Don’t find your personal style
It’s not something to be found, it just is
Welcome from inside the Lekondo fitting room. A weekly dispatch from between the mirror and the door:
Each issue explores a theme, highlights some standouts, and introduces what’s new — in the app, on the streets, or inside your wardrobe’s collective unconscious.This issue comes from @notacriminal. You can find him in Komune most Fridays.
My recent journey with my style.
Imagine what the peak of your personal style would be right now. Chances are, the image you made in your head, if you were able to think of one, is inspired by something you might have just seen, by something you want to buy. Think back, is this the same goal as when you first started on your fashion journey? Wait a week or a month and think about your goal again. Chances are it changed again. This is natural. Style is ever evolving, everyone knows that. So if everyone knows that then why are we so obsessed with discovering it?
I haven’t posted any of my outfits for a while. Style has always been more personal than social for me. When it is social, it’s usually between close friends. When I would post on Instagram, I would get nervous that too many people would see it instead of the people I wanted to see it. I usually opted just to show my outfits to people in smaller Discord servers instead, just my friends. But I haven’t even been posting on Discord either. When I go out, I haven’t been worrying about what I’m wearing or caring to focus on my outfit. I feel like I’ve hit a wall. I feel bored.
What would the old me say if he knew that my current favorite pair of pants was grey trousers?
Frankly, knowing me, I would have ended it all right there. Realistically, I never thought I would ever get to the point where I was wearing trousers and button-up shirts. Even a year ago, but now they’re so integral to my personal style that I couldn’t imagine not wearing them. While my job requires professional wear, I was already drifting towards a more “adult” style long before I was working at this job. It’s funny, because these pants, which by all means are “boring,” were actually a very adventurous piece for me. I had long avoided lighter colored pants for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I just thought that I couldn’t pull them off. At the time I was actually looking for another pair of baggy black trousers when I came across these. I already have multiple baggy black trousers. I had trapped myself in a box. Having believed I had found my niche, I stopped looking for anything new. Now this was new and exciting to me, but I wasn’t excited to show it off. A lot of these clothes I’ve been enjoying have been enjoyable from a technical standpoint. They’re comfortable and fit me well. But they are not exciting because they fit extremely comfortably within the circle of my personal style. It was a step out of my comfort zone, but not enough that it actually makes me feel something when I’m wearing it.
I remember when I was first in the deeply experimental stage of my fashion journey. Everything I bought was a massive step out of my comfort zone. And as a result, everything new was exciting, and I was excited to wear it and show it off. This box I was making for myself wasn’t even one I was aware I was making. I actually hadn’t thought of my “personal style” in months. Which brings me to my first point. Personal style is not something one can just “fix”. At best, it’s something that can be developed. But it’s something you already have as a result of your choices and personality. The idea of my personal style was a prison even if I didn’t think of it as my personal style.
Another reason why I haven’t been posting is that I’m almost completely off of social media. I’m trying to live more in the real world, and it’s been an amazing experience. I would have never gotten those grey trousers if they weren’t in Komune for me to try on. Seeing something in person is a lot more inspiring than the constant flood of everything happening online. Scrolling, you’ll see so many things in sequence that you won’t be able to remember any of it. But going in person, trying things on, and being able to really experience it fully will stick with you a lot longer. I’ve been trying to buy things in person more. It’s usually cheaper and a better experience. These are 2 stores that really stood out to me recently:
Doors was a very inspiring experience. It has a collection of independent designers. Many different pieces of clothing were interesting, but what stood out to me was a purposefully distressed trench coat full of safety pins. It was so over the top that it could almost be described as a costume piece. But it was really cool. The price was eye-watering, and it was far too small for me. But it was very inspiring, and it was definitely exciting. It made me think about how I could modify my own clothes to get a look closer to that jacket, but more personal.
John Fluevog was another really cool store. The variety of shoes on display makes it so that there’s something for almost everyone. For me, these really stood out
The athloafer is a very interesting development for me. It is tangible proof of evolution and innovation in fashion. I currently own the Junya Wantanabe Snofer, and I’m quite happy with it, but I love this take on it. It’s rare that you will actually see something with an actual flame graphic. Especially one seen in. The shoes have a car-like design. It’s exciting. Personal style, like a lot of fashion discourse, is a very online concept. The swaggy old Japanese people didn’t get their casual swagginess from hyperanalyzing other people’s outfits on Instagram. I really liked the new push for people who were “into fashion” to get real hobbies, because fashion doesn’t thrive in a vacuum.
There has been one piece that has excited me online. The last time I went on instagram (everything in moderation) something DID stand out to me, because I hadn’t been on it in a while.
This take on the riot boot feels such a far cry from what I’ve been building my style towards, pushing it back towards that more experimental phase in my journey. Being free with your style and just trying out new things is so important to keeping a relevant and exciting fashion journey. Settling for one style is boring, and a truly personal style will incorporate multiple facets of your personality.
I’m writing this when I’m writing it because I only recently felt like I got over the slump I’ve been feeling towards my personal style. What pulled me out of the slump really wasn’t anything new. This is significant to me because I would never post without having something new to show off. A lot of my excitement came from new things, as you can probably tell. But appreciating the style that you’ve built up for yourself is just as important.
None of the pieces in this outfit are new by any means. It’s all a year to two years old. The day I wore it I barely focused on my fit, but my closet is so curated that I can just throw something on and it will look good. The clothes I’m wearing are my personal style. It’s not something to be found, it simply is. And every new experiment and experience factors into it. Don’t overthink it. This outfit is exciting to me because the clothing in my closet is exciting. At some point the clothes that were once experimental to me became normal parts of my style language. Using Lekondo (they did not pay me for this) to document my closet helps me feel more appreciative and excited about the clothes I already have. The title of the article is clickbait, it’s not that you shouldn’t find your personal style, but rather to not be so worried about what box you’re in. Being free and true to yourself is the ultimate expression of personal style. But ultimately I just wanted to show off cool stuff I’ve been looking at. If it was up to me we’d all be naked.