003: The Diary of Two Fashion Girlies
Chapter 1: personal style & how the heck to get dressed
For all of you that stuck with us through our indulgence into fashion month, thank you. But now we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming with a much more relatable topic—though we’d argue until we’re blue in the face that our last newsletter was totally relatable (and some of our best work)if you picked out the key themes…just saying.
Welcome to personal style!
It’s About to Get Personal
CM: First, happy day-after-my-birthday to all those who celebrate! Second, those are two very loaded words in my little black book. Personal style is so inextricable. In February of last year, Alyssa and I were on a five-hour date and going through every item of clothing I owned, when she introduced me to Allison Bornstein and her three-style-word approach. [insert pause here for you to go watch her video]. Basically, you assess both your closet and inspiration boards (be it Pinterest, Instagram, old high school scrapbook, you get it), identify the key themes and label three: a baseline word (your most worn looks), aspirational word (re: moodboards) and an emotional word (what do you feel when you wear your fave things?). For example, if you tend to gravitate towards simple silhouettes and neutral tones, you might select the word ‘minimal’. Makes sense, right? She dives much deeper than that, so we’ll just let you go down that rabbit hole all on your lonesome.
CM: I am regularly taking stock of my closet, adding-to-cart, selling on Depop, and repeating the cycle all over again. The three words I initially landed on were as follows:
Baseline: effortless
Aspirational: eclectic
Emotional: romantic
All three are 100%, unequivocally representative of my closet. I want every single outfit (like all of them) to appear seamlessly paired together and yet so perfectly simple that I look like everyone’s favorite ‘it girl’ in the movie strolling into the bar and commanding everyone’s attention. Romantic can mean feminine but also powerful—sometimes it’s a barrette and other times it’s a fricken puffy shoulder, okay??? I always want to feel pretty. Lastly, when I look at my collection of inspiration I can see that I’m completely drawn to eclecticism, I want a little bit of weird or color or just heckin’ divergence.
AB: I, on the other hand, take less regular stock of my closet because I am a shameful collector, and I often buy items that are “for this one occasion that I might possibly need one day!!” I see a vision and I go with it. It may sound bad at first, but rest assured I am a VERY conscientious shopper. I have to get a deep down full body ‘yes’ to buy something—even if that item doesn't make total sense at the time. I do it because my heart says yes. And I am a sucker who follows and trusts their heart *sigh*. Yes, there are pros and cons to this. Pro being I am prepared for every occasion ever, or that I know I don't usually need a new item, because chances are I already have something similar in my closet. And con being I am taking up three out of three of the closets in my home (2.5, my husband does have room to hang items. I play fair.). However, since being introduced to the holistic approach that Bornstein preaches I have tried to really refine what this means to me and why. Break it down a little. What are my tricks and how can I expand on them to understand myself and my closet better? Get personal! Which brings me to what I believe my three words are:
Baseline: Oversized (BIG comfort girl)
Aspirational: Artistic, Unique, Edgy
Emotional: Feminine
Wait… was that 5 words?? My bad. I couldn't choose.
CM: This process of identifying style words was a lot like the time I visited Barbieland in the Mall of America—I cried because of the undiluted joy I felt, but also the paralyzing indecision and dread of having to choose but one Barbie—how could I choose just three style words? But then, Alyssa and I were on another one of our infamous five-hour dates last August, and deep in the weeds about personal style as it relates to Bornstein’s approach. The reality is I can’t choose three, and you know WHAT I’m just not gonna. As a self-proclaimed fashion girlie, I’m not a Mary Kate & Ashley type, I can’t stick to a uniform because it doesn’t suit me. And—this is the key part so listen closely—I realized right then and there that eclectic is a word that literally means, “deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.” It’s a fricken loophole, it’s a way for me to have all the words, every single one of them.
