Show Notes

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  Style Workshop: This hands-on workshop helps you define your core style. It's FREE for Seamwork members and just $10 if you aren't a member.


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Podcast Transcript

Sarai
I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio. Welcome back to Seamwork Radio, where we share practical ideas for building a creative process so you can sew with intention and joy.

Today we're talking about style signatures, so we're going to cover what style signatures are, how they can help you better define your personal style, how to come up with your own style signatures, and then how to deploy them in your wardrobe.

All right, so our icebreaker to start us off today. Haley, when you were younger, did you have a signature garment or item that you wore all the time?

Haley
Well, yes, I think I've gone through phases with things like this where there were things I was really fixated on. At one point, it was really short dresses and opaque tights, which I can still get behind, honestly.

At another point, I was really in, this is, like in the twee era. I was in my early twenties, and I just could not get enough really fitted bodices and fuller skirts. And I had this one pattern that I would make over and over again, but I had this Ziploc baggie of pattern pieces with variations, different collars, different necklines, a princess seam variation, just keyholes like buttons. And I just hacked this pattern to smithereens. I think that by the time I had tired myself of this pattern, I probably had hacked, like, at least a dozen variations in bodices and skirts that I could mix and match, which I think became part of the obsession because I fit it perfectly to my body.

And I was like, why would I sew anything else when I can make infinite number of dresses from this pattern?

Sarai
That sounds really fun, actually.

Haley
It was really fun.

Sarai
It's fun to have those patterns that you can just keep making over and over and you know it's going to work.

Haley
And it fit my lifestyle at the time. I was living in LA, it's basically the same weather all year round, so I could get away with that in this winter. I just put a cardigan on.

Sarai
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I was down in LA over this. We had an ice storm here in Oregon, and I was luckily down in LA for it. And I couldn't get home because of the ice. I couldn't fly home, so I was stuck in LA for a week. Stuck? It was amazing. It was like 65 degrees. I went to the beach. I was, like, walking around, drinking smoothies, wearing sandals. And then Kenn was texting me pictures from back home, and he could not even leave the house without falling on his face.

Haley
That's how it was for us, yeah.

Sarai
It was really bad here, and you couldn't drive anywhere. Everybody was stuck in their homes, and I'm just walking around texting him pictures from the beach.

Haley
Drinking a really great smoothie right now. Keep that to yourself, Sarai.

Sarai
A little bit of a tangent, but, yeah.

Haley
My life was easy on the constraints. I worked retail and teaching, so it worked. I don't know if I could lean into, like, a Flintstones wardrobe in the same way anymore.

Sarai
Yeah, I can. In some ways, I definitely have those things that I like to wear over and over now, but maybe not like that.

I think, for me. So when I first read this question, I was thinking, like, as a child, and I just wore a lot of hand me downs as a child, so I don't know that I had a style signature when I was a child. My sister did, though. My sister, for some reason, she was really into animal prints when she was little, and she had, like, an entire drawer that was just all hand me down animal print stuff. So it was, like, leopard print and cheetah print and zebra print, and she would mix and match them and just wear, like, animal print on animal print every day. And it was pretty hilarious. I mean, she looked pretty adorable.

Haley
What age are we talking here?

Sarai
We're talking, like, five or six, maybe, like a little kid. Very cute. I don't know why she was so into animal print or if it was just that happened to be what she was given and she took to it, I guess. I don't know. It was pretty funny, though.

For me, I think when I was a little older, like, when I was a teenager, I definitely had some style signatures. It was like, when I was a teenager, it was the 90s. I wore a lot of dresses with sneakers, which was kind of a thing there. It's a thing now, too. It looks a little bit more chic now. I would wear, like, vans with I had this dress that I got at, I think, Urban outfitters used to sell back in the 90s. They used to have, like, vintage that they would sell, and it was this vintage nylon see through dress, like those nylon blouses from the 50s. But it was a dress, and I had dyed it to, like, a reddish pinkish color. And then I would wear it over a slip, and then I would wear vans with it. That was, like, one of my signature looks when I was probably, like, 14 or 15, I had a very 90s look, for sure.

