How to Create a Style Strategy That Aligns with Your Personal Brand

You might have this misconception that stylists always have it figured out when deciding what to wear. But as a stylist, I’ve had plenty of panic moments, too. Recently, I attended a high-profile event: a dinner with seven- and eight-figure-earning female business owners. I started spiraling almost immediately upon signing up for it. (Oh, and we were also going to be photographed and filmed in case we wanted to use it for social media, so no added pressure)!

Thankfully, I managed to get back on track thanks to my three-pillar style strategy framework. It’s a strategy that both I and my clients use. So, if you’ve ever felt “off” when deciding what to wear at an event or like your choice didn’t reflect the real you, try this grounded approach (one you can return to again and again) to match your outward style with your inner identity.  

In this episode of The Visibility Shift, you’ll learn the three pillars to creating a signature style that aligns with who you really are. I’ll discuss defining your style vision, choosing style guardrails as guidelines that empower you, and uncovering hidden beliefs that might be holding you back from showing up as your authentic self.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

2:10 – The scenario I faced this past summer in Canada

4:46 – Style vision: your foundational pillar for an aligned wardrobe

6:26 – Pressure of preparing for the event and the first sign of something feeling off

9:44 – The question to ask when going down the wrong path with your style words

10:55 – Style guidelines: building blocks to your transformation confidence from the inside out

14:16 – The game-changing style alignment pillar that most women skip

15:34 – How to discover and work through the belief blocking your aligned style presence

19:00 – How having a clear style strategy becomes your “true north” in moments of panic

Mentioned In How to Create a Style Strategy That Aligns with Your Personal Brand

Stop Panic Shopping and Start Building Your Style Strategy

The Hidden Style Rules Holding You Back (and How to Break Them)

Standout Style Kick-Starter

The Visibility Edit

Work With Ellie

Follow Ellie on Instagram and LinkedIn

Leave a rating and review

Full Transcript

Welcome to The Visibility Shift, the podcast where style becomes your most powerful strategy for being seen, standing out, and leading boldly. I'm Ellie Steinbrink, stylist and personal brand coach, and if you've ever thought, "My style just isn't working anymore," take this as your sign. You're ready for your next level. And instead of launching into a panicked shopping spree, what you really need is a strategy. A style strategy that reflects where you're headed, not who you used to be or who you think you need to be to fit in.

Because when your style aligns with your brand and your vision, everything shifts. You lead with more presence, you attract the right opportunities and clients, and you fully step into the woman you're becoming. Because showing up as yourself, that's the most strategic thing you can do. Now let's get visible.

Welcome back to another episode of The Visibility Shift podcast. Today, I want to do something a little different. I want to take you back in time to an actual experience that I had earlier this summer, where I was preparing to go to an event, and how I ended up deciding what to wear to this event that felt like a high-visibility moment to me. It felt like a lot of pressure because I knew the level of women I was going to be surrounded by.

I want to take you to that moment in time and exactly how I figured out what to wear and all the craziness that led up to me deciding what to actually wear, because it didn't go as smoothly as you might think. I think this is the misconception about stylists, that we always have it all figured out. We always know, we avoid all the chaos that you experience before trying to figure out what to wear for a keynote event or a big networking event, or some mastermind you're going to. No, I'm right here in the trenches with all of you, which is exactly why I can be the best guide for you.

Let me take you to this past summer and set up this scenario a little bit. I had been invited to attend two different events that were happening in Canada. One was an event with a bunch of female entrepreneurs. Then there was a separate dinner that was happening in a much more intimate setting, where I was also going to be with female entrepreneurs—seven and eight-figure business owners. It was much, much smaller. Think about 10 women. At this event, not only were we going to be very vulnerable and talking about our businesses and sharing ideas, there was also going to be an opportunity for us to be photographed and get video taken of us that we could then use on our social media feeds.

I was excited about this event. I was genuinely excited to put myself in the room that I knew I needed to be in. I felt very called to be there. However, at the same time, almost as soon as I signed up for the event, I panicked almost immediately. Because how many times have you had the dress code of an event be like, “Wear what makes you feel your best self”? And I know, I'm just going to say I'm right here telling you to wear what makes you feel your best self. Okay, but how do you actually know what to wear that makes you feel your best self or your most authentic self? That is always the question.

I want to take you through my decision-making process and a framework that I actually teach to my clients that I ended up leaning on to get me back on path when I started to go down a panicked shopping cycle that was really getting me off course. This three-part foundation I do with my clients is really how I establish their signature style that is aligned with who they are. It's aligned with their brand, and it's going to make them feel really confident, no matter where they find themselves—whether it's on stage or at the airport afterwards, and potentially mingling with people who were just in the audience of their speech.

