Your Style Doesn't Need a Label

Written By Cari McCannell

If you're a Gen X or millennial girl like me, you grew up with labels. At school you were the jock, the prep, the goth, the nerd, the skater or the good girl. At home you were the responsible one, the wild one or the quiet one. In every friend group there was an unwritten rule about who you were supposed to be.

Plenty of those labels followed us into our closets. Boho. Classic. Edgy. Minimalist. Somewhere along the way, "what's your style?" started to mean "which box do you fit in?"

Style isn't a label. It's a feeling.

For me, style is about how I want to feel, and that changes every day. Some mornings I want to feel powerful. Some days I want soft and cozy, nothing scratchy, nothing tight. Some days I want to feel a little dangerous, and some days I just want to feel like me without trying.

None of that fits in one box. I don't think it should.

A closet that can ebb and flow

So I stopped building a closet around a label and started building one around how I feel. Every piece has to be able to move with me:

  • Mood: pieces that can go louder or quieter depending on the day.

  • Sensory needs: fabrics that feel good on my skin, and fits I can actually move in.

  • Desired outcome: what I want the day to give me. Confidence for a big meeting. Comfort for a long one. Fun for a night out.

Pieces that flex with me right now

The right outfit changes everything

I really believe that. The right outfit can change how you walk into a room, how you show up for yourself and how the whole day goes. You don't need a label for that. You just need pieces that let you be whoever you are today.

So tell me: how do you want to feel today?

Find your feeling in the closet →

— Cari Mac, the Cool-it Girl

Cari McCannell
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