If you think hard, you can probably trace back the roots of your style inclinations to a specific time in your life.  Maybe it was the early 2000s when shearling boots and velour tracksuits were staples in streetwear—Starbucks cup not optional.  Or maybe your roots smell more like Teen Spirit.  Whenever your style awakening occurred, you were probably able to link it to a specific individual or movement.  

Before everything was “iconic” there were actual icons spearheading trends and setting standards in style.  These zeitgeists helped to guide many of us toward manifesting what would later become our habitual method of dress, or personal style.  However these icons needn’t be celebrities, necessarily.  

Throughout most of my childhood I dressed in my family members’ clothing.  This was for a variety of reasons, though, chiefly because I wanted more options and refused to be limited by whatever I brought home in a back-to-school shopping haul.  I suppose by choosing hand-me-downs I had inadvertently began down the rewarding (and sometimes costly) path of vintage clothes collecting.  In the face of fast fashion, vintage seems to be a nearly exctinct species, but thanks to the likes of celebrities with last names starting with the letter “K”, it’s looking to be rebooted in the form of reproduction.  Whether or not the original designers get credited is another topic altogether...

Getting back to the original point, we look around for inspiration and are often struck, as if by lightning, or a hormonal fluctuation, by something that resonates distinctly.  You identify with someone based solely off the clothed persona they’ve put on display.  It’s a powerful thing.  Clothing is able to capture one’s spirit and message without words—or with them, if you’re into graphic tees or Vicktor and Rolf.  

The spirit animals we spot in the wild and across the explore pages of our Instagrams, connect us to each other by allowing us to see each other as different versions of the same creature.  A Beyoncé can slay with another Bey by adopting a wide brimmed hat, or a pair of twinkly Louboutins (credit line willing).  Billy Porters can spot each other a mile away by their outfit magnetism and flair for the dramatic.  By pinpointing ourselves in another via clothes and accessories, we are able to find allies.  In times like these, I think we could all use a few extra pals in our girl gangs.  Who else is going to help yank us out of these thigh high boots?