Is the Three-Word Method Limiting?
The power of defining your taste plus new combinations to inspire you!
Are the three words limiting?
I truly do not think they are. Choosing three words to help guide your personal style is not forcing you to be a particular thing, they serve to articulate something that is subjective, artistic, and often hard to put a finger on. These words are not intended to label you or box you into a singular “aesthetic.” Instead, they function as a guiding framework and filter to help you cultivate your own unique taste.
OFFERING LANGUAGE TO A CREATIVE PURSUIT
Defining things can be a powerful tool for understanding and teaching. While getting dressed is meant to be creative and expressive, it can be challenging to understand what you like and why, unless we apply language to articulate those preferences.
I am sure we have all experienced moments when we are looking at an outfit, a painting, or a room and know that we love it, but we can’t quite figure out what we love about it. Sometimes, we can leave it at that and appreciate the artistry for what it is. However, when we are talking about fashion - something that goes on your body and is a consumer good- I think having the language to describe and define helps enhance our understanding of our own preferences!
THE POWER OF TASTE
Understanding your likes and dislikes and the WHY behind it is really valuable, especially in a social media landscape that tells us what is chic, cool, and trendy. Having a strong sense of identity and style allows you to trust your taste. This way, we can participate in trends in a way that feels authentic to you. I talk about that HERE!
IF THE THREE-WORD METHOD FEELS LIMITING
If you do feel boxed in by this idea or feel like your words are limiting you in a negative way, here is how to reframe some ideas:
Take photos of your looks every day for a week, and see what words are coming up for you. Are there any elements that you don’t love in the looks? What are some opposing words that will remind you to NOT add those elements? For example, if your looks feel too “cute” or “sweet,” maybe you want to use a word like “edgy” or “sharp” to remind yourself to add some tension and a twist to your looks.
If you are having difficulty narrowing it down to three…don’t! Use as many as you want and lean into what feels helpful.
Ask yourself what you are reaching for… sometimes it is helpful to make the words more aspirational to help guide you in the direction that you want. Look at your wishlist and ask yourself what you want out of those pieces. Are you reaching for more polish, more slouch, more color? I find that it is always helpful and can help you reframe and evolve.
SOME EXAMPLES
I wanted to create some fictional three word combinations to inspire you and spark new ideas. Perhaps you’ll discover something that resonates with you or helps articulate what you couldn’t put into words! I also think you might look at some of them and say, “Wow, you call that sexy? That does not look sexy to me?” That just goes to show that the best thing about defining our style is that it is OUR own definition. I have clients where we will literally make up words that only we know the definition to, such as “bohemi-nimal” or “slinky sexy.” Have fun with it! The three words are meant to help us organize our whims a bit and focus us in on what we really love and where we want to go with our style.
So without further ado….
I made up a few fun three word combos and created little moodboards based on these grab bag combos. The fun thing is that some of these images might speak to you and you might associate totally different words with them!!
I want to know everyone’s three word combos — lets inspire each other!
AB’s picks
SHARP, NEUTRAL, 90’S
AB’s picks
SOFT, SCULPTURAL, OVERSIZED
AB’s picks
WESTERN, EDGY, WHIMSICAL
AB’s picks
GROOVY, TEXTURED, SEXY
AB’s picks
PREPPY, TAILORED, UTILITARIAN
Thank you for subscribing! I hope this newsletter provided some inspiration, and I’m so excited to hear your unique three-word combinations!
xx Allison
Thank you for this! Despite having a very robust Pinterest page of looks, I was still struggling to refine all of it into three words. Your "preppy, tailored, utilitarian" is perhaps the perfect combination for me (I even recently pinned that Bottega runway look!). I am a child of the '90s though, so I feel like I may need to sneak that in somewhere...
Thank you, Allison! This really clicked for me. I would say my three words are 'minimal', 'refined' and 'edgy' and when I looked at my moodboards, I have already seen that my way of 'refined' is nineties elegance these days and 'edgy' is represented by leather and sharp silhouettes. Your 'sharp - 90s - neutral' moodboard just brought it all together!