Haley
I went through a slip phase at one point.

Sarai
Oh, yeah, slips as clothing was a big thing for me through high school and maybe even a little bit beyond that was definitely another signature. I wore a lot of black. I definitely did the cat eye eye makeup. I think I went through a lot of style signatures when I was young.

Haley
I think it's really interesting, though, to look back on those and think about what elements of them you pull from to this day.

Sarai
Definitely. I think some of the things that I wore back then I would not wear now. But a lot of them, I feel like, inform my style even today, like lingerie, as I don't literally go to the thrift store and buy nylon slips and wear them as dresses anymore. But I love the look of a slip dress still to this day, absolutely love slip dresses or a slip skirt. I think they're just so pretty, and I love silky fabrics. So a lot of those things still come in.

Haley
Yeah. For me, I feel like I've always liked mixing kind of like classic things, and classic has meant different things to me at different points in my life with very playful things. And that's pretty consistent across the decades.

Sarai
Yeah. Well, if you have an icebreaker for us for a future episode, any kind of question you want us to lead with on an episode, you can leave it for us. If you're a Seamwork member, just go to Seamwork.com/go/icebreakers and that'll take you to a thread on our community where you can leave your question.

All right, so let's talk about style signatures. So finding and maintaining your core style, the style that is really core to you, is always a work in progress. I know it is for me.

Today we're going to talk about the idea of style signatures as a tool for helping you to bring your style from concept to reality. So this is a tool that brands and stylists use to build consistency and recognition over time.

But today, we're going to show you how you can use this industry trick to help you bring your style to life.

So, Haley, do you want to tell us a little bit about style signatures and what they are?

Haley
Yeah, definitely. So style signatures are built off of the concept of your core style identity. If you haven't already explored your style identity, we always recommend distilling your core style down to three to five words. We say three to five because I think it's really most easy to remember. I can't remember, honestly more than three words. I think three is really the sweet spot. But maybe you're more complex than me and have a better memory than me.

This is something that we do in our Style Workshop. And that is just a really great little workshop that we run that helps you to explore your style more deeply. We'll link it in the show notes. If you are interested in taking that, if you haven't already, it is free to members.

Style signatures are elements and themes that show up in your personal style time and time again. So they're kind of these visual cues that embody your core style words. So they can be colors, they can be fabric types, they can be design details, they can be silhouettes. They can even be accessories or, like, make-up elements—Sarai mentioned a cat eye, hat you can layer in to your looks day to day to bring your personal style, those core style words, to life.

Haley
Sarai.

Sarai
Yes.

Haley
Tell me, what are some of your style signatures today?

Sarai
I would say my style signatures today would be, actually, we just talked about lingerie-inspired details. Slip dresses are still something that when the weather permits. That is definitely one of my go to's, and I would say that's become a style signature.

I think as far as colors, lots of neutrals, and then a lot of blue and pink, those would be kind of my signature colors with some red thrown in. But mostly I wear a lot of blue. I wear a lot of pink, a lot of denim, in addition to a lot of black and a lot of white. So those are definitely like my color signatures.

In terms of silhouettes, anything kind of slinky, but also big sweaters. I like texture a lot. I would say that's another signature of mine.

And then thinking beyond even clothing, I think my long hair, for example, is kind of a style signature. I don't change it. It's something that's just kind of, like, part of my style. And I feel like it does influence what I wear as well. And it kind of changes the look of what I wear. It makes anything look a little bit more romantic, just having long, wavy hair.

So I feel like that's a style signature, too. What about you?

Haley
I would say that some of my style signatures include denim. Not just jeans, although I do love jeans, but denim shirts, denim jackets, denim outerwear, just kind of denim everything. I think that really brings one of my core words, which is classic, to life.

I like things that are loose, a little bit undone when it comes to their structure. Relaxed fit is really a big thing for me. I don't like things to feel fussy, and I find that making sure that I'm sewing and choosing fits that reflect that, a little bit less tailored help me to bring that to life really well.

