Taste Is a Muscle.

I used to think taste was something you either had or you didn’t. You know the type of person people describe by saying, “She just has great taste.” Whether they’re talking about her wardrobe, her home, the hotels she chooses or even the way she sets a table, it all seems to make sense. Everything feels considered without looking like she tried too hard.

For a long time, I assumed that was something people were born with. Now I think it’s something entirely different.

I think taste is a muscle.

The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized that developing your own sense of style has very little to do with keeping up and almost everything to do with paying attention. Not to what’s trending, but to yourself.

We spend so much time asking what’s new that we rarely stop to ask what’s consistent. What are the pieces you reach for over and over again? What colors make you feel like the best version of yourself? What silhouettes do you instinctively gravitate toward? Which outfits make you feel confident before you’ve even left the house? Those answers tell you infinitely more about your personal style than any trend forecast ever will.

My trick for the last few seasons has been simple: when I like an outfit I am wearing, I feel confident in it, I make sure I snap a pic and file it in a folder of Outfits. When I’m feeling uninspired, I just peek in it and either repeat an outfit or get inspired to put something similar together.