The Everyday Icon Style Podcast

Episode 166: Revitalize and Evolve: My 5 Style Mistakes

• Tiffany Howard

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Have you ever felt like your personal style was stuck in a rut, waiting for the perfect moment to break free? I'll share my own journey of overcoming life challenges that led me to neglect my appearance. But here's the promise: by recognizing when we've stopped prioritizing our style and taking small actions, we can reignite our passion for self-care and confidence.

In this episode of the Everyday Icon Style Podcast, we unpack how ditching the "waiting game" mentality and embracing change can lead to unexpected opportunities in both our personal and professional lives. It's time to stop postponing style until after the next milestone and start dressing for success right now.

Also, let's talk about evolving your personal style by breaking free from those familiar shopping habits. Are you ready to explore new fashion territories? I share my tips on how venturing beyond the stores you know—like trying out Banana Republic Factory Outlet or Zara—can elevate your wardrobe to reflect the new you.

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Speaker 1:

Ignite your style with the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. I'm Tiffany, your style navigator and confidant here to lead women in corporate America on the quest to discover their timeless style. Let's revolutionize your wardrobe, empower your confidence and embrace your inner icon. Are you ready to redefine your corporate chic? Then let's get started. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. I am your host, tiffany, and I really can't remember if I said that my last podcast episode was going to be the last one for this season, but nonetheless we're here.

Speaker 1:

I had an idea that I actually recorded for YouTube and thought you know what? I'm going to record it for the podcast as well. So today I'm going to share with you my five style mistakes, and I am probably sure that these are the same mistakes that you have made, but you may just not know that they're mistakes and that you've been making them, so these mistakes are not your typical. I have to find the right color or I don't have the right, whatever. You know that we hear out here in the information streets these days, so let's go ahead and dive right in. So the first one is I stopped caring. Now, when we talk about I'm stopped caring, we know that life happens because life has happened to me and to you and during that process something has to go, and usually the easiest thing to go is how we look and how we dress, because sometimes we just need to get up, get out the door, do what we need to do, come back home and handle what we need to handle. Now I know a lot of people might say, well, you know what, I stopped caring during COVID. But I would like to disagree with that. In most cases, if you really sit and think about it, it happened prior to COVID. Covid just allowed you to sit in it and to lean in it more and be okay about it. It happened prior to COVID. Covid just allowed you to sit in it and to lean in it more and be okay with it. So now that life happens and I know for me I can definitely say when I relocated from Pittsburgh to Charlotte almost 13 years ago, I fell into that.

Speaker 1:

I had health issues which really also made me fall into the not caring mode because I just wanted to get up, go to work. When I had, you know, a job or my health issues. Sometimes it took every ounce of strength in me to get from my car to the office and back again. So those are the things to where we stop caring, because there are things that are more important. So what happens with that is is then we become stuck in it, and we become so stuck in it that we really don't even see that we're stuck.

Speaker 1:

So how do we unstuck ourselves with this? It means doing something just a little bit small. Something small like going to get your hair done or going to get a pedicure, or something as simple as just making sure that you wear your earrings every morning, every day, because this will then allow you, slowly but surely, to get the desire back to look and feel your best again, just by taking small steps. I was talking to a friend of mine earlier today and she was talking to me about how she, when watching my YouTube video came upon, realized that she stopped caring, and it's something that all women do. We put others before ourselves and we forget that we have to put ourselves first. So this is a great way to just put yourself first and always making sure that, above all else, if you don't do anything else for yourself, you know that you looked good for today.

Speaker 1:

So next is the waiting game, and this actually ties into number one, for the. I stopped caring. So what the waiting game is? I'm going to wait until I wait. My wait is a certain wait. I'm going to wait until I get that job. I'm going to wait until I get that, whatever X, y and Z is, I get that. Whatever X, y and Z is.

Speaker 1:

What happens is, when you wait, it's as if you are giving yourself that is the reward for achieving something or doing something. But I want you to think about it this way what happens if that never happens? What happens if you don't get to your desired weight? What happens if you don't get that job that you want, or you don't get that promotion you want or that opportunity that you want? I want to challenge you to think about it this way. I want you to think about it as what if I do this now? How this could help me. So you want to flip it and you want to begin to say you know what, if I do this, if I begin to dress better, then it will work on my style. How about this? Opportunities will come. People will see you in a way that they will give you the promotion without you not saying, not applying and asking, but they'll see you in a way that it's like you know what, yep, we want that person to get.

