Answer: FALSE!
The idea that style is something people are born with is one of the most common misconceptions we run across when people begin to talk about image. Many people struggle with figuring out what works and what doesn’t and because they are observing others and starting to think things like “everyone else can do this, why can’t I?”, the idea that it’s something one must be born with starts to feel true.
Here’s a different perspective:
While some people do have a natural affinity for putting things together, they learned it somewhere. Whether it was from a magazine or many magazines, from a mom or dad that had cool style or from books or friends or a professional, no one is born knowing how to put themselves together without a little help.
Style can be learned and here are the three essential components:
- Sense of self: in order to create a coherent personal style, knowing what someone likes and doesn’t like is a big part of the puzzle. Through self-exploration and discovery exercises, it’s possible to get clear on this.
- Sense of others: we all have communities and function in society’s frameworks, as much as we also like being individuals. Understanding what the social framework looks like (at work, at play, in the world in general) gives a person a sense of clarity on what is going to work for them.
- Mad Styling Skills: learning about the elements of design and colour and the way they work together for an individual’s body type, personality and lifestyle is the final key to personal style. All of this can be learned and applied through a step by step process.
We are all born with a wonderful uniqueness inside. It’s just a matter of learning how to show it.