Style Goals: Measuring and Achieving Your Dream Personal Style

Lofty title, right? You probably just wanted to learn how to dress better and now we’re getting all analytical. 

Do we really need to “measure” everything in our lives?  We’ve transformed our daily lives to an appalling amount of tracking data, from our macro levels, our busyness in the form of perceived productivity, to smart devices that tell us our sleep wasn’t great and we should “take it easy today”. 

Well… I think developing an authentic personal style sits right in the middle of being analytical through tracking one’s progress and learning to find joy and style creativity. 

With a background in fashion design, I can tell you that fashion is a form and function art.  Any garment made needs to be able to function (fit the body, perform the necessary tasks like keeping you warm or dry, and be able to be taken on and off with ease).  However, it is an art form too.  The artistry in style line balance, surface detail, and perception of the design are fairly obvious. 

If you’ve found this article, you’re most likely somewhere along your personal style journey and confused about the next steps to get your style from point A to point B and beyond. 

And, I want to help you do that, so let’s dig in. 

Understanding Where You Are In Your Style Journey

Firs, if you don’t evaluate where you are today, it’s hard to know where you want to go.  Sure, having a broad goal like “ I want to dress better” can be an ok starting point, but it’s ambiguous at best. 

We need to take a in-depth look at what our style is communicating today, and what phase we are in. 

The Phase of Your Style Journey

We tend to think of a journey as a linear process. I want to get from point A to point B. But with personal style and anything that involves multiple influences and different evolutions within our lifetimes, I tend to learn to a more circular approach. It still moves you toward your future style, but there are many cycles of the style journey that repeat.

You start by learning new style information, then begin applying that information to your daily style, gather data on what works and doesn’t work, then your style evolves… And then, you reach a new level of your style and the process starts over. Usually with a new style goal that begins the seeking of new fashion knowledge information and re-triggers this cycle. But with each cycle, you build upon your knowledge and get better a fine-tuning the process.

Much like in the broader life sense, your journey and knowledge collection are never over. 

However, we do run into problems here.  Some people will collect and collect and collect style data with no application.  And other people will apply the style data to their daily outfits, but never record any results or review it with a critical lens.

Let’s deal with the first group.  Collecting copious amounts of style systems and consuming thousands of hours of YouTube style content, can become a personal style roadblock.  It’s like the scientist who theorizes a great many experiments, but never tests their outcomes. His thoughts, while may be very compelling, aren’t going to have a huge impact. 

If you’ve collected a lot of wonderful foundational fashion information, your next step will be to put it into action.  This will involve taking daily outfit photos, and eventually honing your style toolbox. 

Every tidbit of information, while interesting, may not serve your personal style or work in the way you expected.  If a style system is working for you, fantastic! Explore how it works in your everyday outfit building.  If a combo of systems are working, also wonderful!  If you’re feeling triggered or overwhelmed by a style system, maybe set it aside (for now).  Reaching the next phase of your style is about pushing yourself, but not going so far outside your current competence that you abandon it. 

Now, the second group of people… You’ve applied the information but haven’t collected the data.  You have some vague sense of what works but your thoughts and theories are muddy at best.  If you were a scientist, you completed the experiment but didn’t record any data so your findings are not being weighted properly.  

If you’re thinking “Wow, Gabs, this… is not what I wanted from a fashion article”.  I get it. I hear you. And we will dig into the joy and exuberance that should be felt in your style as well, so just roll with it.  But, when striving for growth, ignoring the analytical process would be a mistake. 

The key here is to have some structure and framework around your style goals, but to find style creativity and an authentic style POV so that you can strengthen your own fashion instincts and have those decisions become second nature.  

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get dressed each morning with happiness, confidence, and exude a secure sense of self? And not to waste so much money on clothes that you never wear or even like?

Ok, I think I’ve set the stage for how important the daily outfit photos/videos are and how action needs to be part of your style journey.

You have some action steps, but as a big-picture thinker let’s talk about what comes next. 

What Are You Searching For? What are Your Current Style Roadblocks?

Collecting data is essential to start the intentional style journey.  But also knowing what you’re struggling with and honing some of your shorter-term goals is another factor that shouldn’t be overlooked. 

When evaluating a daily outfit photo or perusing your closet you need to start reflecting on where you have some style roadblocks.  

