My God, I am going to need a Pinterest intervention soon. Being a highly visual person, this site just delights me to no end. If you’re not familiar with Pinterest yet, Pinterest is a virtual pin board where you can pin all the beautiful and visually stimulating things you find on the web and then categorize them on boards based on your interests.
While glossed over getting my visual fix on, I realized that Pinterest is a fantastic way to find and cultivate your own personal style. In fact, the use of Pinterest is very similar to the magazine exercise I’ve given lots of my clients to do when I meet them for the first time.
Finding your personal style is a very visceral and instinctual experience. This is why I created the magazine exercise. Basically, it works this way: I ask clients to go through catalogs and magazines and to pull out images they respond to. The important part about this exercise, as I explain to my clients, is that they need to respond quickly to an image and if they spend more than five seconds looking at something they have to pull it out and show it to me. The images don’t necessarily have to be fashion, they can be anything from products to architecture to a landscape. I make this suggestion because most women spend too much time cerebrally thinking about what their style is. Few trust themselves enough to let their instincts run the show. However, style is found beneath the chatter of the mind, the worry if something is trendy and the panic of whether the style is right for the body. Style is a reaction, it can’t be thought about.
This is what I like about Pinterest as a tool for finding your personal style, it involves that same visceral response without thought…either you respond to an image or you don’t.
How to Use Pinterest to Find Your Personal Style
Some of my Pinterest Boards
If you don’t have a Pinterest account, I suggest you start one. It’s pure fun and feels like a visual vacation. There is also something quite liberating about it. Without judgment, you give your instincts the ability to react. If you’re drawn to something that you like it’s worth pinning it to your pin board. From there, you can create your own customized boards. For example, I have a board called “My future home.” It has been fun to see what décor styles I am reacting to and to file the ideas away for future use. In addition, I’ve been finding out a lot about my personal style in home décor just by doing this. I had no idea until I looked at all the images I pulled that I like more neutral décor with punches of wild color and a little whimsy. I also have another board called “Color combinations I love” and “my style” for all the looks I find myself drawn to. I also have boards for things like “Wacky Fashion” when I find things I may not be drawn to, but certainly don’t want to forget. As you are creating your boards, stop after you’ve collected a few images and look at what you pulled. You may surprise yourself and find an aspect of your own personal style that you didn’t even know was there.
I’m always adding more images, so feel free to follow me on Pinterest and see what I have been pinning.
