors.
I tend to dress Sportive for driving my daughter to preschool, and running errands around town. I'm Sportive-leaning-towards-Classic for church board meetings (I'm the treasurer) and at church on Sundays, and I never hesitate to incorporate more Dramatic elements when I go out for dinner, or to parties and some other social events. My Myers-Briggs type is ESTP, so I have no problem dressing to draw attention to myself when I want to. 🙂
I suspect I would be somewhat more Dramatic in my day-to-day wardrobe if I didn't live in such a rural area. It doesn't take much to be Dramatic here – when everyone else is in LL Bean footwear, showing up in 3" heels is practically scandalous.
Hi,
Just wanted to thank you for this series. It really helped me to understand why the message I am trying to convey was starting to feel a little muddled (and sometimes, not even really "me"). Thanks for the assistance in pulling this together.
Excellent series Imogen…Just catching up after a short trip. I'm definitely a blend as well. Neutrals with the occasional pastel colour with really slim-fitting, flowing lines and texture.
Discovered I must have been a nun, or possibly a designer in a past life as everything but the neutrals and a few colours made me feel ill. (Designers seem to wear a lot of neutrals and nuns, black.)
Very terrific series, this should be a book!
Theresa – so glad this has helped you!
Anon – I've seen plenty of classic style clothing in dramatic colours over the years.
Jesslyn – thanks so much.
Anon 2 – can you wear flat boots with your a-line skirts?
Mater – enjoy your journey to finding and refining your style.
ChristineB – there is a lot of confusion about what is feminine – it doesn't have to be girly or sexy. It sounds like you understand pretty well who you are and what you like. Often the dramatic won't care where they live and will just wear those dramatic clothes anyway!
Anon 3 – thanks – glad to get you a little less muddled!
Rosina – yes – natural with a little feminine detail.
Duchesse – thanks so much! You do make me laugh – maybe I should create a whole new personality style called "Nun"!
OK, I finally figured out how to put together a Polyvore set (sort of). I'm not sure what style personality it represents, but I like it. Maybe Imogen (or anyone else who cares to) could comment on it:
http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=17854419
It is coming, it is coming… There seam to be a little gap still between what I like and what I wear.
I admire how far you are trying to get us, and you are not afraid to invite us to work hard on it! The syntesis tou are doing now, the tools you give us, and the archetypal system. I keep thinking if I really read all you posts again and do my homework I 'll have all the tools. But I love reading knew ones all the time. It is inspiring.
After reading the comments I must say "The nun" sounds good to me. I have this in my style: Long, neutral, simple, pure, fluid… In fact I wore religious clothes in a coule of occçasion in my life, a vintage white full of lace kind of shirt, a Tibetan black long dress, a capuccino coat, leather sandals…
I misread the post title as "Color Personality Disorder" at first and was like, "Great, another mental illness I have to worry about!"
Thanks for answering, Imogen. Flat boots with a-line skirts do work, as do comfortable sandals. I have to keep the skirt pretty long for it to look good with comforable (e.g. Naot or Birkenstock) sandals.
I'm learning to sew, hopefully soon I can make my own skirts. And pants too, there's so little out there for long rise people.
– tall & slim anon.
great post. as much as i love your polyvores, sometimes it makes such a difference to see example outfits on real women. thanks!
I'm so honored to be featured here! I loved the series, and this was really a great wrap-up. Even I didn't realize how many different styles I was sporting!
Anon – do what is comfortable, or push yourself a bit. Don't go overboard into a style that's not really you.
WendyB – you crack me up!
Kristen – thanks to all the lovely bloggers who let me use their pictures on this post.
Audi – when I look at your outfits they vary, but I pretty much always see creative, dramatic feminine, sometimes more relaxed, sometimes more rebellious. You have a great sense of personal style.
I went to Polyvore; what fun! I started out just looking for things I thought I might wear. First a dress that looked like a good bet for a person approaching the eighth decade (70). The red in the print led to the rest. I guess it's sort of Classic Sporty. The shoes are a reminder that I need to keep in mind that nothing ruins one's style like a fall, and sore feet show on the face and in the carriage.
http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/profile?id=1503511
I often try to channel my inner Audi when getting dressed. I (used to) need that extra push to break out of my rut.
In other words, wear what you like!
Just read through all the styles and this is the grand finale and it reads to me that in the end,
you wear what you like and the particular combo you come up with makes up YOU!
Now why did none of us just realise that?
I always get the result “relaxed style” when I do these quizes, including yours. It is true that I like to be comfortable and hate anything too dressy, but I would never wear any of the clothes illustrated at all! I like to be fairly feminine, as I have a tall hourglass figure, so tend to go with basics, like dark jeans or trousers, cut in slim styles and a fitted coat, in quite a bright or fashionable colour, even if it is causual and hooded, it needs to look feminine and well cut. I do wear dresses, but they are fitted and usually not patterned, and I wear with low kitten heels or boots and jewellery to look feminine. I am not a dressy, dressy, cruise or wedding style dress up person with glitter or high heels or lots of accessories or prints, but do love to look feminine in a low key, comfortable type of way – I would hate to appear scruffy or unfeminine, even if casual out in the hills!
You must feel that comfort is a very important part of your style – Those jeans and trousers are relaxed in style. There are many ways of being feminine without wearing bling or prints. And remember we are all a combination of styles Relaxed is one part, Feminine is another (and I’m sure there are more).
Thanks Imogen for your thoughtful reply, yes I believe you are right, we are all a mixture of different style types to some degree. I did not mean to be too critical, its just that I am not the checked shirt type and often you read descriptions of “relaxed” as saying we don’t care about our appearance. Well, I do, although not high maintainence at all. Yes, I am part feminine, part elegant chic as well. I would wear most of the tops in that group illustrated, but with jeans on the bottom half, or the bottoms with a plain tee shirt, but not the tops and bottoms together as in the pics, so making them more casual, if that makes sense. Also, would not wear the high heels, and no jewellery if wearing a fancy top, one or the other. In fact I have a skirt, my favourite, like the one in elegant chic pic and trousers like those on the left! I will maybe think about doing a course online with you next year as your advice is invaluable and I still need lots of help! Best wishes for a safe Christmas.
Trisha the joy of personality is that we all get to choose how to do it in our own way – that I love so much! Everyone is a combination – I once did a workshop with two women, both nurses, both Classic, Relaxed and Feminine in their personality – yet how they put together their outfits was so different -and as they said – they would never wear each other’s style! Fascinating to see the variations and options available to us.