Another signature, I would say, is pops of color. I feel like sometimes when I look at an outfit and I feel like it's maybe like a little too serious, then I like bringing a playful element when it comes to color, like wearing a pink fanny pack or like a bright green cardigan or layering in something like that.

I agree that I also have elements of my everyday, just like styling that also are style signatures. Like glasses. I wear glasses. I think it just gives me quirky girl vibes.

I have bangs. I'm a bangs girl. Also layers that in. So I think it's kind of helpful to think of those things, too, that are just kind of static to your image as well and how those play into tilting the things you wear one way or another.

Sarai
I think also, for me, details in my clothing, I don't know if I would call them a signature necessarily, but something I'm definitely really drawn to. You mentioned fussiness, and I kind of like a little bit of fussiness in my clothing. I like those little details, little romantic touches to things.

Haley
Yeah, definitely. I would say that's a signature of yours, for sure.

Sarai
Yeah. Especially paired with, like, a more minimalist color palette. It works really well for me.

Haley
Why do you think that signatures are such a great companion to core style?

Sarai
Well, I think they kind of offer some constraints for you, some ways to express it in a way that's very, very tangible. And I think it's kind of like a picture is worth 1000 words mean different things to different people. So having those concrete style signatures helps you to be more specific with your style.

For example, if your style word is, you mentioned the word classic, for example. So what does that look like visually? Because that looks different to different people. When we ask our members their style words, a lot of them say classic. But then when you think about what that means, it's actually different for different people. So it could be really tailored details and a neutral color palette for one person and for somebody else, it could mean jeans and a T-shirt. That's also really classic.

So understanding how you're going to, in a really concrete way, how you're going to express those words with the actual things that you wear, I think really, really helps to kind of conceptualize your core style in a way that's actionable for you.

Haley
I agree. I think it helps us to visualize these words that can feel really abstract in a lot of ways. I think the other thing that's really great about it is that it offers this kind of central point to play around. You have these style signatures, and you can kind of, like, do your design dance around those things and still have fun and play and try some different things while still keeping elements of your personal style really true to you. If you lean into those style signatures.

Sarai
Yeah. It helps you to feel more like you.

Haley
Yeah, totally. And it's nice to have that kind of North Star when you're selecting projects and designing your upcoming sewing, or even when you're just packing for a weekend getaway.

Sarai
And I think even just from an external point of view, I think that consistency of style shows a trueness to yourself, that you know how to express yourself in a way that is true to who you are versus just wearing the latest fashion trends.

I think people can look fashionable without looking stylish, and I think if you have a consistency to your style that really reflects who you are, that's really where style comes from.

Haley
I totally agree. I think that's such a great point.

Sarai
Well, let's talk about a process for finding some style signatures.

So the first step to doing that is, if you haven't already, to find those core style words. So those three to five words that you think really describe your style.

And maybe you know what these words are already. Maybe you just need to pick those words. But if not, and you need a little help or you want to get some jumping off points for this. The Style Workshop is something that can help you with that. And again, it's free for Seamwork members.

It has ten exercises that you go through as you do it. So the workshop itself is an hour. Most of those exercises can be done in that time, within that hour. It's really fun. It's got all these little worksheets that you just fill out as you go along. And the whole point is to go through them very quickly, and it'll help you kind of hone down what that core style is for you and to put it into those style words. So check it out if you're interested in that.

But if you just already know or you think you can come up with these pretty easily, that's the first step is just figuring out what those words are from there.

Haley
What you're going to want to do is you're going to want to brainstorm a few words or phrases around each style word.

Think about the fabrics, the prints, the colors, garments, silhouettes, even accessories that you associate with that core style word.
It's nice to have at least one color, one garment, one silhouette, et cetera, for each word at this point. Because what we're looking for is a really big pool of signatures that we can kind of pull from this.

