Core differences between Fashion & Style

Never confuse fashion and style.
Fashion relies on unattainable looks on women with unrealistic bodies.
Style is about utilising the best aspect of you.
Stacy London, US Fashion consultant, Author, and Media Personality

In my 5 years as a style blogger, I have noticed people – both random and professional stylists/bloggers, use the terms fashion and style synonymously.

When one thinks of clothing – fashion and style are likely the first words that come in mind. These words may coexist more than often, but they are two very distinctly different things.

By the definition

Fashion

A popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour.

Style

A distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed.

Jill Chivers from My year without clothes blog differentiates style and fashion oh so well.

She describes fashion as that which has to do with the external, and style to do with the internal.

A clear difference can be noted where Jill asks:

‘You, or the clothes?’

5 core differences

Fashion wears you, you wear Style

As a teenager, I spent most of my days watching Fashion Police (gosh I miss Joan Rivers, RIP).

I remember hearing the statements:

She is wearing that dress!!!

and

That dress is wearing her!

every so often. The first statement, was often said as a compliment; that while exploring fashion, she did not let it overpower her style.

A dress wearing you can on the other hand go both ways. In this moment, your personal style is absent. It is all about the outfit, and we cannot connect this outfit to you.

Two things can happen – the dress might be so stunning, you may have taken the worthwhile risk to give it the moment.

More than often, however, the fit, the styling and everything is just so off, and we cannot appreciate it. The outfit may not be the worst thing in the world, but it may not be the right fit for your personal style.

Fashion is fleeting, Style takes time

It took me till my mid-twenties to discover clothes I could truly feel comfortable in. Style, in my opinion is finding your personal voice within fashion.

Fashion is the trends, and there are so many trends in the world that come and go each passing day.

Being optimally stylish is being able to still maintain your voice through all these fleeting trends.

Fashion is time-bound, Style is timeless

Fashions fade, Style is eternal.
Yves Saint Laurent

What is in fashion today may, and will likely not be in fashion tomorrow.

People may ‘uuuh’ and ‘aaah’ today, and ‘eeew’ the next week.

Fashion is purely about keeping up with (sometimes recycled) trends.

Style on the other hand is forever. If I find what works for my personality and my body today; as long as my personality and my body are consistent 5 years from now, my still will will work then.

If A-line dresses work on my body now, they will still work a decade from now if I maintain the same physique.

Fashion is for the public, Style is personal

I feel the most stylish when I am wearing outfits which I feel represent my personality the best. In my opinion, you can only truly find your truest style when you have introspected to a point of knowing yourself fully.

Style is very core in personal branding – unless your brand is consistent on being different – which would then border on fashion.

Fashion is about wowing the audience. It’s less about how you personally feel, and more about the gratification of others when they see you in these clothes.

Fashion is creative, Style is consistent

Fashion is a form of expression for most. Artists and creatives will often expresss themselves through what they wear. Statements may be made through fashion.

Style on the other hand is consistent. When people think of me, they have an expectation of what I will be wearing if they see me/

Fashion is forever reinventing itself – it has to. Style is a lot more consistent in its way of being.

Those are some, not all, core differences between style and fashion.