63. Where I Find my Fashion Inspiration

Following on from my last blog where I confessed that my clothing taste is often changing, in this blog I will attempt to share the many places where I find inspiration for both my own styling and my SuzziMaggs designs.

I call myself a "Clothie" it's like a foodie only with clothes. I like to look at them, wear them, make them, design them, share them, put them together to create looks ands styles, and I like to talk and write about them!

There is inspiration all around us and I love watching the full range of people and their styling go by. It is good to discreetly assess how other peoples fashion choices affect you. Not in a manner to judge them, but rather to gain an understanding of yourself and whether their style is something you would consider wearing or not. People watching is a great way to gather your personal styling information as long as you remain open minded and respect people for their choices whether you like them or not.

Different gatherings and meetings are another great place to find styling inspiration. People will generally wear outfits to suit the occasion, for example a business suit to an executive event and ripped jeans to a festival. I realise that I am being completely general in these examples, but you can probably get a sense of what fashion you like as far as corporate wear at the office and your concert wear could be inspired at the festival.

For something more quirky you might go to an art gallery opening or fashion show, or go on a visit to the artsy area in a city. Seeing other people in clothes similar to ones that you think you might like to try can help you to visualise them on yourself, especially if you can find someone a similar shape, size or colouring to you.

I also find inspiration in period movies where a certain silhouette or neckline or something might take my fancy, and also in historical books, especially ones with paintings in them.

Then there are the multitudes of fashion and other magazines available. I often see a colour scheme or a styling layout that inspires me to create my own style using the magazine as a reference. This could be a fashion shoot or a scene, like a country setting that I feel that I can place myself in wearing a certain style of garment. I can see myself walking along this road below in a deep burgundy red woolen coat made of something soft that wraps around me and has a hood, teamed with grey tights and black ankle boots!

Pinterest is just one of the many ways that you can gather information online. It is so easy to create fashion styling boards there and once you begin to look at something they will keep sending similar ideas to your Pinterest feed so the options become endless.

I also like to follow some of the top fashion designers on Facebook and Instagram just to see what they are getting up to. They often show small videos of their latest catwalk shows, which I sometimes find incredible and other times just leave me wondering.

One of my all time favourite ways to gather inspiration is by being in nature. This is where my colour schemes for my SuzziMaggs collections often come from. Like my Winter 2021 designs where the colour scheme was inspired by the beauty I found in the Australian bush as it was growing back after the devastating bushfires the previous summer. It's not only colours though, rolling hills or waves might inspire me to create designs with gentle ruffles and sunshine glittering across the water might inspire something in a metallic fabric or beaded with crystals.

There really is no end to the places that you can find inspiration, and you don't need to be a designer or maker of clothes for it to be useful, just use your inspiration to guide your fashion purchases. Create a fashion styling inspiration board, either online or on a cork board, and change it as often as you are inspired.

I have begun to gather some fabrics and ideas for my next summer offerings, which will possibly be beach inspired as this is one of my favourite places to be. I have some fun bright colours, and writing about sparkles on the water is making me want to add some kind of sparkly something into the mix. Writing about finding inspiration is certainly getting my juices flowing so watch this space!

Oh how I wish I was there right now!

Thank you for taking the time to read, I hope that you are inspired.

Love Suzanne