As materialist culture dominates our society, image has never been so important. To the dog we choose, the car we have, how we dress our babies, what pushchair we carry them in, and what we dress ourselves in, everything is about projecting a certain image. Social media has made this seem even more important. As we constantly take photos of ourselves to be shared with our ‘followers’, and ‘friends’, we cannot risk to ever look worse than our best, be seen wearing the same thing, or have anything in the background of our picture that doesn’t enhance your attractiveness. Even the food in the picture has to look stylish. It is easy to see how this world of superficiality and perceived perfection can have a negative effect on our mental health and self-esteem. People try their hardest to look like Instagram models. Our society promotes individualism but not individuality. ‘Being yourself’ now means copying celebrities who dress a bit quirkier than the other celebrities, and once that becomes mainstream, any essence of uniqueness that the style once possessed ceases to exist.
It is more important now than ever before that we try to fight against this kind of obsessive materialism that brings only emptiness into people’s lives. We must truly ‘be ourselves’, not in the trendy ‘non-conforming’ way, but actually decide to take a break from looking in the mirror, and at other people’s mirrors, and look at the natural world around us. We must acknowledge this natural world; the one that we depend on for survival, in order to find our unique place in it. As you search for togetherness, and how everything in the world is connected in some way or another, you will find what truly makes you unique.
If you are looking for your personal style, you must ask yourself this: By using the word, ‘personal’, are you trying to find a particular style of clothing that suits you physically so that you look good to others? Or, are you looking for a way to express your true self because you want the world to know that you are proud of being different? Perhaps it is neither of these, and you aren’t looking to dress for others at all. You just take your belief in authenticity very seriously, and want to dress in a way that is in line with who you are.
I may have travelled quite deep into what could be a light-hearted conversation, but it can be tricky finding your personal style. The first thing to decide is how daring and willing you are to dress outside of the norm, and where you will actually source your clothes from. You may want to make them yourself, if authenticity is so important to you.
If you are looking for a style that suits you, find some staple clothing items you can always go to in your wardrobe knowing you’ll look good, such as Mens Farah Clothes from https://www.louisboyd.co.uk/clothing/brand/farah.html. If you are looking for ideas for personal style, you can buy books on fashion, magazines, or look on pinterest and create a ‘mood board’ with all the styles you like.