The elusive three words
Can you help me define my style?
Just a quick note that I’m workshopping a title for my lil substack…
In it’s current iteration, I’m calling it “Charm Bracelet” because
My grandma’s charm bracelet is my most cherished possession. I love the way it feels to wear it around and consider what each charm meant to her. It feels like the truest form of my own style.
Charms often signify important achievements, personal stories, and can communicate key aspects of the wearer’s values to the world. Each charm has a story unto itself. AND, as the charm collection grows, a larger story starts to emerge: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I think that’s a nice metaphor for the themes I’d like to explore here.
The title might change again, but for now, I think it’s sweet. 💞
In late February I downloaded the wardrobe organizing app, Indyx. I first heard of the app a few years ago through Avery Trufelman’s podcast, “Articles of Interest,” but was overwhelmed by the upfront work of the app experience: uploading and digitally cataloging images of all your clothing.
Indyx kept coming up, though. As I entered 2024, it felt like it was finally time to bite the bullet and use Indyx to help me along the way of achieving more clarity around my sense of style. The good news is that adding all my clothes to the app was surprisingly easy once I finally had the resolve to begin the process.
A brief overview of Indyx (for the uninitiated)
If you haven’t heard of Indyx before, here are a few contextual details:
Indyx is a mobile app that self-defines as: “The one-stop digital wardrobe app unlocking the potential of what you already own.” The main value this app provides me currently is the ability to see all the clothes I own on a digital interface and collage my clothes together into different outfits that I might want to wear.
Below, you can see a screen recording I made of my uploaded wardrobe on Indyx.
The app also has a buy/sell platform wherein you can resell clothes to other Indyx users directly from your uploaded wardrobe. I have yet to use this feature, though I imagine that they hope for this to be one of the main revenue drivers as the app scales…
In addition to the buy/sell platform, you can also make in-app purchases to enhance your experience. One in-app purchase I have considered: hiring a stylist (they have about a dozen currently listed) to consider my style goals and create new interesting outfits out of the clothing I have uploaded to the app, while also suggesting a few items I might add to flesh out the usability of the clothing I already own. One in-app purchase I have not considered: a $15/mo AI outfit generator option.
Currently, I am only using the app’s free features and I find that to be plenty robust for my needs.
Defining my “three words”
One of the free features I’ve especially enjoyed on Indyx is their Style Workshop. It’s an 8-week long workshop that arrives in once-a-week installments via email. The workshop is all about getting better clarity around your own style and how to build a wardrobe that reflects it.
The activity which has stumped and intrigued me the most has been the definition of my “three words,” a common term among the fashion folks. The concept is to pick three words that best define your sense of style. For instance, “sophisticated, structural, textured” or “comfy, colorful, sporty.”
Finding my own three words has been hard. Especially as I navigate a shift from the style I had in my 20s to the style I would like to cultivate now.
In my 20s I’d probably define the best of my style as “irreverent, maximalist, eclectic.”
I appreciate 20s Kara style. It’s colorful and somehow cohesive in its un-cohesiveness. I attribute a lot of my style explorations at that age to my friends, who were incredibly playful with their own styles. I’m also thankful for Kime at The End for hiring me to be shop girl for a lil while. I spent all the money I made there on exceptional and interesting vintage. It was a wonderful time of self-discovery.
Today, however, my style is not so “irreverent, maximalist, and eclectic.” In fact, maybe NONE of those words apply any longer. I’ve played around with combinations of the following words and feel like I’ve gotten close, but never quite right:
Cool
Alluring
Unexpected
Subtly surprising
Genderfluid
Playful
Thoughtful
Unrestricted
My request
So, I ask of you: will you help me hone in on my three words? Below I have attached several pics of outfits that feel like they more or less hit the mark for me stylistically. What do you take from them? What words would you apply?
I’d love to hear what you think! I also acknowledge, of course, that so much of language is subjective (for instance, my definition of “cool” could be so wildly different from your own). However, I would love your thoughts in spite of that subjectivity—you’re doing me a favor by helping me get a little clearer with my style definition.
The other thing is… I’d love to hear which three words you’d choose (or have already chosen) for yourself! And if you’re stumped a bit, like me, maybe we can pose some words for each other. After all, sometimes it is so much easier to see things from an outside perspective. Don’t be shy! I’m still fresh to the platform and would love to make some more substack friends. :~)
With love always,
Kara
inventive, playful, unashamed ?? my two cents!