Defining your own personal style is not an easy task; with so many trends to choose from you can never know what works best for you, unless you try… To find a perfect fit, try mix and match different elements of each style. To create and maintain an individual style that works for you start by choosing a style that best describes who you are and one that is a reflection of your personality. Remember that only you know who you are inside, and one of the easiest ways to let others know who you are is by developing your own distinct style.
Before I get in too deep, let me apologise for taking so long to post on the blog… yeah I know, BAD blogger…Anyway, today’s entry will touch on an important element of personal style, COMFORT! Comfort is paramount in fashion; it allows you to exude confidence, accentuates your style and communicates far much more than meets the eye.
Allow me to school you on a few things…
According to K. Slater (Author of Human Comfort) comfort is described as a pleasant state of physiological, psychological and physical harmony between a human being and the environment. Slater continues to describe two types of comfort; Psychological comfort which is the individuals need for specific fabrics, colours, designs etc to help them feel confident and at ease with whatever they are wearing in context to the various roles they play in everyday life. The second one is Physiological Comfort which refers to maintenance of thermal balance (proportionality in production and loss of heat) in the body controlled by the hypothalamus in the brain. This is the basic functionality of clothes. The common phrase “freeze and shine” comes to mind…
In reference to fashion comfort is the relationship between ones mind, body and the garment/piece/clothes one has adorned. I wonder how many of us put comfort first while shopping for different items??? I can safely testify that most women DO NOT! Most of the trendy clothes and shoes we see out there are not comfortable, but this does not stop us-the quintessential fashion victims from buying them. A personal example is when the trendy pencil jeans came out; am well endowed and I thank my God for that and here I was fighting to fit into these little, narrow pair of jeans, which I did by the way although they kept on riding down and were very uncomfortable! This didn’t stop me from wearing them.
The other day I was walking in town (I must admit I hadn’t been there for a long while…Lord! Nairobi has beautiful people-read women), I see this gorgeous girl bursting out of her short skirt suit, 6inch platform heels struggling to walk, pull down her skirt, carry her folder and handbag while still talking on her pink BB…as recent as this morning, in CBD, I saw a group of four girls dressed in amazingly short skirts, gladiator heels struggling to their way to work…All am trying to show you is comfort is both subjective and relative. Different people have different ways of looking at things; whatever is comfortable to you might not be to the other. Ladies whatever you see on music videos, runways, movies and on the glitterati may not necessarily be everyday wear I address the ladies more so as they seem to fall victim to this most of the time.
Three things to keep in mind as you strive to achieve a personal style that is just as comfortable as your skin;
Garment: you have to know which materials feel and look good on you, materials that hide your flaws and positively draw attention to your body. For men it’s an easy task for most of their clothes are made from cotton, women on the other hand have numerous materials to choose from… knowing which ones hide your contours, dimples and cellulite is essential.
Design: ladies and gentlemen the design/cut of a particular piece may flatter or might not flatter your body type. For example pleated trousers generally make a person look bigger than they actually are, stalky and well bodied men should stay away from these kinds of trousers…ladies you have be sure of your body type before you buy your clothes, not all deigns were made for your body.
Until next time…
CLOTHES ARE AN EXTENSION OF WHO YOU ARE, STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF!!!
