Style Avatars, A Reconsideration

Funnily enough, after writing my last State of the Wardrobe post, a few people on IG asked me to talk about style curation. It seemed like a sign to finally sit down and organize my thoughts on a topic I haven’t thought much about since 2019. And once I did that, well, it only made sense to write about it here as well.

First, for the benefit of any new readers, let’s rehash some history. Yes, you can search through my archives for this, but if you’re like me, you won’t. It’s so much easier when it’s all on one page, amirite? Never fear, I got you.

Back in 2018, I was really feeling the need to “figure out” my personal style. I had cycled through some predictable styles in the previous decade (J. Crew preppy, Anthro whimsy, etc) that were driven by brands accessible to me at the time rather than a self-determined concept. I needed to find some kind of unifying idea or framework. 

And I found it (thanks to a r/FemaleFashionAdvice post) in the “style avatar” concept. 

What I wanted to find was a way to express the various sides of my personality through my clothes. But rather than trying to come up with some jumbo descriptor like “witchy boho ballerina disco princess”, I started to break it down by characteristics or traits or moods. 

I wrote down all the things I wanted to feel or to project by or through wearing my clothes. I wrote them all down (don’t overthink this part), and then looked at the list with an analytical eye. Those words coalesced into personalities, and eventually avatars. Each “character” representing some facet of my personality, or who I wanted to present as (at different times, and in different situations). 

I ended up with 4 avatars. For me, it felt like the right number. Enough to capture some of the contradictions and different parts of myself, but not too many that they would begin to blur. I had a very clear idea of who each avatar was. And, in turn, I knew what each one would wear. I could see each one so very clearly in my head. 

My 4 original avatars were:

I developed a “style board” for each one. 

This exercise helped me to easily visualize my style in all its variety. Any time I would see a piece of clothing that appealed to me, I would ask myself: who would wear this? If I couldn’t see one of my avatars wearing it, I wouldn’t buy it. Or at least, I would try to talk myself out of buying it … which, as a thrifter, is a hard enough task. It worked really well, actually. My wardrobe began to feel much more cohesive, and my own satisfaction with outfits increased. 

One thing to note: I’ve never “worn” the avatars in equal measure. For example, 2018/2019 were years when I wore a lot of Prince and Artist outfits. Starting in 2020, I began to shift more towards the Bohemian. The Adventurer has always been more of a fringe character. Because I see these avatars as extensions of different parts of my personality, it makes sense that their influence over my style choices would fluctuate over time. People are not static entities. We are ever evolving. 

Every 6 months or so, I would refresh my style boards for each avatar by looking at the most recent runway collections. The goal of this exercise wasn’t to try to copy exact outfits, nor to change the “who” of my avatars, nor to rebuild my entire wardrobe from scratch. Rather, it was to get new inspiration or ideas for how to express the essence of each avatar. The language of fashion is evolving, and it’s helpful to learn new tricks from time to time. So, I would be looking for ideas on new proportions, new colour combinations, and perhaps a few new pieces to add to and update my existing wardrobe. 

Sidebar: I not the best person to speak to this because I like to experiment A LOT with different pieces so there is quite a bit of turnover in my closet at all times. (Circular economy for the win!) But! I will say that the “core” of my closet hasn’t changed that much since 2018. Like, at least 2/3 of it is the same. Even as the way my avatars express themselves has evolved, the building blocks are very much the same. 

Again, it helps my analogy to think of clothing items as words, and outfits as stories. My avatars are genres, if you like. Sometimes, I write a ghost story. Sometimes, I write a love story. I will often use the same words, just combined in different ways. And sometimes, I will learn new words, or give up old ones that I don’t like anymore. 

Makes sense? 

Here was the most recent style board update for each of my avatars (from late 2019):

2020 was a sh*tshow so I didn’t spend much time thinking about my style. In fact, the last 18 months or so have been a period of intense stress and also growth/evolution for me. I am not entirely moved on from it, but with the benefit of a small measure of perspective, I can truly say that I am not the same person today that I was in the fall of 2019. My life, coincidentally or not, also looks very different. 

Which means that it’s probably time to revisit my style avatars. So, finally, that’s what I did. I sat down and thought about my avatars systematically. Which ones still “spoke” to me? Which ones didn’t? And why? 

And I came to some interesting conclusions. 

First and most obviously, the Bohemian is still a big influence in my life. I am all about colour, boldness, following one’s artistic instincts and making life one’s canvas – naysayers be damned. 

Second, I am still in tune with the Artist. The name may be a little misleading because there is little overlap with the Bohemian. They are both creative/artistic characters, but the Bohemian is exuberant and loud, where the Artist is cool and maybe a little aloof. The Bohemian is Impressionist painting (maximalist all the way), the Artist is neo-classical architecture. 

The other two avatars felt like they needed some reworking. 

The masculine, cerebral vibe of the Prince didn’t feel right anymore. I’m feeling much more drawn toward a feminine, intuitive energy. I have not fully explored this yet, but my gut is pulling me towards a High Priestess/The Crone type of avatar. The Prince was the avatar that I used when I wanted to feel confident and powerful, and the way I experience that now has changed. I have to sit with this avatar a bit longer, but this is the direction I think I’m going with it. 

The Adventurer also doesn’t feel quite right anymore. There was a bit of an Indiana Jones flavour to this avatar, which doesn’t fit as well now that I have fully embraced my homebodiness. The adventures I go on these days are all literary in nature. And strangely enough, the character that sprang to mind as soon as I started thinking about it was another fictional professor with an exciting secret life: Diana Bishop, from A Discovery of Witches. Historian extraordinaire, and powerful witch (and, okay, lover of sexy vampire Matthew Clairmont).

Now, I know what you’re thinking and Dark Academia is NOT where this is going. 

To me, Diana’s vibe is Ralph Lauren with a dash of Phoebe Philo-era Celine. 

Luxe Academia, if you will 🤣

By the way, here is what Diana wears on the show. It’s not the direction I would pick if I were in charge of wardrobe decisions on the set, but it does have a bit of that vibe. 

As I have done in the past, I looked through the S/S 2021 runways collections to find inspiration for my new avatar style boards. 

Here are some ideas:

The High Priestess/Crone gave me such trouble (still haven’t landed on a name, for one) because I didn’t see anything on the 2021 runways that spoke to this. I had to dig back a bit but here’s a tentative idea for it:

Kinda similar story for the Diana avatar (name TBD), although I’m still digging the 2019 Adventurer inspo from above. Here are a couple of other ideas:

I also thought it might be helpful to show you how some of this stuff translates to my real life outfits because, of course, I don’t have access to haute couture on a regular basis (I wish!).

The High Priestess/Crone:

The Artist:

The Diana (?!)

The Bohemian:

That’s it! Whew. What a long post! If you managed to stick it out to the end, and are using the avatar approach as well, I would love to hear about whether and how the pandemic has impacted your avatars or the way you approach your style in general. And if you have another style curation approach, please share!