WHEN YOUR LOOK TELLS WHO YOU ARE: REFLECTIONS ON YIN & YANG IN PERSONAL STYLE

I promised you that we would continue to talk about essences of style… and then, silence!

Since I started talking about Yin and Yang style essences on this blog, I have felt a growing responsibility within me; I have seen you participate, become curious, enthusiastically respond to surveys, write to me privately, tell me about your relationship with style and with your self-image .

I'm not (yet) a certified image consultant and I thought it was right to say it openly.

I began this journey as a passionate and scholar: I read, observed, followed those who do this work with competence and seriousness and I do not want to be yet another superficial voice on a topic that requires delicacy, study and respect.

The Essences of Style are a powerful tool that combines psychology and image , allowing you to know yourself better, to feel more authentic in the way you take care of yourself and show yourself .

In this article, perhaps with a slightly philosophical flavour, we will briefly review the function of the Style Essence Method , as well as Chromatic Harmony , I will suggest some image consultants to contact for consultancy services and finally we will think about the dialogue that is established between dress-body-soul .

If you want an in-depth view of what the Yin & Yang style Essences method is, I'll tell you about them in this article .

I am Valentina Maugeri, pseudo fashion blogger, fashion design student and passionate about style and communication

A little over a year ago I founded Dialoghi di Stile with the aim of making my vision of the world of fashion, of the development of personal style and of making these complex concepts more accessible to all of you.

ENERGIES AND VISUAL MESSAGE: IT'S NOT JUST PHYSICALITY

Yin and Yang in personal style are complementary forces that coexist in each of us.

Yin is the feminine energy of softness and sensuality, while Yang is the masculine energy of decision, of strong and defined presence.

In the wardrobe, these energies translate into lines, materials, volumes, details, but also and above all into the way we move inside those clothes , into the way we interpret them .

This is why two people with similar traits can appear profoundly different: it is not just a question of physicality, but of perception and therefore of energy .

The body as background, style as narration?

In my Instagram stories, I asked you if you ever see someone dressed in a bold style that doesn't really enhance their body: most of you said yes and that it "immediately catches the eye" .

This is where the real question arises, the one I asked you before: is it more important to enhance physicality - which also concerns our natural colors - or to tell who we are?

In some cases, a look may not follow the classic “rules” of enhancement, but perfectly communicate the essence of the wearer, other times the opposite happens, because the protagonist remains the body, it is the body that "inhabits the dress" .

As we have said many times, our physical characteristics reflect our Yin & Yang essences and our inner energies give them greater power .

How then can we be free from the body? The answer is that it is not possible .

Rather, it is a balance achieved through years of introspection and self-awareness , which does not imply giving up what we like, but learning to integrate and harmonize every aspect of our life in the most coherent way.

The same ritual also concerns the study of chromatic harmony and therefore of one's own season , which goes well beyond a "fixed palette".

In relation to the essences of style , colour becomes part of the aesthetic message : cold or warm tones, soft or vibrant, Yin or Yang, reinforce our visual story , which is why talking about chromatic harmony without talking about essences of style is like designing a dress and forgetting the fabric .

Read also this article where I explain better what the Yin & Yang stylistic method studies and an example to understand it better

Foto presa da Pinterest

Style is never static

The way we walk, move, express ourselves is part of our style . An essence is never just “to hang in the closet”: it lives, changes with us, expresses itself over time, this is because "inside us" a mix of essences coexist.

This dance between form and movement is the true key to personal style.

Understanding our essences also means accepting that we are dynamic beings and that the wardrobe is a space to inhabit, but not to be swallowed up by, nor a cage to fill!

Many image consultants who have been dealing with the method of Style Essences and Chromatic Harmony for years are of this opinion, including: Giulia Quaranta ,Giusy de Gori and Irene Grisolia .

THE BODY INHABITS THE DRESS, BUT FIRST WE INHABITE THE BODY

There is a step that is often overlooked when talking about style: even before the body that "inhabits the dress" , there is our soul that inhabits our body , and it is always the soul that chooses what to wear and how to wear it. The dress is not a shell to wear, but an extension of our interiority, which with our energy allows us to tell our story.

From this vision, the body is not just a form to be “enhanced” but a living bridge between what we are inside and what we decide to show outside.

I've been saying it for years now and I will always stand by it: clothes make the man , it's wrong to say the opposite!

Many people build their outfits starting from physicality : an understandable and often useful strategy. We are naturally led to want to feel beautiful, comfortable, in harmony with the image reflected in the mirror. But only in a second moment do we ask ourselves: " Does this dress really speak about me?" or "By choosing this fabric or this model, what do I want to say?"

Finding this answer requires time and awareness, and also a certain amount of confidence to be gained. It does not mean giving up aesthetic enhancement, but combining it with an internal dialogue , where the body and soul join hands.

Because, after all, when we truly learn to dress, we are not just dressing our bodies — we are telling a story about our lives, and when style and interiority align, something rare and powerful happens: we no longer just wear clothes, we truly inhabit them .

Ps. Try to exempt yourself from being a fashion victim , it's no longer in fashion in 2025!