Speaker 1:

That, if you have um, if it's weight loss, what if, as you begin to work out and work towards that, you still begin to dress the way you want to dress? Because that's one less thing you have to worry about. And as you see yourself look good, that may make you work out even more and even harder. And stick with it so that it becomes a lifestyle, because, as we all know, working out is something of it is a lifestyle. Because, as we all know, working out is something of it is a lifestyle.

Speaker 1:

So I want you to keep that in mind is, instead of doing it when you reach something because what if it doesn't happen, or it takes 10 years to happen, when it should have happened or could have happened in a year or six months, or two years or three years how about, instead of waiting, you're waiting for something, but as you're waiting, you're getting ready, so that when that opportunity presents itself, or opportunity that you never thought would present itself, appears and you're ready and you're not trying to scramble and trying to figure out oh my gosh, what am I going to wear? What am I going to do? The X, y and Z? You want to do that now, and that is one less thing you're worried about. So you might be worried about at that point. Oh, you know, I need to go and prepare myself for my first day in my new role as, say, a manager, in my new role as, say, a manager, and now you can focus on that, as opposed to, oh my gosh, what am I going to look where? Or I don't have anything and you go out and you start buying a bunch of stuff that you don't like or you don't need. So I want you to think about the waiting game and to stop waiting, but prepare as you actually wait.

Speaker 1:

So next is something a little controversial, and I don't hear. I haven't heard anybody really talk about this, but it is outgrowing where you currently shop. So we think that when you are developing our style that you can always shop where you want to shop at, in theory, yes, that is true, but if you're trying to create this, your personal style, the stores that you currently shop at may not have what you're looking for, so one forces you to get out of your comfort zone. So, for example, say, if you shop at Old Navy but Old Navy, yeah, it may have some things that you're kind of like, wow, just go with this because you're looking at it as well, the price is good, or, yeah, this will do. But what if you have to go to, say, banana Republic factory outlet and if you don't know, they're actually all owned by the same brand, they're all owned by the Gap and there's different levels. So it's like Old Navy, the Gap, and then Banana Republic, banana Republic outlet and so forth. So what if you'd go from Old Navy to Banana Republic factory outlet? If you go there, maybe that's where your style is, because the style that you're trying to create and you want to build and you envision for yourself, you have to go outside of where you currently shop.

Speaker 1:

To go and get the style is in another store, and sometimes I think that holds us back and I'm learning and I'm guilty of that as well. Yes, I like Old Navy, I mean Old Navy, but Old Navy. I go for certain things now. So I may go for my workout clothes at Old Navy, but for my other clothes I may have go there for, say, banana Republic Factory Outlet for my trousers. Or I go for my sweaters or my light knit One because they're better quality. Two, they just have this nice, elevated look that is just like wow.

Speaker 1:

So I want us to think about where we shop. Even if there are stores whether it's online or brick and mortar I want you to begin to think about the places that you wish you could shop at. I'm here to tell you you can shop at any store that you want, wish you could shop at. I'm here to tell you you can shop at any store that you want. So let's just make that clear. I don't want you to think that you have to stay in Old Navy or Forever 21 or stores like that, even if you're just going up to like Zara. If you want to come out of like department stores and you go to places like Zara, things like that and I'm not saying buy your whole wardrobe there you can find certain pieces there, so you might get your blazers out of Zara, your trousers out of Banana Republic Factory Outlet. And this is how you begin to create your look.

Speaker 1:

You also want to create a list of the stores that appeal to your style sense, and I want you to go, and I want you to start looking at those stores and begin to just browse, you'd be surprised. For example, I never, ever thought that I would be going into Abercrombie and Fitch to buy clothes, but here we are. They have great trousers, by the way. Never would have thought that. I always thought they were for young, like young people, like back when I was a teenager. But I think when I was a teenager that's who it was for. But now it's a totally different look that I'm actually liking for certain things, like their trousers and maybe some of their sweaters. So I want you to begin to do that and I'm actually thinking about and let me know you can come over to Instagram and let me know in the comments I'm thinking about actually creating a list of stores at different price points and price points and levels to help you along with outgrowing where you shop and seeing where you can actually shop. And let me tell you, even at high-end stores, you can find everything that you're looking for, even if it's on sale, to know how to shop. So I just wanted to throw that tidbit. So outgrowing where you shop is huge and that is something that a lot of people don't talk about, but of course, we are going to talk about it here because I think it's something that we need to address when helping to build and elevate and evolve your style.