Here are some common roadblocks people have:

• Being overly influenced by others, trying too many trends.  This can prevent personal style clarity because you don’t know what you “chose” or what you were essentially manipulated into trying.  If this is you, personal style mapping can be a good place to start connecting to your authentic self.
• Your closet is a hot mess. Overstuffed, unbalanced, or chaotically structured closets set a bad foundation for your style journey.  Your closets need to be treated as sacred spaces that only house pieces you love. And if you have been avoiding dealing with this issue, check out my closet audit video that might help the process be less painful.
• I don’t like how garments fit on me.  This can be a two-fold issue.  Either you’re buying clothes that don’t suit your body type and exploring foundational fashion systems might help you find some tangible data on this.  Or, you’re buying tons of poorly constructed garments that don’t honor your shape or style. If that’s the case, I’d listen to this and consider a low buy/no buy strategy to rebalance your shopping instincts. 
• I have nothing to wear… This is a broad complaint that often has a slew of underlying issues that could include some or all of the above issues.  But, a closet audit is usually a good place to start, as well as taking daily outfit photos so that you can see what types of garments you actually wear daily.  I have a free resource here that uses Canva to record your daily outfit photos and reflections for a week, which might help you track and diagnose your problem. 
• I’m not sure who I am.  This is common, especially when you’re in the “messy middle” of personal style building.  You’ve collected some foundational fashion information and walked away with some valuable advice. Like you found out you are a Kibbe Soft Dramatic, and the accommodations aspect opened up new style ideas. But, you don’t feel like a diva and now you feel like you need an introspective with Freud to see if you’re suppressing your true Diva nature or not.  But, in reality, one usually benefits from a more liberal approach. One is not confined by strict adherence to nomenclature or internet hypotheses. Step back from the YouTube videos and Reddit forums and start to get in touch with yourself.  This obviously includes daily outfit photos  ( I mean, do you not know me after 1350 words?).  But, it’s also about self-reflection and a deep inner process of separating yourself from the herd influence.  My dream-style video might be a place to start, but if it’s going to start a spiral into many hours of content then I’m going say, avoid it! 

Note: Consuming the right fashion information at the right time, can absolutely be illuminating and helpful! As a creator who makes fashion content, of course I enjoy when you consume it. But I caution against the mindless consumption of information that is either not relevant to your style today or will cause you to fall down a new rabbit hole without any new motion forward.

Style roadblocks creep up, and it takes thoughtful reflection to identify what is plaguing your style journey.   We don’t consciously decide to choose clothes that are ill-fitting, or buy clothes to never wear them… And it can be hard when we feel like many of those above style roadblocks are present. 

Also, be mindful of where you used to be and where you are today. You might have struggled with how clothes fit your body last year, but you now embrace your body and clothes and how found your favorite lines. Sometimes we need to review the style data and re-evaluate if that roadblock truly applies today or if we are just stuck in an old thought pattern.

This is where an actionable SMART goals come in.  (And, I haven’t forgotten about the joy and reverence of style, we will get to that next!)

Setting SMART Goals for Your Personal Style 

Now, if you’ve spent even one afternoon searching for goal-setting advice, you’ve probably encountered a ton of acronyms primed to help you “just do it!”  (yes, thank you, Nike.. It’s all so clear now). 

I like the SMART acronym for style goal setting.  

SMART stands for S- Specificity, M- Measurable, A- Achievable, R-Relevant, and T-Time Bound.

 If you’re wondering how we jumped from daily habits to pitfalls, to big-picture goals, it’s about creating a style GPS. 

If you think about this as an actual “journey”,  you need to know where you want to go, remove the roadblocks, and evaluate your route as you progress closer to your destination, right? 

Our SMART goals need to have the big picture goal in mind, with “mini” goals/steps to help you achieve it. 

I highly encourage you to listen to my podcast episode on Style Perfectionism, as a supplemental resource.  This includes some important mindset shifts for this junction in your authentic personal style building. 

Let’s talk about SMART goals in the fashion sphere. 

Specificity:  Saying “ I want to dress better” is vague and hard to measure.  A better goal might be “ I want to refine my style goals and learn how fabric and clothing interact with my body so I feel good in my clothes”.  See how we have specified the areas of our personal style that we are focusing on. Those elements will build toward dressing better, but it has more actionable steps. 

Measurable:  Again, daily outfit photos. I know.. I’m a broken record.  But, they are the easiest way to measure your progress and reflect on it.  If you’re trying to learn how clothing and fabric interact with your body, the way you measure that is by trying clothes on, taking a photo/video, and then self-reflecting on it.  While fashion communities can be a valuable resource when you’re really stuck, I always encourage you to self-reflect first and not try to crowdsource your own opinion on a piece. This is hard, I know! You may not have a lot of faith  in your own fashion instincts, but the more you push yourself to do this, the stronger that muscle will become. 

