Repetition: The Echo that Defines Your Style
Curating Your Signature Look Through the Power of Repetition
Oh, the power that comes from repetition.
The mastery of great style is knowing how to rewear pieces you already have in a new way - not through getting a new wardrobe every season. That might make you trendy, or fashionable, but it will never make you stylish.
How cruelly we have treated statement pieces in the recent years, with the obsession with micro trends, fast fashion, and the addiction to copying someone seen online - while having no idea if they are even worthy of the envy we project upon them.
We forget that the greats are those who have refined themselves past the need to shock and awe, past the need to demand attention. They hold our attention without needing to ask for it. Even those who weren’t trying to be the icons found themselves plastered across the magazine spreads, “think differently”, ring any bells?
The calm and serenity of knowing exactly who you are, of knowing how to express yourself with no concerns of repeating something, no thought of “oh I wore that yesterday, what would they think if I wore it today?” These are the thoughts that plague us when we are unsure of ourselves, when we live inside of our made-up spotlight and assume that others are aware of us in the way that we are aware of them.
When we are confident, we find that feeling disappears. We have no need to explain, exaggerate nor simplify. We have the freedom to come and go as we please, leaving our audiences to admire the fact that we can wear the same black turtleneck three days in a row; I wonder if previously, they would sit within that same air of judgement.
Judgement of self stems from insecurity.
The inner voice that questions, 'What will they think if I wear this again?', 'Is this out of season?' A physical manifestation of uncertainty, craving and being comforted through external validation, rather than cultivating our own sense of style.
Repetition comes from identification - a proud statement.
When we confidently re-wear pieces, we transcend the need for approval or trend conformity. No longer craving acceptance, proudly proclaiming 'This is who I am!'"
Individuality almost commands a repetition on some level within personal style; no matter industry or trade, profession or passion. Examine below:
Andy Warhol - Black turtlenecks, striped shirts, leather jackets, silver wigs.
Rick Owens - Black, draped, and asymmetrical clothing, combat boots.
Zaha Hadid - Architectural black clothing, statement jewelry.
Bill Cunningham - Blue workman’s jacket, khaki pants, black sneakers, camera.
Albert Einstein - Gray suits, disheveled hair, no socks.
Steve Jobs - Black turtleneck, blue jeans, and New Balance sneakers.
Tiger Woods - Red shirt on Sundays, black pants, Nike hat.
Even if you, personally, wouldn’t consider all or any of these people to be the most “fashionable”, you could never say they didn’t have their own style. You would be able to pick them out of a crowd, you could describe their wardrobe without ever stepping into their home. That is the true mastery of repetition.
Never doubt for a moment that who you are, what you feel, deserves to be individually celebrated. This isn’t to say that you can’t shop the trends; trends are powerful in that they can help us identify more about what best suits us. They can inspire us to think about old pieces a new way, or at worst, jolt us awake to something you find absolutely mortifying, tragic, something you would rather drop dead than have in your closet.
Having style is the ability to reflect who you are on the inside, out.
For now,
Alexandra Diana, The A List