This framework is something you can go back to time and time again. So there's really three parts to it. The first part is style vision. The second part is style guidelines. The third part is style mindset. So I'm going to walk you through each of these and where I was getting off track and where I had to get myself back on track.

When we're in the style vision phase, what we do is we're defining your three personal style words. Mine are feminine, bold, and classic. We'll talk about that in a minute. We're also doing a lot of visualization exercises to dream a little bit. Dream about “Who is this woman I'm becoming? Who is my most authentic self? Who is the woman that is aligned with this brand that I've created?” Who is that woman?

Visualization exercises, it's creating Pinterest boards—not only how do I want to look on the outside, but how do I want to feel in this new look? My three personal style words are feminine, bold, and classic. The way in which I think of those is if you were to separate each of these words, they wouldn't work standing alone. So, for example, feminine—if I just were to take that word and use it as a way to describe my style, it wouldn't quite hit the mark because my mind goes towards overly frilly pastels, super ultra, I don't know, southern charm sort of femininity. That doesn't feel right for me.

But when I ground it with bold, when I ground it with classic—which classic I think is where I get my clean cut, my modern, my tailoring, the blazers, the wide-leg pants, the structure that I like in my style—I like that balanced with some femininity. But then I like some boldness in there, which is where I'll often do unique combinations or I'll do unique color combinations or maybe just something unexpected. That's where the boldness comes for me.

So as I was preparing for this event, I was feeling a lot of extra pressure to step it up. I really felt like I needed to embody this next-level woman. I started to go down a path of feeling like I needed to become a different version of myself. It was almost like what I've always known as my style and my style brand—again, it was classic, feminine, and bold—it almost felt like, “Oh, wait, maybe that isn't good enough. Maybe I need to do something a little bit different because, hey, I am an expert stylist here. When I walk in the room, I want to be seen as this expert stylist.”

I'm just being totally honest with you guys today because I want to show you how your mind can play tricks on you and where you can call yourself back into the process. The vision work that I had done in the past about who I am, what aligns with my brand, what my three personal style words are—I was starting to feel this urge to abandon that and to go after something else. It was like, “Oh, I'm not sure if the past Ellie is going to suit this new situation that I'm going into. So maybe I should just try to be a little bit different than what I have been in the past.”

Now, that isn't always a bad thing. But in this instance, I knew it was taking me down the wrong path. How did I know this? The moment I registered for this event, I did what many of you probably also do, which was go on a panic shopping spree. Now, this is something I've talked about in past episodes, and I talk about why we do that. So if you want to reference back, you can always listen to those episodes because they're really good.

But what I was doing was I was grasping for straws, trying to figure out, “Who is this next-level Ellie? How can she show up looking like the most polished expert stylist ever?” Because she wants to make an impression in this room that she's showing up in. Also, she's going to be photographed, so man, she better nail it. I was equally trying on outfits that were in my closet, and I was also shopping for new pieces.

As I was putting these outfits on, something felt off to me. I could feel myself losing a little bit of myself. What that looked like was these outfits were a little sleeker, a little more polished. I think they were lacking some personality. They were lacking some boldness, some playfulness, some fun because I thought, “Oh, okay, I've got to be serious. I've got to be credible. I've got to look like I've got it all together.”

But in the process of doing that, some of these outfits read a little too serious. Think coordinated suit look. I had one that was a really beautiful suit, but it was like a navy tone. It just was like, “This doesn't feel right.” In those moments when you say to yourself, something feels off, you know that's where you're starting to get out of alignment. So that was my first key that something was off.

I really challenged myself to say, “Okay, where am I in?” And even with my clients, when they first discover their personal style words, I'll say, “Okay, now for the next couple weeks, I want you, every time you go get dressed or you go shop maybe, or if you go think about an outfit you need to create for a certain event, I want you to think about these three words, and I want you to ask, is this outfit in alignment with these three words? And if it's not, where is it off? Which word are you not honoring?”

And so while these outfits might have read classic, they might have read sleek—which isn't even one of my words—we were really missing out on my femininity. We were really missing out on my boldness. If you've ever been in this situation, you know how you try hard to just make things work. You're like, “I'm going to make this work. Yes, I can. This is it. This is who I'm going to be.” But something, there's just something nagging at you inside that's like, “No, this isn't quite it.” It feels almost like you're faking or performing it a little bit if you're that tuned into yourself. I knew something was off with my style vision.

Then I think about the style guidelines. It's the second pillar that I go through with my clients. I really like to think of the style guidelines as where you can put some strategy and guidelines, and guardrails to your style. What we cover is learning your power colors. You get a color analysis. You learn which silhouettes work on your body.

