To Build the Perfect Wardrobe, Understand Yourself

This is part of my ongoing series: How to Improve Your Style for Men

The title of this series is How to Improve Your Style, but what does style even mean? For me, style means self-awareness. When you’re self-aware, you know what you like and don’t like, that’s taste. And a well-developed taste leads to style. Your style is your story, it’s your lived experiences, and to express that story with how you dress is my definition of style. So to have style, you must know yourself.

Before assessing and building out your wardrobe, reflect on your personality, story, and lifestyle. A great wardrobe must be personal to you but it also must be functional. Here are a few questions that will help out with a personal assessment:

• What is your job?
  • Are you working at an office? Does the office have a dress code or a uniform?
  • Do you work from home?
  • Do you work with your hands?
• What do you do outside of work? What are your hobbies?
  • Do you prefer to spend a night out? Or a night in?
• Who are your heroes?
  • Those you know personally
  • Those you admire at a distance (athletes, musicians, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, etc.)
• What’s your favorite ___?
  • Shows
  • Movies
  • Genre of music
  • Books
• What are three words you’d use to describe your personality?
  • What’s your Myers-Briggs personality type?
• Where have you lived and where do you live now?
• What was your cultural upbringing? Do you strongly identify with it?
• On the spectrum of maximalist to minimalist, where do you fall?
• What are the different roles or identities you play in life?
  • Past roles
  • Current roles
  • Future roles