The art of dressing: a step by step guide to personal style
It all start with a human being a human when I talk about the art of dressing. Personal style like any creation is a way for us to reveal our inherent desire to express ourselves. So how are you becoming an artist you may wonder. Here’s a step by step guide to get access to the source. Actual tools are part of my eBook that I finally uploaded in german on by website, too.
Separation
To understands it holistic totality we have to understand it’s pieces. Talking about the differences between taste, style and fashion I want to emphasize their relation and that they’re co-dependant to one another. Both Fashion and Personal Style are ways to express taste. Fashion is the easiest to access and understand because it’s outside of ourselves. Fashion knows time, seasons and trends. It’s premises are hierarchy, competition, comparison, control and pity. Fashion points at unfiltered absorption and limitless replacement. Fashion is driven by trends.
On the other hand, Personal style works completely different not to say the opposite way. Personal style is timeless and doesn’t work with trends. Its nature is defined by (co-)creation, inspiration, clarity and compassion. Someone with Personal Style is part of society and their Fashion but doesn’t carry the weight and burden but has healthy boundaries.
Ultimately on this spectrum of Fashion and Personal Style each individual is responsible for finding ways to express their taste. What is taste though? For me it’s easiest to describe it as the journey of human curiosity looking for representation in their environment. And this is where the co-dependency kicks in as taste can’t be experienced on its own. You can only get to know your taste by experiencing it through projections outside of yourself. Clothes are a projections just as a canvas you paint on.
The Artist
From your inherent taste aka curiosity to representation is a long way to go. That’s why there are layers of identification with this reality. One layer is forming the goal of expressing your taste through clothes. Another layer is the practice to reach said goal. The other two layers are sticking to the path and overcoming obstacles like trends that want to pull you in other directions or off road. In my SWIFT Theory video I called out these layers and how to close the gap between curiosity and representation by wearing it. Yes, it’s that simple. The trial and error and remembering that you’re as the artist are layered like an onion that reveals themselves over time. Personal Style at its core is a lifelong commitment to the process. It’s never really finished but more a living organism that evolves, transforms and adapts with you as you live. The artist becomes the executive on the highest path possible as they’re not executing other people’s exercises but express their own taste.
Litmus Test
This test is a decisive and simple indicator that reveals the true character, quality, or viability of something or someone, often determining success or failure. Originating in chemistry to measure acidity using coloured paper, it is now widely used to describe a quick, revealing test for political, social, or personal issues. So the step by step guide to personal style is based on trial and error of answering the following questions through textile experiences (wearing your clothes and creating awareness of how they make you feel):
Does it speak of life’s beauty?
Does it speak of my power?
Does it include everyone, everywhere always?
These three questions are based on an asana called Tristhana. It’s a Sanskrit term meaning "three places" or "three standing points," central to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. It represents the harmonization of three essential points of focus to purify the body and mind: posture (asana), breath (ujjayi pranayama), and gaze (drishti). It functions as a moving meditation.
And your Personal Style is nothing else. A moving meditation and experience of your united body-mind-soul connection through alignment, aliveness and focus. And that is holistic styling from a yogic standpoint. So yes, you’re not only getting dressed every morning. So yes, you’re not only an artist and creative on a daily basis. You’re a spiritual being with a human experience and more into yoga than you might have thought!
Namasté1 witches,
Lea
Namasté is a respectful Sanskrit greeting translating to “I bow to you,” used commonly across India and in yoga to signify reverence, humility, and connection. It implies honoring the divine or “light” within another person, typically accompanied by placing palms together at the chest and a slight bow