I would say this is the part that I was doing a pretty good job with. I knew what colors worked well on me, but I also knew which colors made me feel something. So my power color is burgundy, but other colors that I regularly use in my own personal style are all sorts of blues—everything from navies to denim to cobalt blues. I also love a very vibrant red, orangey-red. Then there are other times where I love a good neutral look that uses textures and interesting silhouettes and brings a good neutral outfit to life.

I was doing good on getting into my color zone. But I think in some cases, maybe there wasn't enough interest in the color—like this navy, this coordinated navy suit. I was like, “Well, what's interesting about this? What's making me feel like me?” It almost felt too subdued. But the other part of this was leaning into the right silhouettes for my body.

I always know I have a very straight frame, which means my shoulders and my waist and my hip measurements are all very much in alignment. I don't have a lot of curves naturally, so I have to create curves. That means anything that cinches in my waist. I'm often using belts. Belts are one of my signature pieces of my style. I love belts because they add a lot of interest, but they're just fun to play with, and they also give me a lot of shape.

It's also why I like playing with—if I'm doing skirts, I tend to do fuller A-line at least, or I'm doing wide-leg pants. I might even play with peplum tops or some interesting structures to give volume at my shoulder so it then highlights my waist. So those were all things I was playing with, and I knew I was in that right zone.

Those things, while they seem simple, are ultimately the building blocks of your style that do give you confidence when you can name, “These are the colors that not only look good on me, but they actually make me feel something. They give me energy.” When I put on silhouettes that just naturally complement and give my body proportion, that changes how I show up in front of the camera because I'm not thinking about, “Oh, this doesn't fit me right,” or “I'm not body conscious.”

So these are nuanced things that don't seem like a big deal. But when you learn them, it's like, “Whoa, this is huge.” This is huge—how I feel about myself when I tune into these things.

But I think the definite learning that was coming out of this for me in this particular step was I wasn't being playful enough with color. Color is one of the things I love being playful with. That's often where I go with my style words, with the boldness. I knew I wasn't pushing it hard enough with these outfits. They were really just playing it safe in the neutral zone. So that was another place where I felt like it was off.

The final piece of this framework is the style mindset work. Consistently, my clients will tell me this is the game-changer in the entire process. This is the gold. This is the step that most women skip when we're thinking about our style or when we're thinking about putting an outfit together, or we're thinking about what it means to take the brand we've created and translate that into a visual element. This is the piece that is really going to make the most difference, and it's going to create the most alignment.

So what we do in the style mindset work is we're understanding where we're becoming aware first of where our beliefs about our style or our bodies are holding us back. I'm not going to go into a lengthy discussion of this because I have done that in previous episodes, and I talk in depth about examples of what I mean when I say beliefs about our style or our bodies. But I'll just say quickly here that these rules and beliefs that we've collected, there are tons of them. They come from everywhere, from our workplaces to our familial experiences to our childhood to our culture.

Most of the women I work with, we don't come up with just one or two rules that we've created for ourselves. It's more like 20. What I realized when I was getting dressed for this event is that there was a belief I was holding on to that was working to hold me back. It was working to self-sabotage. So I'm going to take you through the exercise that I take my clients through, which is name the belief. So for me, the belief was, I need to look like an elite expert stylist.

I've been talking here about what that means to me, but what that meant was totally sleek, like boss babe, flawless, polished, sleek. What I ask my clients to do, and what I was asking myself when I became aware, is when you believe that belief, what is the fear that comes up? Or maybe another way to think about it is, if I don't follow through with this belief, what might happen? What's the worst thing that could happen?

So, for example, if I don't show up looking like an elite, polished, totally expert, incredible stylist, what would happen? And this is all in your monkey mind, the crazy stories that you tell yourself. But where my mind was going is, “If I don't show up in that way, who's going to hire me? Who's going to respect me? Who's going to think I'm credible? Who thinks I've got what it takes to do this work if I myself don't look this way?” You're probably thinking, "Well, that's crazy, Ellie," but these beliefs, they can be crazy.

But the worst part is that when we have these beliefs that then are tied to fears, it leads us to self-sabotage in terms of our behaviors and actions. So if I had held on to that belief, what would have happened? I would have ended up in one of those outfits that made me look perfect and sleek and neutral and maybe somewhat boring, but all put together. That would have made me abandon who I really was, all for the sake of this fear that wasn't even really truth.

So if I were to rewrite that story, which is what I have my clients do, I rewrite that story, what kind of a belief could I start with that would be more helpful? Where my mind goes is, when I show up as my authentic self, my bright, playful, bold, creative version of myself, that is when I will feel most grounded. That is when I will show up as my best self. That is when I will be most respected. That's when I will be seen as most credible and most authentic and most relatable because that's essentially what I want.

It's just crazy how quickly we can get ourselves off track if we're not catching ourselves in our thinking and bringing ourselves back to what's true. The style mindset is one of the most important things you can do. Go ahead and do this for yourself. If you're getting dressed for an event, you have an event coming up, or a speaking gig, just ask yourself, what belief am I believing about what I need to wear to this event? Go through this exercise.

