Finding Your Voice Through Fashion: What Are You Really Saying?

What does it mean to find your voice? And amidst all the many voices, how do you know what is truly yours?

I follow Prompts from Paris, a newsletter on Substack by author and business owner Jane Bertch. I discovered Jane when a new friend learned I was a Francophile recommended The French Ingredient, a book I found truly delightful as it also included another love – that of food. The book portrays her journey – Jane Bertch’s – as an American from Chicago who comes to find her home in Paris and opens a cooking school, La Cuisine. Her recent newsletter, Finding my Voice in Paris got me thinking about our voices and the expression of personal style.

Style as Language

It matters not just that you have a voice, but how you say it, how you express it, doesn’t it? Because let’s be honest, we don’t simply want a voice, we want to be heard. If our voice is a second face[i], a reflection of our identity as Jane suggests, are then clothes, a language? And if the proverbial adage, “a picture paints 1000 words,” holds any truth, then what exactly are we saying? And to whom?

Yet even as I was exploring these thoughts, I wondered if to suggest the idea of wardrobe or clothing as language was too shallow an idea, but then again, simply look up.

The current fashion trends for women having their simultaneous moments are either oversized menswear (wide leg trousers, barrel leg jeans, oversized blazers), or naked (sheer skirts, dresses, and tops, even shoes).  It seems we are in a fashion moment of juxtapositions. At the same time, the trends are either sheer, murmuring – even shouting – nakedness or so oversized no body shape or silhouette can be deciphered. These feel opposite in what they are communicating and yet they very much co-exist.  But these turns of phrases, these trends, are very much reflected in our collective conversations heard in our voices today as we wrestle with definitions of gender, misogyny, female empowerment and freedom, and what it means to be a woman.

Finding Your Own Style

So perhaps they are not as opposite as they may appear. Or perhaps they are simply reflections of multiple voices being heard, even our own many voices.  Because we don’t have only one voice, only one language with which to communicate. On the idea of having not just one voice Jane posited, “These variations simply reflect the context, our connection with others, our communities, and the present circumstances. In effect, having the same voice no matter what is inappropriate. You need to have other voices.”  And certainly, we should and do communicate differently in different circumstances and contexts.  A woman in the corporate space and yet wearing many hats outside the board room has many voices. How does she find different expressions of each?

Bathsheba Everdeen[ii], a literary heroine of mine famously said, “It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in a language chiefly made by men to express theirs”

Why are we communicating in the language wide leg pants, oversized suiting, and sneakers? Or perhaps we feel constricted clothing and shoes like skinny jeans, figure-hugging sheath dresses and four-inch heels are still the language of men given to women – or just simply not our own?

I confess, there are times I love feeling small and a bit lost in my oversized linen Tibi blazer, the sleeves hanging almost past my fingers. It joined my closet as part of a pant suit pre-Covid, and as separates still serves me. Maybe because some days I feel small in the world I inhabit and the expression of that feels authentic and at the same time like something enveloping me, protecting me. But there are other moments in a pair of loose-fitting khaki puddle pants I wonder if I look like little Josh in the movie Big when he comes home as his kid self still in his grown-up business suit at the end. And I feel uncomfortable and not in my own skin. But I remember the way I felt in my electric blue Michael Kors wool sheath dress, the first time I felt truly embodied in my career role, no longer an imposter. My “power dress” felt truly that, positively empowering, and the way it fit felt supportive, like a hug from myself. It also felt entirely like owning my own language, my own sense of self. But all of these are just my language of feelings, and my multiple voices at that.

So how does one find their voice? And when found, how do we express that voice? Believing that our clothes are indeed a language, I would love to help you find yours.

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Personal Style Lessons:
 
Your Clothes Are Your First Language—Make Them Speak for You – Treat your wardrobe like a conversation starter. When you wear pieces that align with how you want to feel—empowered, confident, creative—you start speaking your truth before you say a word.
 
Fashion Trends Are Tools, Not Rules – Trends like oversized tailoring or bubble hems aren’t mandates—they’re invitations to play. Try incorporating seasonal pieces in ways that align with your values and aesthetic. If it doesn’t feel like “you,” first ask yourself why before you leave it behind.
 
Style Is a Journey of Finding, Losing, and Reclaiming Your Voice – Your style will evolve as you do. Some days you’ll feel like drowning in your oversized blazer, other days you’ll reclaim your power in a sheath dress that fits like confidence. The goal a wardrobe that grows with you, reflects your story, and honors every version of your voice.

Personal Styling with In-Form and Fashion – Whether it’s building a capsule wardrobe, refreshing your closet for the season, or reinventing your style—I’m here to help you align fashion with your personal journey of growth and self-expression.