Introduction

Fashion is different for everyone. Everyone partakes in it for different reasons and that's okay.

Taste

The first step towards improving your looks is to pay attention. Not just to yourself or your friends, but to other people as well; start noticing how people look and what clothes do for them. Absorb knowledge and build a visual reference library in your head (or on your computer). Notice the shapes, lines, colors, and proportions of what you see. Don't worry if you don't have the vocabulary to explain what you're looking at or why you like it. The main goal is to pay attention to the details.

Now be honest: firstly, about yourself. Are you tall? Do you have broad hips? Do you have a short torso? Are your shoulders defined? Then make the same honest appraisal of others. Is he stocky? Are her legs really long? Does he have really built arms? Does she have a less curvy frame?

You'll start to notice patterns. Tall people tend to wear a lot of "fashion" items more easily. Some types of sleeves don't flatter people with rounder shoulders. A defined waist tends to make everyone look thinner. Fine woven wool garments tend to make outfits more dressy. Now see how some of these patterns can apply to your own body.

Think of this in the abstract—this categorical analysis of dressing avoids any mention of rules, anything about spending money, anything about how "X" ought to fit in such a "Y" way because "Z" is totally hipster/brah/prep/etc. You don't have to read fashion magazines all the time or open up a card at Barneys; that's not the point. The goal isn't to conform to someone else's sense of style, but to develop your own. Whether you had never tried dressing yourself before or if you're some super trend-conscious person, you are ultimately rewarded for all this work with autonomy and self-control over your fashion sense. You stop wearing what you think you ought to wear and you begin wearing what you know you should be wearing.

Style

First of all, remember that /fa/ is a board on 4chan. Follow advice, but don't listen to everything some anonymous person on the internet says. You want to develop your own understanding of fashion over time.

Developing a personal style involves more than putting together outfits, looking good, following brands, and spending money. Keep this in mind.

The number one thing to develop personal style is going to stores or places in real life that have clothes and trying them on. Honestly thats how you learn to dress well, see what works with your body and find your style. You dont learn how to compose cool outfits by browsing tumblr, you learn by experimenting with what works and what doesnt in real life.

By this point, you should have learned to be honest with yourself. So think: are there certain features that you can improve? Could you lose some weight? Do you need to clean up your skin? Does your hair fit your face?

Because fashion is not just about the clothes you wear—it's also about your general image and how you carry yourself. As designer Rick Owens once said, "Working out is modern couture. No outfit is going to make you look or feel as good as having a fit body. Buy less clothes and go the gym instead." The clothes you wear won't matter if you don't have the body and the confidence to pull it off. So constantly work to improve yourself. Stay healthy, lose weight if you need to, and be aware of what works with your face and body type. Work on your social skills; learn to be confident with whatever you wear.

By improving on your weaknesses, you create a solid foundation on which to build your personal style. It takes time to truly develop your tastes—so while you should be cautious with how much money you spend, there's no reason not to consciously improve your body and your looks. You're born into your genetic lot, but you have the power to make the most of it. Don't settle for mediocrity.

You must also ask yourself, honestly, what you want out of fashion at this point in your life. Whether or not you're aware of it, the way you dress sends a message to others. Do you just want to look presentable? Do you aim to impress girls (or guys)? Were you inspired by celebrities or Tumblr, or do you want to look like a high fashion god? How important is fashion to your lifestyle?

No matter how you approach fashion, always keep an open mind. Don't look down on others for seeing it differently—that isn't an /fa/ mentality. Just present yourself with confidence and accept others for their views.

Now go buy some clothes. Don't be an infograph slave or bite off more than you can chew, but educate yourself on various styles and trends. It's important to be careful with your purchases. Don't buy something just because the internet told you to, and don't buy something just because you like it—buy a piece of clothing because you love it. This way, you will have more money to spend on individual pieces (even if you're poor), instead of having a closet full of cheap clothing, half of which you hardly wear.

