For context on this discussion, please see this post.

The Artist (work)

Key words: creative, intuitive, confident, elegant

Vibe: Minimalist, soft, flowing structure, dramatic silhouettes

Style notes: draping, interesting texture, muted lighter colours, bold but limited accessories

Favourite colours: mauve/blush, sage, cream, grey

The Artist and the Prince (see previous post here) share a lot of DNA; the Muse is a more relaxed, softer version – one that reads as more “femme”. The silhouettes are still architectural, but they are created through the use of volume (softness) rather than angles (sharpness). The colour palette is also lighter. The Artist wears skirts and dresses, instead of trousers, but in non-expected pairings. Like the Prince, the Artist is an analytical creature; she is more Alien Goddess than Earth Goddess, if that makes sense.

My inspiration/icon here is the divine Tilda Swinton. I adore her aesthetic, and actually I think she would look amazing wearing any one of my 4 styles. (She would make a phenomenal Prince, for example.)

And here’s some more inspo:

And some of my past outfits that sorta, maybe fit this vibe (it’s a work in progress, folks):

For context on this discussion, please see this post.

The Prince (work)

Key words: cerebral, poised, principled, efficient, elegant, enigmatic

Vibe: Minimalist, menswear inspired, tailored, architectural

Style notes: solid colours, menswear-inspired patterns, luxe fabrics, no frills, blazers + pants (mostly), interesting but subtle accessories

Favourite colours: black, dove grey, dark plum, cream

Never would I have thought I’d live to see the day when I would choose trousers over skirts (or dresses), but the day has arrived. If I am looking for something tailored, a trouser-blazer (or trouser-sweater) combo is my go-to these days.

Menswear-inspired clothing has always been a tricky proposition for me, because it sort of goes against my body type – a pear-ish hourglass. Sheath dresses and skirts would be traditionally considered more flattering for my body type, or at least more likely to highlight my “best” feature (waist-to-hip ratio). I do look good in those option, but as I get older, I find that dressing for conventional standards of attractiveness has, well, less attraction for me. I think that, in general, I have less patience for and desire to meet external expectations regarding personal choices. In fact, the opposite is true: it’s almost as if I enjoy thumbing my nose (politely, because the Prince is always polite) at those expectations.

For many years, menswear was also largely ruled out by my love of florals and bold colours. This is not to say that the two cannot mix but, generally speaking, florals are typically paired with more feminine-leaning clothes. I still love my colourful prints, but I am learning that I can appreciate them without wearing them. Not all of them, anyway. I am now starting to express my love in other ways – by taking up embroidery, for example.

For each of my style character, I have tried to pick an individual (real or fictional) who embodies the spirit — though not necessarily the aesthetic — of that persona/avatar. The Prince gave me the most difficulty because, while I have a very clear image of who he is, I haven’t been able to think of a perfect representation in popular culture. There is some elements of Westley (Princess Bride) but with a darker edge, though not quite Machiavellian all the way. Maybe if Westley and, hmm, Snape had a baby, we would be getting closer to it

Anyway, here’s some inspo:

And are some past outfits that would be in the right ballpark:

I’ve shared before that one of my fave subreddits is Female Fashion Advice. I’m older than what I think would be a typical subscriber, which makes some of the discussions less relevant to my interests, but I like the variety of backgrounds and aesthetic preferences because it exposes me to new ideas and new ways of looking at fashion all the time. Sometimes, even to a proverbial paradigm shift.

This comment proved to be something of the latter. The idea of identifying the different facets of my style as individual “characters” – each with their own defining characteristics – was immediately intriguing. The OP’s list of characters really spoke to me as well. I started thinking about what mine would be, and the exercise quickly proved to be extremely fruitful … and pretty effortless. Things just sort of came together – everything from my style preferences to my wardrobe palette.

Like the OP, I also ended up with 4 characters: two for work, two for off-duty (mostly). Each duo essentially represents a masculine and feminine take on a particular aesthetic. I am going to write a separate post about each one but, first, a few words about some other pertinent details.

Colour Palette

My palette has remained pretty constant over the last couple of years, but I did make a couple of small tweaks as part of this process of re-imagining my closet.

First, having recently acquired a cognac bag, I realized that it’s a nice, softer alternative to black as a core/outfit-grounding neutral. Black is always going to be a staple in my closet – at least one of my style personas leans heavily on black – but I have been drawn to softer, warmer, lower contrast colours lately. So my neutrals have mellowed to dove gray, ivory, and cognac (along with grey). I’m also moving away from navy; I like midnight blue (especially in velvet), but navy feels too drab.

Second, I have decided to swap out some of my core colours. I chose plum (and related shades of warm purple) over burgundy, and sage (muted green) over jasper (dark green). I also decided to forego the bright, almost-cobalt blue that was a long-standign favourite. I still adore the colour, but it’s too contrast-y for the rest of my wardrobe. I only had a couple of pieces in this shade left in my closet, and I said a (reluctant) goodbye to them recently.

The balance of my core colours stayed the same: mauve/blush, mustard yellow, olive, (muted) blue.

Kibbe Type

I think I’ve written about this before, but my face and my body are somewhat at odds when it comes to Kibbe Types (Classic, Dramatic, Romantic, etc.). I have an hourglass/slight pear shape body, which looks great in form-fitting, waist-accentuating, very femme clothing. (NB: Is it weird to talk about my body in the third person? Yes? No? Let’s pretend that didn’t just happen.) My face, however, is quite angular, with strong features that are not particularly feminine. Dramatic haircuts — blunt bobs, pixies, etc. — suit my face in a way that more traditionally femme ones (long hair, soft waves) don’t. So there is a definite disconnect there.

As I get older, I find that I want to focus more on my face, and less on my body. I am leaning away from things that might be seen as traditionally welcoming/inviting of the external (male) gaze, if that makes sense. That’s not intended as a critique of any particular style; I’m past the stage of giving a s**t if someone dresses for men, or for women, or for whomever. Everyone should do whatever makes them happy.

Anyway, as will become apparent as I go through my style characters in future posts, my aesthetic is now more closely aligned with my facial Kibbe type. As my current bob is also on the same page, I feel on top of my game.

Wardrobe Reset

After deciding on my style characters, I went through my clothing inventory and tagged each item as belonging to one or more character; there was actually a fair bit of overlap. I did this for everything in my closet, including shoes and bags. The results were very enlightening. Although I had already pared down my wardrobe a lot (down to about 150 items), I found quite a few things that didn’t belong. These were, by and large, items I had already “flagged” to myself as candidates for purging, but which I could not bring myself to part with before. This gave me the last, much-needed push to move them out of my closet. Some went into the basement closet purgatory, some just went straight out (donated, swapped, or listed on the ThriftRats sho).

April is the first month when I will be starting to implement my new approach, so stay tuned to see the outfits and my discussion of each style character.