A Journey to Finding My Personal Taste

Finding my style through-line after a year of outfit documentation and what I learned about myself and my wardrobe.

Everyone has been talking about “taste” lately. But what does it mean to have “good taste,” and what are the criterion that define it? How do we even identify what our personal taste is? The internet can be so over-stimulating when trying to narrow down your own inspirations for “good taste”, especially in the world of influencers. I think many of us find ourselves being swayed in different directions and I know I had to take a step back and think about what I am actually drawn to and not just what was being fed to me on the internet. I’m trying to think of taste, not as something to aspire to, but on a more personal level as something I want to understand about myself; what is my taste and what am I drawn to?

Taste is so personal and can be very fluid. In fashion there are people with so many different types of taste you couldn’t possibly put them under one “style umbrella”. But what I think often links iconically tasteful people together is that they have a style through-line, a certain confidence in their look and how they present themselves to the world.  

Finding out what your personal style through-line is will help instill confidence, especially when combined with an understanding of what your style is. This can be a large part of understanding your taste.

Diving into this topic made me think about the “Outfit-a-Day” project I did last year. I realized that there are so many looks I have documented that I could easily round-up and dissect to find the through-lines that help define my personal taste in fashion. If you are going through a slight personal style crisis, I highly recommend trying this for yourself, even if its just to keep on your own camera roll. It’s a fantastic way to look back on what pieces you wore the most and what type of outfits you gravitate towards. It was so helpful for me in seeing who I am, stylistically, and what I feel the best in (plus it helped me focus on more intentional shopping!). So now I’ve gone through 52 weeks of outfits and rounded up some of the ones I found to be the most definitive to my personal taste.

We begin with the white button down…. when looking back I had almost one outfit a week with some version of a white button. The look below I remember feeling very inspired by the simplicity of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s style. Everything I was wearing felt effortless and easy to move in, yet polished (just enough)!

And again!

a little different shirt style here, but you still see the through line.

When I look at these picture I took last year, I can really see where my style influence comes through. CBK, as mentioned above, as well as Jane Birkin and her denim + tee/button down style. To me, these are women of spectacular taste. Seeing these pictures, I see how I created my own version of what I was inspired by with them.

And speaking of being inspired by Jane…

So I can safely say that my personal taste agrees with white cotton dresses and brown boots

It’s kind of a “night gown for outdoors” thing that I’m into… my friends and I were discussing this style of dressing and how it could be linked with our love of all things Jane Austen era?!

But I do also love a crisp cotton “boxer” short too..

I also noticed that this was the year I dove head first in to socks with loafers. It feels like something that’s sticking around for me, even if it feels a little “of the moment” right now. Its something new I was able to discover about my taste this year… I love ankle socks as a styling tool. It’s kind of like an unconventional form of layering, especially good when your outfit is a little more simple and you need to add something interesting to the look.

I would be remiss to not also bring up blazers and jackets… a huge through line in my style. I own many and I wear them often! I could rattle off several style icons who I find to have great taste who also wear blazers, but really I think I’ve learned that I just love a menswear inspired piece. Or just flat out menswear, but worn by women. So chic!

I could try and explain why I like everything I like, but sometimes it’s just a gut feeling. I pulled these outfit pictures because after reflecting on a years worth of look, I felt these best represented the through-line in my taste…

Colors I add to my wardrobe.. turquoise blue, pale yellow , (not pictured) red, and bright green!

(a little out of frame) but I'm having a renaissance with kitten heels + jeans. Also that Tory Burch Black tunic I'm wearing on the left was something I highly coveted and aspired to have in my wardrobe and have worn so much! The ballet top was gifted by a co-worker a couple of years ago and was a surprise outfit hero in my wardrobe.

Long ~slim~ skirts, pencil and column specifically. There so subtly sexy and feminine and I really love to through a t-shirt with them to feel more "me"

BIG skirts. I am having a love affair with skirts right now and already added a couple more to my wardrobe, knowing how much I love styling them.

Well stripes is an obvious through line here.. but also importantly is layering by tying knitwear over my shoulders or around my waist. This year I really played around with different ways to add a third piece to my outfit so that it brings the look all together.

chunky "ski" sweaters with everything in the winter. Mostly I found myself loving them over long dresses or with layered over button downs with faded out jeans!

After a year of reflecting every week on the outfits I wore, I feel like I’m more secure than ever on what my personal taste is. Honestly this felt like working on a thesis and I’m just waiting for my honorary masters degree! But until that happens, I’m satisfied with the knowledge that I know a little bit more about myself and can be more discerning now that I know what my taste is… whether you think its good or bad ( but hopefully good because you are reading this newsletter and you made it this far down already :) ) I hope this inspired you to do a little more digging in to what your personal taste is!

cheers xx,

Taylor