Achievable:  Saying you want to buy a whole new wardrobe when you’re strapped for cash or burdened by enormous student loan payments, is not super achievable for you today.  Remember we are focusing on where we are today, and our SMART goals can adjust as we grow and our circumstances change.  Similarly, a goal like I want to determine my Kibbe Image Identity might not be achievable if you can’t afford to see Kibbe in person or are hyper-focused on the nomenclature of an ID instead of the information you gather around the journey.  So achievable shouldn’t be “snap your finger easy” but it also shouldn’t be require extensive external factors to line up.  We want something that pushes us past our comfort zones, but not so far we get frustrated and abandon ship mid-journey. 

Relevant:  If you’ve read this far, I can safely assume you’re invested in finding your best style self.  So a relevant goal is a highly personal task.  And if you’re struggling, try to think about your style roadblocks and consider your lifestyle needs.  If you’re trying to find your best dress lines but you live in activewear at this current junction in your life, then that goal is not very relevant and won’t help you move the style needle.  What’s plaguing your style, today? Find a specific  goal that can address that pain point. 

Time Bound: Having a loose time frame is important for measuring success and potentially redirecting your goal.  I like to set monthly, quarterly, and a broad year goal that build upon one another.  For instance, your monthly goal could be to start taking daily outfit photos (as my son would say, “NOT AGAIN!”).  The quarterly goals could be:  Q1, evaluate style data collected, Q2 closet audit etc… And the yearly goal could be  “I want to refine my style goals and learn how fabric and clothing interacts with my body so I like and feel good in what I wear”.

I encourage you to write these down to cement the process in your brain and keep your attention laser-focused. Then when a new style system starts piquing your interest you can double check yourself and say “will this system be helping me achieve X goal?” or will it be a potential distraction.

Keeping The Joy Alive

Ok, I’ve given you a lot of actionable, borderline scientific, steps to follow. But I hear your inner artist, they are screaming out at the thought of all of the data and none of the creativity.

Fashion, Personal Style, and Style Expression are form and function.  And the form should be an exploration of creativity and personalization. 

So creativity is defined as “divergence” which loosely translates into limitless thinking and then “convergence” which is basically honing it down to “one” right answer.  And you can learn more about that here.

Each outfit you build should be pursued with joy and creativity.  It may not always feel this way, but we want the majority of our experiences building outfits to be positive.  And if you’re not vibing with this, then return to the section about identifying your style roadblocks. Because roadblocks make the journey unnecessarily arduous.

Fashion is fairly low stakes on a day-to-day basis. While I would never make that statement from a long-term picture, each outfit you build isn’t going to make or break your style. Each day, you wake up and get another chance to “crack your personal style code” and get just a little bit closer to your style goal. 

Worst case, you don’t like your outfit or it ends up being uncomfortable or unsuitable. Then it’s just data for you to consider the next day.  If high heels are uncomfortable to you and they don’t work with your mom and work duties, then they can go into your “style-no” pile for now. 

Best case, each day you wake up and approach a new outfit with curiosity and potential.  I once heard the definition of curiosity described as “ the desire to find something out where you are not attached to the outcome”.  And I think having style curiosity in the early or middle areas of your style journey is fantastic! 

We aren’t attached to a specific outcome when we are building an outfit. Instead, we are seeing what we can create based on what we know, and then capturing the data and moving forward. 

We want forward progression, and trying the same recommendations over and over again or just collecting more style systems won’t keep us in motion. 

Which is why I want you to have fun with your style!  Love a certain fantasy element, or are obsessed with a niche topic, try to infuse it into your style. 

The more personal investment and attachment you have in the pieces you wear, the more connected and enchanted you will be with your style. 

It can be something simple like wearing a sweater you bought while traveling that brings you back that wanderlust feeling.  Or a piece of jewelry that your partner gave you that fits your aesthetics perfectly.  

Find joy, and connection, and you will begin to value your OWN style expression. 

Ok, that was probably a lot. And if you’re thinking, well I just want to watch some fun style TikToks and swipe up on my favorite influencer’s Amazon list, that is ok too!  This may not be the right step for you in your style journey. 

But, if you’re thinking, yes I’m here for this self-exploration!  Then I’m going to get on my virtual soapbox and tell you to start taking your daily outfit photos.  Also consider buying my Self-Guided Personal Style Workbook, which helps you systematically evaluate all the data you collect. 

Wherever you are in your style journey, I hope you find strength through style.