Sarai
Actually, as we're going through this, it makes me think this would be a really fun workshop to do. To put together after Style Workshop is to come up with these, because I think this would be really fun to do in a group setting, too.

All right, so once you have those, so you've got your core style words, you've brainstormed a few things around each of those core style words around fabric, print, color, silhouettes, those kinds of things that you associate with them.

The next one is to circle your favorites. So you might want to try mixing from different categories. So, for example, we talked about things like color, we talked about silhouettes, things like that. So try to circle a few different ones from different categories. So it's not all just colors. That way you'll have a nice balance, a nice mix of things to choose from.

Haley
So once you've circled your favorites, we want to hone it down even more. And this is where your day to day life, your kind of constraints are going to come into the mix.

Thinking of your comfort level with wearing these different things. For instance, if one of the words is red, but honestly, you just don't feel that great when you wear the color red, maybe that's not the style signature for you. So relooking at that list of words with the lens of what you feel good in and picking your top three to five style signatures is our next step.

It's really important that these signatures are very wearable for you and something you can see yourself incorporating on a daily or weekly basis, or else they're not substantial enough to be signatures for you.

Sarai
That's a really good point. I think it's important that this whole process is designed to make this really realistic and helpful for you in your actual life.

Haley
And I would say that if you're in a place in your life where maybe you see a little bit of a style pivot going on, maybe make just one of those style signatures aspirational, one of those things, something that you don't know if you're totally comfortable with yet, but would like to start incorporating, try and limit that to maybe just one because you can always update this down the line.

Sarai
So once you've got those, the next step is to use those style signatures and use them as criteria to really help you make good choices.

You can use them in so many ways. You can use them when you're picking out fabric. So, for example, I mentioned some of my signature colors other than neutrals are pink and blue. And so if I'm looking at fabric and I see a really beautiful print that I like, and it comes in blue and it comes in green and it comes in purple, I'm going to choose the blue because I know that's something that is true to me and it's something that I'm going to wear a lot.

Now, I'm not necessarily married to it. Like, I can never wear any other colors, but it just helps me make those choices.

You can also use it when you're selecting a pattern. So when you're choosing between different silhouettes, that can be really, really helpful. And when you're deciding just what you want to sew next, even those kinds of choices, having those style signatures can really help you just make those day to day choices as well.

Haley
Yeah. In addition to those big picture kind of planning moments, you also can incorporate your style signatures into your day to day life.

For instance, for me, when I'm getting dressed, if an outfit or a piece of clothing doesn't really quite feel like it's totally me, then that's a time where I start incorporating some of my style signatures.

So earlier in the episode, I mentioned if an outfit is feeling like maybe a little bit too serious and fussy, then maybe I need to swap the jacket for something a little bit less structured. Maybe I want to bring in an accessory that's in an interesting color to make it feel a little bit more playful.

Learn to start making swaps in your outfits that incorporate those signatures so that you can see them reflected in your look from day to day.

Sarai
And then finally, and this goes back to what Haley was saying a minute ago, is layering in new signatures from time to time, I think is really important. I think all of our styles evolve over time.

We were talking earlier about what we had as style signatures when we were teenagers or young adults, and that really varied during different periods of my life. And it's going to continue to vary for the rest of my life, probably less so than when I was really young.

I think as we get older, our style does tend to solidify more and more, but I think there's no problem layering in some new ideas every once in a while. It's really an evolving process, and you might want to choose a new one just for a season and see how it works for you. And same, you can let go of anything that's not working for you. If there's something that you've worn for years and you realize, gee, I wear a lot of black, but it's just because I'm used to it and it doesn't actually make me feel good, then it's something that you can kind of maybe set aside for a season, see if you can wear some other colors and see how that feels.

So I think it is important that, even though I think it's really helpful to have things like core style or style signatures that are a little bit more consistent over years of time rather than just a season, having that sort of cyclical process of layering things in and removing things over time really helps you to keep in touch with who you are as you evolve as a person.

