This is a tricky one.
They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder - same goes for style - so style to me might be different from what you see and perceive as stylish. It's each one to his own when it comes to style. What I might call stylish, you may think (at best) non-descript or (at worst) hideous - there is no definitive criteria of "style" - each and everyone of us is right (in our own minds) about what we think as stylish - as bizarre as it may seem.
But where most people do go wrong is defining style as the current trends in fashion - what's "in" is stylish and what was last season is "out" and not in style. That to me is rather a shallow and (if I may say so) an uninformed way of thinking and talking about style.
In reality, style is timeless, transcends current fashion and is a way of living and thinking that is unique to each and everyone of us. It is an approach to design and fashion and our preference for certain designs over others.
For example, my home is styled the way I want to live, which is serene, organised and focused more on the five than the fifteen - that is - I would rather get five things that I really, really want to complement my decor than fifteen random ones. Similarly the way I dress defines my personal style, which is harmonised and understated.
Most people instinctively have a style, whether they are aware of it or not, a list of design preferences that they gravitate towards time and again without realising - reaching for the same or similar things in home decor and personal attire.
But what about current trends in design and fashion? Where do they fit in with style?
Undoubtedly most of us are influenced by current trends, but they donot become "style" unless adopted unequibaly by us. When design and fashion enters the domain of your personal space only then it becomes your style, on the shelf or in stores they are just designs waiting to be incorporated by people into their personal space - and like any and many of life journey's, your style evolves as you become older, more mature. I myself, over the years have experimented with design and fashion (sometimes with disastrous outcomes!) but as I have grown older I have become more confident in knowing and recognising my personal style and picking out what in the current trends would complement me and my personal spaces.
So the age old question, who has style and who hasn't? Well I leave that question for you to ponder over. Is there a right or wrong - but more importantly, is there a right and wrong that you and I will agree on?
Because when it comes to style, it really is all about perceptions, my dear, like ninety-nine percent of life's encounters!
They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder - same goes for style - so style to me might be different from what you see and perceive as stylish. It's each one to his own when it comes to style. What I might call stylish, you may think (at best) non-descript or (at worst) hideous - there is no definitive criteria of "style" - each and everyone of us is right (in our own minds) about what we think as stylish - as bizarre as it may seem.
But where most people do go wrong is defining style as the current trends in fashion - what's "in" is stylish and what was last season is "out" and not in style. That to me is rather a shallow and (if I may say so) an uninformed way of thinking and talking about style.
In reality, style is timeless, transcends current fashion and is a way of living and thinking that is unique to each and everyone of us. It is an approach to design and fashion and our preference for certain designs over others.
For example, my home is styled the way I want to live, which is serene, organised and focused more on the five than the fifteen - that is - I would rather get five things that I really, really want to complement my decor than fifteen random ones. Similarly the way I dress defines my personal style, which is harmonised and understated.
Most people instinctively have a style, whether they are aware of it or not, a list of design preferences that they gravitate towards time and again without realising - reaching for the same or similar things in home decor and personal attire.
But what about current trends in design and fashion? Where do they fit in with style?
Undoubtedly most of us are influenced by current trends, but they donot become "style" unless adopted unequibaly by us. When design and fashion enters the domain of your personal space only then it becomes your style, on the shelf or in stores they are just designs waiting to be incorporated by people into their personal space - and like any and many of life journey's, your style evolves as you become older, more mature. I myself, over the years have experimented with design and fashion (sometimes with disastrous outcomes!) but as I have grown older I have become more confident in knowing and recognising my personal style and picking out what in the current trends would complement me and my personal spaces.
So the age old question, who has style and who hasn't? Well I leave that question for you to ponder over. Is there a right or wrong - but more importantly, is there a right and wrong that you and I will agree on?
Because when it comes to style, it really is all about perceptions, my dear, like ninety-nine percent of life's encounters!