AB: It’s just that hard! How can we put ourselves in a box of only three words like that? Granted Bornstein does say the three words evolve with us, and the point of them is to be a northern star to help as we get dressed or shop, but for girls like us we’re already good at shopping! I want you readers to challenge yourself to find your three words, and let us know what they are (you could even reply to this email and tell us if you feel so inclined)! We are curious. Fashion theory and the reason we wear what we do is important, and matters in our day-to-day lives. It's how we see ourselves and share ourselves with the world! Today, because I am very pregnant, I almost wore a sweatshirt and sweats to the grocery store, and my loving husband reminded me “hey babe, aren’t you always telling everyone that if you look good you feel good?” Blasted! He was right. I changed into still-comfortable maternity leggings and an Alo long sleeve top with my short trench coat, and felt so much better to leave the house. Even just contemplating what your three words might be can help you decide if you need that pair of shoes that looks oh-so-good on the model, or if that shirt that’s been hanging in your closet from when you worked a desk job isn't serving you anymore.
Honorable Mentions
CM: Remember that James Street Co. sweater I mentioned in the first newsletter? If you’re new here, you can peep it right hither. Well guess what? She’s back. The snow has hit the streets here and I’m so drawn to oversized sweaters with wide leg jeans. Idk why, it’s not like big on big makes sense but it works (???) and it’s all over my Pinterest. I paired it with my dark wash Unspun wide leg jeans, a pair of creamy lug-sole boots (here’s a similar pair), some chunky earrings and a lil’ baby barrette. Can tucked-in hair count as an accessory? Because that’s absolutely what is happening right now.
AB: Okay, but also remember that prediction of the short trench coat I had in the first newsletter? Well I found one in the back of my closet, of course. It's an old Banana Republic I most certainly thrifted and have not stopped wearing! I love the way it elevates my fall looks.
CM: Don’t even joke AB, I ALSO found a short trench coat too! It’s an old Nine West peacoat my mom bought me (shocker, she bought me another 10/10 clothing item) for Christmas one year! Funny story, it was actually stolen—because I have such great style—on New Year’s Eve and I spent two years hunting down a replacement on Poshmark.
Deep Cuts
CM: This photo of Maggie Smith with her Loewe bag had me on my KNEES praying to the fashion heavens for this exact photo of me in 61 years. ICONS ONLY.
AB: I concur. Loewe has an amazing way of using their campaigns to showcase who they find to be the influencers in life. Which leads me to my deep cut, men’s brand Kith. I have always loved Kith as the designer has been a true trailblazer for men’s fashion. So much so, that he is the first designer to be named creative director of a professional sports team, the Knicks! They use this same type of marketing, using celebrities like Brian Cox (my gma swooned), Bryan Cranston (outfits so good I swooned), and Jerry Seinfeld as faces of the brand. Some seriously cool cats. I want to dress my husband, dad AND grandpa like this. Men, don’t sleep on Kith.
CM: Black headbands. Jennifer Lawrence in a black headband. That’s it, that’s the deep cut (see Pinterest board screenshot for proof).
AB: Every quarter of the year I take myself on a date to Barnes & Noble and spend about 20 minutes picking out the best fashion and home design magazines they have. I usually spend anywhere between $60-$80 strictly on publications. It is my favorite because reading the physical form hits differently, and flipping the pages, and diving deeper into the content than finding it scrolling, feeds my soul. After I read them I then of course tear them apart for my vision board. This month I chose Harper's Bazaar (my favorite publication), W mag, and Elle UK.
CM: Three of my favorite things made an appearance in this video: Cult Gaia, a pointed-toe heel and snow. Has such elegance ever graced the social stratosphere such as this? I think not.
AB: Gigi Hadid’s look for the opening of the Guest in Residence store in NYC. This look is all things effortless, and I think I can speak for both Courtney and I when I say we strive for this.
CM: I spent three full days (you can fact check that with Alyssa) obsessing over the STAUD bag pictured above and how expertly it was paired with this velvet dress. UGH.
Before You Go
CM: I’m realizing that we have shared this really beautiful, simple and in a lot of ways, freeing formula to solve the ultimate equation—how the literal f%*# do I put on clothes that look and feel like me every day? And yet, we’ve gone and shook it all up again. So I’m sorry, but not actually sorry. This is the super not-so-secret thing about your closet, it’s a masterpiece and it will always be unfinished. When I add clothes to my closet, it’s a brushstroke that clarifies the big, beautiful, art-thief worthy picture, and sometimes it totally feels complete. But then all of a sudden it’s missing 15 things. I mean, what’s a fashion girlie to do? (shop that’s the answer, she’s to shop).
Have fun tearing apart your closet! Ciao for now. xx