Haley
I agree with that. I think that something that I've found when I have needed to swap core style words or style signatures in the past is instead of making these big leaps, I'll think about, okay, maybe at one point in time, one of my core style words was girly. I liked really girly things, and it felt like kind of right, kind of not.

And eventually that word evolved into playful for me. And so sometimes I still play with playful elements that lean girly, but it's kind of pivoted towards a different direction. And so it doesn't have to be a 180 necessarily all the time in order to make those tweaks that make it feel right.

Sarai
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a really great point.

All right, well, I'm just going to recap our process that we mentioned today. So it was seven steps.

Number one is to pick your core style words. And the Style Workshop can help with this, something you can also do on your own.

For each core style word, brainstorm some words and phrases to describe that core style word in things like fabric, print, color, silhouette, et cetera.

Then number three is to circle your favorites.

Number four is to whittle that down to a list of three to five style signatures considering your everyday life.

Number five is to use those style signatures as criteria to help you make good choices.

Number six is to use them to bring your style to life day to day.

And number seven is to start layering in new signatures from time to time and just playing with it a little bit.

So those are our seven steps for coming up with your style signatures in a really intentional way. What's your big takeaway from today's episode, Haley?

Haley
I think that my big takeaway is that when I look at the history of my personal style, sometimes when I compare kind of point A to point B, it can feel like this really big leap. But when I follow the winding trail of my style over time. It's really interesting to examine the ways in which what I'm drawn to now is very much informed by the things I've loved and been drawn to in the past.

So that's just kind of my thoughtful thought of today's episode.

Sarai
It is interesting how things that you're drawn to when you're young evolve over time, and there are certain elements that stay consistent, and there's certain elements that grow up with you. And I think it's so cool to just look back on that and see yourself from the vantage point of being a little bit older and seeing how you've changed and how you've stayed the same.

Haley
Yeah, maybe a tip like I would pull out of that is if you're ever feeling kind of directionless in your style, that your history is always a great starting point, you might find that it's a lot more rich with inspiration and authenticity than you would have thought.

Sarai
And that's one of the elements of the Style Workshop, too, is looking back at your history and pulling things from that. It's really helpful.

For me, one thing I've been thinking about as we were talking about this is that concept of evolving over time. And one of the things that I think can be really difficult is if there's something that you find yourself attracted to and maybe it's kind of trendy at the moment, it can be hard to discern whether this is something that is going to stick with you for a long time or if this is just kind of a flash in the pan.

So, for example, right now that we're seeing a lot of red on the runways and in fashion generally, and I really am drawn to it. I really like those red details. I think they're just so classic while also being very attention grabbing and beautiful. So I've been thinking about, well, I could incorporate more red in my wardrobe, but is this just kind of like a trend? And then I'm going to have this stuff that I don't actually wear. And I think those decisions can be kind of challenging.

But I think having that permission to just kind of let yourself evolve, and if there is something you notice yourself being really strongly drawn to, letting yourself play with that for a little while isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Maybe there are certain things that will not become permanent style signatures, and that's okay, too. I think fashion is meant to be fun and self expressive, so just kind of thinking about that a little bit.

All right, well, if you're interested in the Style Workshop. We've mentioned it several times today, and again, it's a hands on workshop, and it walks you through ten exercises to help you really identify your core style, including history, which Haley just talked about.

It's a really great process to go through before you tackle any other sorts of wardrobe planning. And you can do it in about an hour. It's free for Seamwork members, and if you aren't a member, it's actually only $10. So even if you're not a member, it's very affordable.

And if you liked this episode, we would really appreciate a review. We have a review today from Georgie Lou. And Georgie Lou says, “Love this encouraging, intelligent and nurturing podcast. So knowledgeable and generous with that knowledge.” That's really sweet. And she gave us five stars. So really appreciate that from Georgie Lou really, really nice review.

And if you would like to leave us a review, it helps other people to find the podcast, and it also gives us a lot of encouragement. And we super, super appreciate every single one of you who takes the time to leave a five star review or to leave a nice review as well. It's really, really helpful for us.

So thank you so much. And that does it for us this week. I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.