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How to Improve Your Style Confidence

How to Improve Your Style Confidence

Photography by Tom Buck

What I’m Wearing

The New County Lightweight Parka – ASOS* (click here)

Longline Oversized Pink Sweatshirt – ASOS* (click here)

Ripped Blue Biker Skinny Jeans – Nid de Guepes (click here)

Sand Chelsea Boots – Nid de Guepes (click here)

Over the past couple of years my confidence has really grown in terms of my style and I think this has had an effect on my self-confidence in every other aspect of my life too. After-all the way someone dresses tells you so much about a person before they even speak. Personal style is a language that we use to communicate with each other and let’s just say I feel like I can speak my own language very well. This doesn’t meant that I think that I dress the best, wear the best clothes or anything like that – it just simply means that I’m comfortable in what I wear and know how to make myself feel like the best version of me.

I’m going to write a little disclaimer to point out that just because I believe I’m confident in the way in the way that I dress – I don’t want this to come across as arrogance (pointed out recently by my good friend Lydia over on her YouTube channel here). I’m the least arrogant person you will ever meet and I believe that everyone is entitled to feeling confident in anything that they do without being labeled as arrogant.

I get a lot of messages and comments from guys that tell me I’ve helped them be more confident in what they wear, which to me is incredible and reminds why I do what I do. So below I’ve listed some tips and steps to that I’ve taken to help me get to where I am today in terms of improving my own style confidence.

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Trademark

This was my breakthrough in terms of being comfortable in my own skin. As I mentioned in my previous post ‘5 Reasons Why I Wear Black‘ I used to wear a lot of prints, colour, crazy accessories etc. This was what I like to call my experimental phase in Personal Style – I didn’t realise it at the time but I was actually experimenting with everything (style-wise aha) I would try new shapes, different colours (heck I even had a cropped jumper at one point!) but after years of going crazy with my style it lead me to the decision that I felt my most comfortable in all black clothing. I made black my ‘thing’ and it still to this day is my trademark.

Once I’d figured out my trademark it boosted my style confidence way up, I knew that I liked wearing black skinny jeans – in my eyes they look good on me, they make me look taller, they make my legs look slim and they went with all my outfits. I feel like Jeans are one of the most difficult items to purchase, you’re going to be wearing them so much that everything about them has to be exactly right.  So my tip to you would be to experiment until you find a ‘trademark’ that you’re proud of, something you feel comfortable and confident wearing. Whether it be blue tapered denim, outgoing jackets or maybe you’re just a sneakerhead. Once you’ve found your ‘thing’ you can begin to build your wardrobe around that and then you’ll know that when you leave the house you’re staying true to your own style.

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Refresh

The first step to improving your Style Confidence. A refresh – this is one of my favourite ways to make myself feel better about my wardrobe, my bedroom and my day to day life. A refresh starts with a clear out – go into your wardrobe and pull out everything you own and sort it into piles of Keep, Sell and Donate. If I haven’t worn an item within the last year I generally donate it to charity because it’s better off helping someone else than sitting at the bottom of my closet. I keep only items that I know I wear daily because those other items that you’re like ‘oh I might wear this one day’ lets face it – you probably won’t.  Be brutal with yourself and sort you wardrobe out properly. It will make you feel so much better in the long run as you’ll be left with pieces that you actually wear everyday and you can think properly about what you’re now missing from your wardrobe.

If at the end of this you’re left with not a lot of clothing then buying new clothes is the next step to improving your style but be cautious and think before you buy. Impulse shopping is one of my big weaknesses and I always end up returning what I bought because I purchased it without thinking. If you see an item you like – take a day to mull it over, think to yourself – will I wear this everyday? is it worth the price tag? does it go with the other pieces in my wardrobe? – if the answer is yes to all of these questions and you’ve slept on the thought of getting it and you still want it – then go ahead and add it to your wardrobe. Well informed wardrobe decision are more beneficial in the long run, I often think about purchases for months until I finally decide to get them. I believe that having a more thought out wardrobe will help your style confidence as you know that what you walk out of the house in was worth waiting for.

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Dressing for the Occasion

Occasions often stump quite a lot of people – the dreaded phrase ‘smart/casual’ (what does it even mean) implies that you can dress within a mix of smart and casual whereas I feel like all of my style is casual – so how the hell do I dress smart? This can lead to a negative effect on your Style Confidence which is not what we want.

Over the years I’ve managed to translate my style into my own versions of smart. I’ve felt so much more confident in my own versions of things for example when I went to my own graduation I wore my platform brogues and a skinny black suit (here haha) and to LCM a couple of seasons ago I wore a Topman suit that had a longline blazer and I wore my Raf Simons Sneakers with it (here) so they were my version of smart and I felt very comfortable in them.

Occasions sometimes throw me off too don’t get me wrong but I feel like my wardrobe is well thought out and well equipped to take any event thrown at me. A Biker jacket can be seen as smart if you wear it with the a white shirt, cropped skinny trousers and brogues. These small quirks and twists of your own personal style often enhance your outfit, make you feel more comfortable and make you stand out in the crowd. So don’t be afraid to mix things up a bit if they make you feel more confident.

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Champion

Another thing that can help you improve your Style Confidence is championing a brand or particular style. Whether it be a new brand that I’ve only just discovered or whether it be an already established brand that I’m proud to be wearing. I don’t tend to wear pieces with logos on them or that scream like they are from a certain brand but for example when I’m wearing a piece from The New County (like I am in the photos from this blog post) I’m proud to be wearing it. It’s a new brand only in it’s second season and I love what they’re doing – I tell everyone I meet about them and it makes me feel like part of the community. Clothing is like armour, it also brings us all together – it doesn’t even matter what brand it’s from – champion your look, champion the colour you’re wearing or champion the style of shoe! Just believe in what you’re wearing and be proud to wear it! (how cheesy is this getting? fml)

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Look after yourself

Finally, if you don’t have time to do a wardrobe refresh or haven’t quite figured out your personal style just yet (have patience it will come soon just keep trying new things!) then here are some easy extra boosts that anyone can do that can make you improve your Style Confidence.

So there you have it! They are my tips on how to boost your Style Confidence – if you have any of your own tips of tricks then please leave a comment below or if you actually do any of these or plan on doing them then again – comment below as I reply to every single comment on here and It’d be great to hear your thoughts on all of this – thanks again for reading my brain vomit – I really do appreciate it.