What is the fear that's showing up? And when I believe that fear, how am I self-sabotaging? And then go back and rewrite a new belief that is going to put you down a healthier, more intentional, more grounded, more on-brand path. Why did I bring you through this example today? First of all, I want you to know that when women come to me, one of the things they struggle with most is this exact same scenario that I just described.

Everything is going along fine in their world with their business engagements and the social commitments that they have and the meetings that are on their calendars until something really big shows up. Then there's a tendency for us to go into this panic mode. What I've learned—and I've talked about this in episodes too—is that going shopping feels like immediately when you have that panic, going shopping feels like it's the right next step because it feels productive.

Like, “Oh, okay, I'll eventually figure this out if I just keep shopping and shopping and something will come together,” right? But maybe it will, but oftentimes it doesn't. Oftentimes it just leaves you more stuck or more confused or, quite honestly, with a more overstuffed closet, that's actually what happens. Then you're feeling more lost than ever before.

So why do I share this framework of defining your style vision, your style guidelines, your style mindset? Because if we jump in, if we allow ourselves to jump into that panicked mode of shopping and just grabbing at anything we can and hoping it sticks, we lose our intentionality. As a marketer for 20 years, I know how easy it is to get lost in the hype, the marketing messages, the fear of missing out, the “Get this before it's gone,” and “Everybody’s buying this.” It's really easy to lose ourselves and lose our focus.

That is actually the second thing that I think is really important here—without this kind of process, we do lose our focus. We forget who we are. We forget what our true north is, what you are known for, who you are at the core. When you have a style strategy like this, that is what happens as a result of this three-part series—you have something you can always go back to, like a measuring stick.

It makes me think of when you create a marketing plan and all of these shiny new marketing ideas are coming out and everyone's like, “Oh, we should try this and we should try this.” There's got to be someone who says, “Let's go back to what our strategy is. What are our values? What's our true north? Do these little tactics that are coming up and tempting us—do they align? And how do they further amplify what our goal is?” And that's how we like to think about this with your clothes.

All these outfits and distractions that we have—does it actually amplify what we're trying to do? It gives you a true north. It gives you a compass. Probably one of the most awesome things, and my clients tell me this all the time, is you can come back to it time and time again. Every time you lose your way, every time you have a panic moment—what I'm sharing today is actually a real example of that.

I created my style strategy. I used this framework long, long ago. I defined what this was. Yes, it evolved slightly over the years, but really, the core of it has stayed true. You can better believe that every time I get invited to something big, I get onto a bigger stage, I go to a next-level mastermind, I go to a conference where I'm going to be surrounded by even higher-level women, every time I hit a new level, you know I'm going to be going into a tailspin. So thank God I have this to stabilize me.

I hope something in this episode struck a chord with you. I would love to know if it did—what was it? I would love to hear from you. You guys can get into my messages on Instagram. I'm at style.decoded. You can leave a message here on whatever platform you're listening to. I love hearing from you. I'd love to know, is this striking a chord?

I think the bigger why behind all of this is when your style reflects a more authentic version of you, when it's on brand for you, people can feel it. I know I can feel it. I can feel it when a woman's on stage and she's in her most authentic self. She's not performing in the form of her outfit. I can feel it. I bet you can too. That is what this is all about.

When you can discover that truest version of yourself, and it gets amplified in the form of your outfit, nothing can stop you. That total alignment inside and out—it's like the cherry on top. It's like, whew, here we go. Watch out. She's a force. That's what I'm going for.

If you're listening and thinking, “This sounds awesome. How can I get involved with this?” there are definitely ways you can get involved with this. You can work with me one-to-one. There's a program I have right now called the Standout Style Kickstarter Program. That's where you and I would do this work that I just described. But then we would go on to shop and create five to seven high-impact outfits.

Also coming up next year, I will be opening up my group version again where we do this exact work. So if you're interested in either of those, go ahead and go down to the show notes, get the link, and go reach out to me, and we'll have a little discussion and see if this is the right fit for you.

I truly hope something stuck with you today. Write it down. Let it sit with you. Let it change you. Let it change your next outfit. That would be the most exciting thing for me. I'll see you in the next episode.

Thanks for joining me on The Visibility Shift. If something in today's episode made you pause, rethink, or gave you permission to stop playing small, it would mean so much to me if you'd leave a review at ratethispodcast.com/visibilityshift.

If you're ready to stop second-guessing and start showing up as the leader you are from the inside out, The Visibility Edit is where that shift begins. Head to elliesteinbrink.com to learn more and join the next round. Because the next version of you, she's not waiting for permission. She's waiting for you. Let's make it visible.