Feel Good in Your Clothes: How to Discover Your Style as the Youngest of the Family
by Brianna Allison
If you’re the youngest of your family, you know that you’re constantly in the shadow of your siblings— whether it’s with sports, school or hobbies. Since they’re your siblings, it’s inevitable you’ll have to share a ton of things… even though they might not even live at home anymore. Maybe you have to share a car, maybe you share a room but one thing is for sure… you’ll definitely be sharing clothes. Whether that means secretly stealing their clothes or getting their hand-me-downs, it’s hard to find your own style when you’re always sharing someone else’s.
So I’m here to show you how to find your style of clothes and not lose yourself amongst the piles of hand-me-downs.
Don’t be afraid to be yourself
With two older sisters, I know it can be hard to find your own style. My mom always tells me that it was never easy to get me to wear my sisters’ hand-me-downs. She likes to remind me that, when I was 5 years old, I threw a fit because I thought that my handed-down outfits were ugly and that they “weren’t me.” From a young age, I was adamant about wanting my own clothes that reflected who I was. However, I continued to wear my sister’s clothes. I came to realize that I just needed to find myself in them.
The first step toward discovering your own style is to understand who you are as a person. How can you create looks that portray your personality if you’re not sure who you are? To find yourself: pay attention to what you like and what you don’t like. Ask yourself questions and really think about your responses. Try new things. Use your voice. Although it may not be an easy task or happen quickly, as you try different looks and pieces, you’ll discover yourself little by little.
Right now, I know it may be hard to see the correlation between this piece of advice and fashion, but it is essential. If you want to truly find your own identity amongst the many personalities of your family, you shouldn’t be afraid to be yourself.
Make the hand-me-downs your own
Once you start to find out who you are, you’re able to personalize the clothes that you’re given from family members or even the ones that you steal from their closets. It can be difficult to make a piece of clothing your own because it may have been bought for someone with a completely different body type, sense of style or even purpose. But this just means you have to get creative.
Use accessories to make an outfit fit your style. It could be a belt, jewelry, a purse, shoes or even makeup. Adding some smaller pieces from your own wardrobe will help to personalize the whole outfit to your needs and individuality.
If you’re crafty, you can really get to work and alter some of the hand-me-downs. It’s time to get out your scissors and sewing machine! If you don’t like the way something fits you or you don’t think it fits your personality, you have the opportunity to rework it to your own style and body type. You can even add patches, jewels, paint, bleach or more to the pieces of clothes to personalize them. The possibilities are endless.
Don’t stick to your comfort zone
One of the hardest parts of finding your style as the youngest of your family is trying clothes out of your comfort zone. As the baby of the family, it’s easy for family members to put you in a box. You might want to take a piece and make it fit your personality better. But then they speak up and say “Oh, that’s not your style,” or “I like it better when it looks like this.”
They feel like they know what to expect from you or what you should be wearing because of your siblings, but it’s time to prove them wrong. You might feel pressure to only follow your siblings’ footsteps because you don’t want to upset your family, but you can’t allow their opinions to take away from expressing yourself. Discovering your style is about you, not them.
So, even if you’re told that you shouldn’t wear something or that you shouldn’t change the piece, you don’t need to listen. Try it anyway because sometimes the best things happen when you step outside of your comfort zone. You may find that you truly feel like yourself.
You deserve to feel good in your own clothes
Discovering your style as the youngest of the family is not going to be easy, but it’s worth it. The process will take time, and it may change through the years, but that’s okay. The important thing is to be true to yourself.
You feel your best when you’re happy in the clothes that you’re wearing. If you’re getting hand-me-downs, make the most of them. Just because they weren’t bought with you in mind doesn’t mean that they can’t become yours. So don’t be afraid to be yourself, personalize your pieces and step out of your comfort zone. Sharing clothes doesn’t have to be a bad thing, especially if you learn how to find your style of clothes.
Is your closet filled with hand-me-downs from your family members? Comment below to share some tips on how you still manage to personalize your clothes and discovered your style!