Like many, I have struggled with finding my true fashion aesthetic. With a constant influx of social media influencers dressed to the nines, it is easy to feel pressured to pick one aesthetic and stick with it so that you seem like you have some sort of cohesion to your wardrobe. This is something I still do not have, but I am working on it after finding the fashion aesthetic that speaks to me – dark academia.
How do you find your own, you ask? Let me lead you into the wild (and intense) world of fashion aesthetics and show you how you can find out (or at least begin to) which aesthetic you fall into. Where can you discover it?
I know, I know. Not many people (that I know anyway) use Pinterest in 2021. However, the website still provides some excellent insight into fashion cultures (and aesthetics). During my fashion crisis (that I am still partially in), I created a private board solely for pinning fashion posts that I liked and believed my inner style to be. Based on this, I then figured out which fashion aesthetic they fell under. Bam! I had dark academia and a basis for building my new and improved wardrobe.
Even if you do not have a Pinterest account, I encourage you to make one simply to pin what clothing styles you like. Then, while you are doing research (or shopping), you will have something to go off of (and hopefully a distinct aesthetic that you fit into)!
YouTube
…I am sure this seems like a no-brainer.
The minute I knew I wanted to change my style up, the first place I went to was YouTube. There are videos for basically any fashion aesthetic you could ever want to know about, and there are so many creators who are incredibly fashion-forward and resourceful. Many YouTubers have done ‘trying every fashion aesthetic’ type videos, which can help introduce you to all of the possible aesthetics if you are unaware of them!
These are some simple places for you to start on your fashion aesthetic journey – the internet is full of resources and there are other things you can do to learn about what aesthetics might fit you (such as quizzes). However, the ones I have provided here helped me the most!
After all, with the pandemic keeping us all inside, now is the time to re-work your wardrobe for our (inevitable) emergence back into society and university life once more. I, for one, cannot wait to wear some of the new outfits I have put together out of boredom.
Until then, you can find me scrolling on Pinterest for hours on end. Self-care can come in the form of daydreaming about outfit combinations, right? Right.