My Personal Style Journey

 I don't recall exactly how young I was when I first played Style Savvy, but I believe I was in fifth or sixth grade. Initially, the game didn’t make a profound impact on me. My everyday middle school wardrobe consisted of plain jeggings from Justice and basic T-shirts from Old Navy. That was my signature style—if you could even call it that. 

     In eighth grade, the pandemic hit. I went from spending six hours a day in a classroom to just one hour a day working on a pile of online assignments due at the end of the year. Like everyone else during this period of isolation, I turned to the digital world for entertainment. That's when I picked up Style Savvy again. Revisiting my old outfits made me cringe—I couldn’t believe I had once thought they looked good. However, creating stylish outfits came naturally this time around. I shared them using the Shopdo feature and received many “likes” and “purchases.”

     But it wasn't the likes that had a profound impact on me. To explain what I gained from playing Style Savvy, I’ll quote an excerpt from the essay I wrote when applying to the Fashion Institute of Technology:

   “Style Savvy introduced me to the true potential of fashion. The game showed me that fashion is so much more than a few unimportant pieces of clothing that only exist to cover ourselves. Fashion has the power to ignite meaningful relationships by reflecting our inner selves. Fashion allows us to unapologetically be ourselves. It's a powerful asset for people who are pursuing their dreams.”

       There are multiple Style Savvy games. The one I refer to when talking about Style Savvy on this blog is Style Savvy Styling Star. What separates Styling Star from other Style Savvy games is that it has the most developed story by far. The way in which the game weaves fashion into a story about three young girls pursuing their dreams of becoming singers is what made me fall in love with fashion. In the game fashion wasn’t just whatever you felt like throwing on that particular day, it was something that characters used. When the character Alina wants to apologize to her friend Melvin she ditches her usual lively and colorful look to a simple basic one to show her sincerity. When the character Yolanda wants to explain to her strict and worried mother why she must pursue her dreams as a singer she wears a mature and feminine outfit so she will be taken seriously. When Rosie wants to befriend her idol Angelique, she matches her style to make a good first impression. 

  

      There’s also the element of expressing yourself through personal style. The girls found confidence and inspired others by having a personal style. A personal style communicates your interests. The character Jo dressed in the rock style. Her rock outfits propelled her into the world of rock and metal music while reflecting her lifestyle. She was in a band and owned a live music club. 

     Having a personal style helped people to foster connections. This translates into the real world. When you walk into the room with a great outfit, that outfit becomes an asset. It gives you an edge by making you more interesting and less likely to be overlooked. In this way you can use fashion to foster connections with others.

     Style Savvy is where my style journey began. During the pandemic I did a lot of experimentation with fashion. I bought clothes in different styles, though I leaned into 80s fashion a lot. It was during my Sophomore year that I began to find my personal style and learned of a new way to appreciate clothes.

     I joined a fashion discord server and sent in a picture of a girl wearing a white set that I liked. Along with the picture I asked where I could find similar clothes. A user replied with a series of images. One image in particular came from a Liz Lisa winter catalog. Liking what I saw in the catalog photos, I searched for the brand online. I fell in love with many of the items I found. In particular I was especially entranced by a girly knit top. The ribbon weaved through the sleeves, the bow details, and the shiny hearts on top of them gave the dainty top a unique girly edge. Being used to haphazardous fast fashion I had yet to come across a garment that had so much character. Since starting my style journey I had yet to wear an outfit that embraced feminity so boldly. I checked the Liz Lisa website almost daily to see if any new garments were added. After receiving that top for my birthday I decided to search for more Liz Lisa items.

     Wanting to have something to wear with this I searched for other Liz Lisa items on Poshmark, an app my mother frequented. I was shocked to see the large number of Liz Lisa clothes being sold on the platform. I was also excited because secondhand items were more accessible to me than items that (at the time) required a shopping service to obtain. I bought myself an old orange Liz Lisa skirt for $25 in mint condition and this began my journey into my personal style. The style of old Liz Lisa items aligned with the girly style category from Style Savvy, which was my favorite style from the game. 

     Liz Lisa is a Japanese fashion brand. It was through researching this brand that I discovered other Japanese fashion brands, such as Ma*rs and Axes Femme, and others styles, such as aejo and hime gyaru. All of these different styles were incredibly unique. The clothes belonging to these brands and styles had character that fast fashion didn’t. What’s more is that clothes from brands like Liz Lisa, Mellfy Memory, and Swankiss were of much better quality than the fast fashion I was used to. It was by being introduced to Japanese fashion that I learned to value quality clothes designed with character.

     That brings me to my personal style today. I’ve stuck to my favorite styles that I was introduced to in the game. Those styles are girly and feminine. They are both very similar styles, embracing feminine imagery, fabrics, and accents. Feminine fashion is more mature and toned down. Girly fashion utilizes more cutesy elements. I value quality clothes that were designed with character greatly. That’s why I generally try to avoid shopping fast fashion, and stick to brands that actually design their garments. I also like bold fashion. (Bold is what it’s called in Style Savvy. It’s a pretty broad term. It’s very similar to tsuyome gyaru.) While I don’t purchase clothing in this style, I sometimes sew garments in this style. Over a month ago I finished sewing a set in that style that I’ve been wanting to share in this blog. I just need some good photos of it.

How did you find your personal style? I’d love to read about your stories in the comments!