Find Your Personal Style With The Dearly Bethany Style Masterclass

I am about to embark on a quest to find my personal style.

You may think describing what I am doing as a quest is a little dramatic. Isn’t this just a wardrobe revamp? Oh, no. I promise you it is far more than that.

Like some of the heroes of yesteryear, I have been searching my whole life for something of great value.

My holy grail is a wardrobe (a well-organized, capsule wardrobe) of clothes that fit and feel like a second skin.

Clothes that can encase my limbs like armour. Protecting while conveying to the world my inner strength. Clothes that, like witches’ robes, are imbued with magic to enchant all who look upon me.

If I am being more realistic, I am searching for practical yet flattering clothes. Clothes that are durable but still expressive of what I love, and as a curvy, 5-foot woman, such garments are pretty tricky to come by.

So far, my wardrobe has consisted of pieces here and there that made me feel as if I sparkled a little every time I draped myself in them.

But too often, it felt like I had just borrowed other people’s clothes. I would put them on and feel like I was acting a part.

Then, let’s not forget the classic wardrobe traps I have repeatedly fallen into, such as buying clothes for my future self and all the events that never actually took place.

At this very moment, I am in a style rut. I have a uniform that consists of monochromatic basics from Uniqlo. I am all about the Airism range in summer, and in winter, I switch it out for the Heattech classics.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy this look, and I have stuck with it for a couple of years, and it has served me well.

I have done everything in these basics, from horse-riding across Icelandic lava fields to enjoying a gondola ride along the Grand Canal in Venice.

Yet, I have finally reached the point where I want more variety and, dare I say, more fun.

As my past attempts at fashion reinventions have not succeeded, I have decided to turn to a professional for help.

Many of you may already know the online content creator Dearly Bethany. Bethany is a design professional and style mastery coach with over one million subscribers on YouTube; that is where I discovered her.

I immediately loved her styling tips, especially those for petite women. But I was also drawn to her videos because of her delicate strength and composure.

Her take on fashion is also refreshing. She sees fashion as an art form; she dresses with intention and clarifies that creating a wardrobe is not about following the trends but curating things you love.

Bethany has launched a style masterclass course with over 5,000 students worldwide.

In Bethany’s words, this 9-week, 70+ lesson masterclass digs deep into your loves and inspirations to guide you step-by-step from feeling completely lost with your wardrobe to becoming the most unique and stylish woman in the room.

This course offered me everything I wanted, so I signed up. The thing is, I signed up a year ago and have yet to make time to complete the course.

I do not want to watch the videos and sit back and think that was interesting. I want to put in the effort and give it a real go to see if I can create positive changes in my wardrobe.

After a lifetime of hodge-podge fashion choices, can I turn it all around and find my personal style in a mere nine weeks?

Well, I am about to find out. You can come with me on this journey, as I will provide weekly updates, sharing everything I am learning and how I am putting it into practice.

Week 1 of the Dearly Bethany Personal Style Masterclass: You Are Unique

Week 1 of the course consists of 12 videos and a self-assessment worksheet.

Key takeaways from the videos:

· This course is not just about following specific style rules.

· I will not be required to enter by wardrobe until week 4. This is because the most crucial part of finding your personal style is understanding yourself fully.

· A personal style is a lifelong journey and should be a self-portrait. Your portrait reflects your style but also your emotions, intuition, and nostalgia and transitions you into where you want your future to take you.

· Your wardrobe should be an accumulation of small, influential pieces of inspiration.

· The design process is critical to finding your style. As the saying goes, you can use an eraser on the drawing table or a sledgehammer on the construction site.

· Great designs are made from a set of limitations, not from boundless never-ending options. Be encouraged that there is a path forward to make your wardrobe work for you no matter your life’s limitations.

· Style is powerful. It can act as an icebreaker, and it can change the proportions of your body. You get to decide what you accentuate, conceal and reveal.

· Style can impact your mental state. This is called enclothed cognition. What you physically wear influences your thoughts about yourself and what you believe you can do. Enclothed cognition depends on two factors. The symbolism of the clothes and actually wearing the clothing.

The self-assessment worksheet: What is holding you back?

The purpose of the self-assessment worksheet is to help the student set a starting point and give them the knowledge of what’s holding them back from finding their curated style.

Part 1 of 3: I was required to agree or disagree with a series of statements

I agreed with the following statements:

· My wardrobe does not represent who I am at this stage in my life.

· I play it too safe by wearing boring clothes. I don’t know how to get out of my rut.

· My current wardrobe has so many pieces in it. It feels like I cannot find anything to wear in the morning. It can be very overwhelming.

· I have let others tell me how to dress and I want to explore this for myself now.

I disagreed with the following statements:

· I like to follow trends and keep up with fashion, but I find that what I get does not represent me fully.

· I have not prioritized how I dress for so long; now, hardly anything I own matches or is in a good condition.

Part 2 of 3: I was required to answer true or false to a series of statements

These are the statements I believe to be true:

· I like to dress for my weekends, dates, and nights out. I don’t have a style outside of those outfits.

· I dress for me. I wear what is comfortable, and that’s about it.

· Money! My clothing budget has been small/been on the back burner. I make decisions based on what I can afford.

These are the statements I believe to be false:

· My school or job dress code: I don’t really have outfits for anything else.

· It matters to me that I look good in public. I do find that I worry about what strangers think.

· I wear what my co-workers think is best.

· I wear what my friends, family, and/or spouse think I should wear.

Part 3 of 3: I was required to answer a series of questions

1) Who in the past told you to dress the way you do?

I came from a conservative family, and they have partly influenced how I dress. I still dress conservatively and try not to stand out or draw attention to myself. I feel these two factors limit my style options.

2) What limitations do you feel are holding you back from the style you dream of?

Budget — I don’t prioritize spending money on clothes. I also don’t like to own a lot of things.

Comfort — I work from home and will opt for comfortable, loose-fitting clothes, even if they are not the most flattering.

Mismatch — I have nice clothing but can’t turn them into complete outfits.

Height and body type — I am curvy and petite, and I find it challenging to find clothes that fit me well.

Saving my best clothes — I tend to keep nicer outfits for special occasions, but most pieces would also be suitable for everyday wear, and if I did this, I would get more wear out of clothes I enjoy wearing.

3) How does your current style make you feel?

Plain. I don’t look good or bad. I blend into the background.

4) What are the top 3 reasons you want to find your own curated style finally?

- I want to feel good in the clothes I live in. Putting on clothes I don’t love puts a dampener on the start of my day.

- Putting effort into how I present myself is a form of self-care I have been neglecting.

- Society respects people who are put together. I want the societal perks of being well-dressed.

Week 1 Assignments

1) Take a photo of your current wardrobe and any issues you are currently having with it.

2) Think of a time you were frustrated with your wardrobe. Write down what happened in that moment. What were you getting dressed for? What went wrong?

Join me for week 2, where we will discover and create a style persona, which is a hero version of yourself.

I hope you have enjoyed this article. If you did, it would be great if you gave me a clap or left a comment.