Speaker 1:

So next up is another way of staying in your comfort zone, and that is holding on to the old version of you. Now, this is as comfortable as comfortable can get, but I caution you and warn you by staying this and this is for me too you're never, you're going to never grow and you're not going to elevate. And sometimes you feel this tug of war inside, um, whether it's being overwhelmed, whether it's some form of like you're. You're having these conversations in your head where it's like, well, no, I don't want to do this, but yes, we need to do this, to do X, y and Z. That's yourself going back and forth saying you know what you need to go and grow, and you're kind of like fighting with yourself or having this debate with yourself. But you always want to win out, because where you're at right now she got you to where you need to be is right now, and it's okay.

Speaker 1:

And if you look over time, if you look back over your life, you have evolved. But somewhere along the way we stop, mostly because it's fear, mostly because it's probably we're tired and we won't don't want to evolve. But if we have goals and aspirations that we want to achieve in life, we need the next version of ourself who is actually waiting for us to take that her hand so she can guide you through to the next level. And the old version of you probably also need. I want to push you out here to go, but you we're so wired and trained to say no. I want to stay on to this person. You know I want to stay here because it's comfortable but, like they always say, whatever we want is outside of our comfort zone. So, learning how to let go of that version and listen, listen. She's always going to be there because she has taught you things that you will carry into the next and you will look back and see and at some point you'll thank that version and the version before her and the version before her. You will thank them because they, without those old versions of you, you wouldn't be the version that you are currently right now. So always remember holding on to the old version of me or you.

Speaker 1:

And last but not least, you know I could never go within an episode without talking about having a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. All of the points. Stop caring. The waiting game outgrew where you shopped, holding on to the old version of you. That is why you have a closet full of clothes, of nothing to wear. This is why it is imperative and why I will always say and be on this hill that everything starts in your closet. You cannot move forward until you get rid of and clean out what no longer serves you. So that's the old version of your self-clothes that's outgrowing where you shop at. It's the waiting game because you have clothes in there. I'm going to wear this when I lose 15 pounds. I'm going to wear this when I get to that job or when I plan that trip, when I go out on this trip or I go out to this place for dinner or, most importantly, I stopped caring and you start to buy clothes. When you need to buy clothes, it looks like you don't. They look like you don't care. So all of these clothes currently probably make up your closet and until you deal with that, until you deal with that, you're never going to move forward in evolving and elevating your style.

Speaker 1:

Doing this is more than about wearing pretty clothes, pretty jewelry, having pretty hair. It has to do more so with the inside, and style is definitely starts on the inside, and it's a journey and it's sort of like a mindset shift that you kind of have to take as you're taking on this journey of moving from you know, the old version of you, to the next version of you, because that person that has to show up has to look different, different. The person that you need to become. If you want to stand on stages and speak, even if you want to be the CEO of I don't know a major financial institution in the country, right, that version of you has to look different. Even if you wear jeans and t-shirts like Mark Zuckerberg does every day, for the most part, his jean how he looks in jeans and t-shirts today, does not look like how he wore jeans and t-shirts in college. He's elevated his wear, right.

Speaker 1:

So all of that kind of goes together, which creates this stressor and when you open your closet, it you become anxious and it becomes overwhelming. It's because, until you get rid of that, you can't. You have to be able to release it so you can invite the style that you're looking for in, because you can't evolve your style on the foundation of something old. You kind of have to dismantle it a little bit, build a solid foundation, which I like to call your corporate capsule wardrobe, and then build upon that. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode today.

Speaker 1:

This will not be the last episode for the year. My next episode, which I think comes out on the 16th, right before, I think probably right before Thanksgiving, will be the last one until January. So stick around. If you like what you're hearing, please like and share and leave a review for on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. We would love to have you here and, with all of that being said, I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day, stay healthy, stay safe and, of course, I will speak to you guys in the next episode.