She’s Got Style

Last week, Betty was asking readers over at Faith and Family Live about their personal “style icons”. She revealed that her icon is the beautiful Grace Kelly.

I love the idea of a style icon, (so much I decided to do my own post!) and I’ve tried to have one over the years, yet somehow I never felt completely right about “imitating” the style of someone else. However, as I’ve grown up a bit in the last few years, I realized that having a style icon is not just copying the style of someone else, but finding someone (or several someones) whose sense of style matches what yours is/what you would like it to be, and to put together something that is still uniquely you. Having a style icon, or style idea, gives focus when shopping for clothing. It helps avoid impulse purchases of things that really aren’t “you”, but are a great sale or something you might wish was “you.”

The importance of having a style icon/idea has become so clear to me, especially in light of being a new mom. I don’t have a lot of time to spend going from store to store shopping and trying on a million different pieces to find what I like and what flatters. Knowing what kind of clothes fit with my style, lets me know what stores to spend my time in.

In case you hadn’t guessed it yet, my style icon is Audrey Hepburn. I’m sure a lot of women would say that, and I think that’s because Audrey is, was, and always will be an essentially beautiful woman.

It wasn’t just about her style, her clothing. Whether she was in pants or a dress, spending time with orphans in Africa as a UNICEF representative or covered in diamonds, she was always feminine. I think a lot of women are drawn to that. We want to know, “How can I be feminine while I’m washing the dishes, or going to the zoo with my kids, or running to the store?” Audrey Hepburn’s style is appealing because its just as applicable for casual settings as it is for dazzling parties (because, let’s face it, most of us are not going to all that many dazzling parties!). She wasn’t just beautiful, she was natural.

There are about five million books on style out there (an amazon search confirms this), but I think a great way to start thinking about what your style might be, is to just flip through some magazines or websites that have different kinds of clothing.

If you have a style icon, who is it? If you don’t have an icon per se, is there an idea that guides your personal style?