A Style POV: Trends

Can't live with them, can't live without them!

Hi Readers,

I know this newsletter is going out late today — I’ve been traveling and wrapping up with client work and had planned to finalize and release this before my overseas flight but time caught up with me so thank you for your patience.

Today we’re talking about…TRENDS!

It was voted by all of you in this newsletter poll as one of two topics to cover this month so thank you so much for your input.

As mentioned in the poll, this will be less about “what’s in” vs “out” and more from the POV of personal style and how to discern when to adopt or opt out of trends.

When working with clients, it’s important for me to take the time to understand their pain points but also their style goals. How do they want to look, but more importantly - how do they want to feel, everyday?

When it comes to trends, the most common themes I hear from my clients are:

• they “don’t care about trends but still want to feel trendy”

• they do care about trends but tend to get overwhelmed by all the choices and constant turnover of trends that it leads to analysis paralysis

  OR

• they don’t know which ones actually feel like them so they end up impulse shopping themselves into trying them all :)

When I dive in deeper with my clients, I typically find that the majority - like so many of us - actually just want to feel modern. Relevant. Not so much to others, but to themselves. So when they say they want to feel “trendy”, it’s more so that they want their style to reflect their current sense of self and the life around them, not a version of the past.

Trends naturally play into this feeling as over time, our tastes and preferences change. A lot of this can be fueled by what we observe in how others dress and present themselves, but also that internal nagging feeling in ourselves. After all, what we admire in others is a projection of what we want for ourselves and if we are dressing in a way that reflects an old version of self, our style will naturally feel disconnected.

Before I continue, I want to say that I believe there is a difference between being “trendy” and being stylish/relevant/modern. The former has more to do with outward perception being a key influence while the latter has more to do with internal feeling being the key influence.

Taking a visual example (without knowing what each of these peoples’ individual personal style is) - The examples on the left seem more trendy in that they are wearing multiple trends at once (skinny square sunglasses, Miu-Miu inspired mini skirts, tiger sneakers) and the fact that they actually all are styling it in very similar ways. Now take the same “trending” sneaker and how they are worn on the examples on the right. Yes, you could argue that they still look trendy but it feels more like they are using the sneaker to express an innate aspect of their personal style (the simple black and grey sweater look, the everyday trench). Both sets are trendy but the ones on the right feel like a stronger personal POV.

The fun of fashion is not overthinking it and just having fun, right? Being ok with trying new things and learning if they work for you. So why does it feel so hard sometimes? The challenge can come from when you either:

• Consume and adopt too many trends, causing your own personal view to get muddied. The way you get to know our personal style is through consistency and iteration. This can be hard if you are constantly rotating new trends and pieces into your closet every month.

• When you want to feel trendy or relevant while simultaneously not caring about all the trends, how do you sift through the noise and thoughtfully adopt trends with intention and personal resonance?

I tend to filter everything through this trend lens:

If my answer is YES for the first two, I know it’s one that is aligned with my personal style, or the evolution of my personal style. If my answer is YES for the last one (Creativity), it’s one that I feel is worth exploring to help refine my POV further and from there determine whether to adopt or opt out.

Notice how I don’t filter through this:

This is a typical trend wave which follows an Introduction - Rise - Peak - Decline - Obsolescence. I never speak about trends in this way as it doesn’t factor in the “personal” element that’s the most important of all!

I see a lot of questions such as:

“I really love this piece…but does it feel dated?”

“I’m looking at purchases this item…but is it going out of style? Should I just skip it all together and move on?”

“I’m trying to decide between these two things - which one feels like it will stay in trend longer?”

The questions above tend to take into consideration the traditional trend curve, or what is perceived as being “acceptable” or relevant by others. If they were to filter through my trend lens, the only person they would need acceptance from is themselves!

I think things can feel dated when:

• They weren’t really your style to begin with — you purchased it because it was trending without really thinking if it spoke to your style. That’s why they don’t feel good when you wear it because it feels far removed from the style you actually want. If you truly loved something, it’d feel like an extension of yourself and you’d wear it no matter what anyone else thinks!

• They are out of sync with your current self and how you want to feel. Sometimes, it’s not the actual item that is dated but how you feel in that item that is misaligned with how you want to express yourself. Style is always a sum-of-all-the-parts. It’s helpful to know which elements still resonate with you and which need to evolve or be combined in a fresh new way through new ideas or trends.

When it comes to trends, I recommend taking the time to understand the motivation behind why you like something within a trend and which parts speak to your style, and which parts don’t. This can help you filter, pivot, and apply only the aspects that resonate so you purchase with more intention and wear them in a way that feels authentic to you!

Here’s some tips for navigating trends as it relates to personal style + some of my own examples -