A Late Bloomer in the Fashion Department

Up until I entered high school, I wore a uniform to school. And I HATED it. This terrible idea was inspired by the (incredibly false) belief that if kids all wear the same thing, they can’t make fun of each other.

Yeah… speaking as the object of much mocking and criticism during grade school, I can testify that it did NOT work.

My uniform felt stifling. I’ve never been much of a fashionista, but I’ve always kind of hated being looked at as if I’m just like everyone else. I don’t NEED to be different, I just really dislike being all the same.

When I got to high school – public high school, where I could wear anything I wanted – I made a personal vow to myself (which I KEPT) that I would never repeat the same combination of clothes while I was in high school.

This meant a couple of things:

1) I had to have clothing that could make various outfit combinations, and;

2) a combination I particularly loved had to be worn for a special occasion because I couldn’t repeat it.

Since I didn’t get the opportunity during grade school, high school became my playground for discovering my style. The added challenge of not being able to repeat any combinations forced me to really explore what I liked and didn’t like, AND not taking for granted the privilege of being able to choose what I got to wear.

Sophomore year – when I made the jazz choir – I began to explore my own vocal style, too. Jazz was the perfect medium for discovering personal style and I still use it for that purpose with my clients today. Jazz has guidelines and boundaries, but not a whole lot of rules or strictness in the middle; there’s a lot of room to play, explore, experiment, and ultimately figure out how you roll – what feels most like YOU.

Identity and style kinda go hand-in-hand. Once you know who you are, what you stand for, how you want to be perceived, etc., your style is the outward expression of all of that.

Vocal style is no different; once you know who you are, what lights your fire (and what doesn’t), how you choose to get from point A to point B, etc., your vocal style becomes a way for you to express all of that musically. And sometimes, you figure out who you are in the process of creating/discovering your own style.

Tomorrow in No Limits Academy, we’re kicking off the month of July with a workshop on developing our own unique vocal style and how to weave it into everything we sing. So, I’ve decided it’s the perfect time to share my thoughts on the subject with you.

If your vocal style is nonexistent or needs some definition, we should chat about getting you into the Academy so you can devote July to crafting and solidifying your own style. Let me know you want more info by dropping a gif of your fave fashion look.