Over the years I have assembled quite a staple wardrobe with a personal style. I went from a bit of a hipster-kind of phase in 2015 into the complete opposite direction. I was over tie-dye and the semi-gothic/hipster look. I was only 16 years old at the time so it was quite hard for me back then to discover what kind of new personal style I wanted to adopt. I started using platforms such as Instagram and blogs as my inspiration and soon discovered that I am a huge lover of the minimal, Scandinavian, casual chic sort of look, which I hope also shines through into my day-to-day style.



However, last year I started to panic a bit. I felt like my outfits just weren’t that exciting anymore as they would usually be very minimal, with only the colours grey, white of black incorporated into it. Since I had been sticking to this minimal, Scandi casual-chic look for almost 6 years now, I had a bit of a panic think and decided that it’s time for me to start expanding my own style comfort zone. As much as I love to wear a graphic tee or just a basic tee and jeans or smart trousers, I knew I wanted to be a bit more adventurous without losing my style too much.

I am still trying to find a balance in finding clothes that are inside of my style comfort zone as well as picking items that aren’t. Two years ago I wouldn’t really wear skirts or incorporate red into my outfits. In today’s post I thought it would be fun to share how I making baby steps to expanding my style comfort zone.

Make a plan

I think it all really starts with making a little plan into how you can incorporate colour or prints into your wardrobe. I usually find myself wanting to incorporate colours or prints into my wardrobe after seeing some of my favourite bloggers or Instagrammers wear a piece I like. Animal print for example has been one of those ‘I love it, but do I feel comfortable in it’ comfort zones for me. It’s been a trend that we’ve seen loads in the past year. That’s why I started making a plan for myself on how I could incorporate that print into my wardrobe. So since I was debating whether or not I would like to invest into animal print, I started making a folder on my instagram with all the outfits of my favourite bloggers and instagrammers that were wearing animal print. I would start browsing websites to see their stock and to see if there was anything I liked. If I saw something I liked I would also check to see if there’s something inside of my wardrobe already that I would style it with. If that was the case, then this item would be moved to my ‘consider to buy’ list. If that wasn’t the case, then I knew it would be too much of an investment/hassle for me to incorporate this item into my wardrobe.

Start with adding smaller accessories into your wardrobe

I find that it really helps to start adding colours or prints to your wardrobe by starting out with adding accessories in that colour/print to your wardrobe. I for example am 100% sure that you will not see me wearing a red suit in the future. As much as I love that look on other people, I know it’s something that is too far of a step out of my comfort zone.
Two years ago I started getting into the colour red again. It’s been a while since I have actually worn that colour as I think it’s a very statement colour that I don’t always feel comfortable in. After the summer of last year I needed to gain back some confidence and I knew that the colour red could really help me gain back some of that confidence. However, I wasn’t ready to wear a pair of red trousers back then, I decided to buy myself a red bag instead, which was also a pretty big deal to me. Most of my bags are black, so buying myself a red bag was a big change for me. But by incorporating a red bag into my wardrobe, it has become a lot easier for me to also wear some more other colours. Since adding that red bag into my wardrobe last autumn, I actually have bought a pair of brown trousers and find myself looking more and more towards burnt-orange and yellow-y colours. Those are still quite neutral to some of you, but buying a pair of brown trousers was definitely not in my comfort zone last year.

Style out-there items with your usual uniform

Another one of those prints that I have gotten into this past year is, of course, animal print. I love me a leopard print. It again started with introducing a leopard print bag to my wardrobe, where it has now led to me actually buying a leopard-like skirt. This basically is an even bigger step outside of my fashion comfort zone, as it firstly is a skirt and secondly has a print on it. I personally don’t feel super comfortable in skirts, especially if they have a print on it. However, I decided to bite the bullet and just wear it anyway. I like to style those pieces that are a couple of steps too far out of my comfort zone with my ‘usual uniform’. This basically means I would prefer to style this sort out skirt with a basic tee and my leather jacket, as they are two items I both feel extremely comfortable and ‘me’ in. So even though I am wearing a skirt, which is something I don’t feel 100% comfortable in, I decide to pair it with something I do feel comfortable in. This instantly adds to my confidence.