So spend carefully, educate yourself on style, fit, fabrics, and designers, and buy what you love. (I love you)

Basic Posting Guidelines

This goes double for you oldfag board regulars so listen the fuck up.

1. When a newfag asks a basic or stupid questions that can be answered by the sticky, politely provide a link to the sticky and suggest that they delete their thread. This is a much better solution than raging and shitposting or ranting about how you're not there to spoonfeed them.

2. Detailed and constructive criticism is always better than vague throwaway shitposts filled with buzzwords. Put effort into your posts. This doesn't mean you can't be harsh. Be harsh. But be detailed too. /fa/ is a board that is full of opinions, and that's a damn good thing. But if you lack the skills to communicate *why* you hold an opinion (or if you just can't be bothered, you lazy fuck), then your post is absolutely fucking worthless. Be precise. Be logical. Be detailed. Be critical.

3. Keep it on topic. This is a goddamn fashion board. It is for the creation, discussion and critique of outfits. It is not for learning to talk to girls (or boys), it is not for bragging about the ketamine you scored from some dude in your highschool woodworking class, and it is definitely not for pseudo-intellectual babbling about shit that you only half-understand but think sounds deep enough to complete your look. The only legitimate discussion here pertains directly to clothing. This also means that the aesthetics > everything else. Try to keep this in mind.

4. Promote originality, don't stifle it. We have little OC as it is. I'm not going to name names, but singling out the few unique posters we have and running them off the board is not constructive, or good for the board in general.

5. If you're going to post a fit in a WAYWT, for Christ's sake take a decent photo. It doesn't matter if it's full-body or a series of detailed closeups that covers everything, but at least ensure that the quality is decent enough that we can tell what the fuck is going on. Also: Your feet should always be visible in a picture for a WAYWT. Shoes matter; if you can't fit them in, take two pictures.

6. Tinyshit, vocaroo, okaycupid, snapchat... all of that shit belongs in /soc/. Keep it the fuck out of here. Tumblr is a grey area. If a tumblr is posted it should be fashion-focused and OC-based rather than social/re-blog based.

7. For fucks sake stop going full stalker-mode on every female that dares to post a fit here. You pathetic little shits.

8. Do not post board unrelated things and ask if they are /fa/. Asking if something is /fa/ does not make the post board-related. Examples: "Are Tacos /fa/?" "Is Batman /fa/?" Don't. Just fucking stop it. You aren't being funny.

9. Post a fit in WAYWT. Just fucking do it. They're far too sparse and they are the heart and soul of this board. When WAYWT has few fits, it means the board is sick. When it has no fits, the board is dead. Do your part. Post a fit.

10. /fa/ is not your goddamn barber. Stop posting your ugly acne-ridden mug and stop asking for haircut advice. We don't know. We don't care. At most we'll probably just tell you to get a Hitler Youth so that you'll go away, and that's terrible fucking advice. Either ask your barber/stylist, or print out some pics and bring them in. But stop making awful goddamn threads about it. Half the reason this sticky was created in the first place was to stop people from other boards coming here and asking /fa/ to choose a haircut for them.

11. If you are underage... don't be. In truth, you shouldn't be here. This isn't for you protection... it's for ours. Teens shitpost, and that's a fact. Maybe you think you're mature enough. Maybe you think you can post like an adult without being a cunt or getting all up in people's shit. You're probably wrong. And even if you're right, teens have a tendency to take fashionable things which are awesome, misinterpret them, exaggerate them, and in general make them stupid. Of course most of you are going to disregard this completely. That's okay. But know that you are young, you are stupid, and many board regulars will take every chance they get to report your ass if they find out how old you are. So try to act like an adult and for fucks sake don't trip.

12. /fa/ usually maintains a thread for stupid little questions that aren't important enough to warrant their own threads. It goes by various names, Newfriend general, Newfaf general, fuccboi general etc. Post your dumb question here. Someone will probably help you out and you won't pollute the board with pointless threads.