The Saturn Return Style Slump

I’ve always loved clothes. I love the process of dreaming them up from a piece of fabric. I get a kick out of putting them together in creative ways.

And, I’ve always and often gotten compliments for my style. It seems I was doing something right. Or so I thought.

Then, something weird happened. I passed 30, went through a deep reorientation in my life and nothing felt right, anymore.

Most of the clothes I owned had the haptics of a costume, not an extension of my inner self. It was more than an age thing. I think it was my Saturn return that not only restacked the bricks in my inner but also my outer life.

What is the Saturn Return?

In astrology, your Saturn return is when you cosmically get ejected into adulthood. Everything you’ve been doing so far comes under the microscope. If you’re on the right path, good for you. If you need to make changes or move closer to yourself, the show is on.

Our Saturn return evaluates how we’ve been doing on the threshold to true adulthood. For most people, something major happens at this point in their lives. Weddings, divorces, big career shifts, moves to other cities or continents.

Napoleon contemplated the meaning of life: “At twenty-nine I have exhausted everything. I need to be alone. I am tired of grandeur; all my feelings have dried up. I no longer care about my glory.” Adele got divorced and wrote a record-breaking album about it, 30. Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto when they were 28 and 30, respectively.

What was before doesn’t continue after your Saturn return. Needless to say, a major change like that between chapters in your life not only has its effects on the inner, but also outward life.

Saturn Return Style Shifts

My Saturn return was a long slog. It came with many lessons and reorientations. It also fundamentally changed how I dressed.

In my mid- to late 20s, I appreciated a colorful, flamboyant style. Pattern clashes were a personal favorite. A Breton shirt with lobster print pants? Yes, please! Cropped pants? Of course! A lightning green vintage brocade coat for daywear? Duh! Why would you even ask…

It was fun. At the time of my boldest self-expression, I lived in London, where anything goes, always. It was a welcome respite from the reserved ways of dressing in Germany (excluding Berlin!). I reveled in the fun of testing the limits of my imagination, turning myself into the Blighty version of the style icon of my youth, Carrie Bradshaw. How unique, I know… Her style is still is great, though!

Then, something began to feel off. I started resonating with cropped clothes and colorful patterns less and less. I began to crave something different.

As life nudged me to settle into myself more, my clothes didn’t reflect how I felt inside anymore. I went through a massive wardrobe purge and gifted, donated, and sold a lot of items.

I realized that in all those years, I had dressed for who I thought I wanted to be versus who I was on the inside. The clothes looked good, but they didn’t honor my essence. It was an adult way of playing dress-up.

Shortly after, I discovered holistic personal development tools like Human Design and Kibbe’s body typing, which is unlike the “you have the body of a pear”-systems of yore. Both helped me understand my essence better and how I needed to drape fabric around me to complement, not drown it out.

Surprisingly, I felt drawn towards sleek, sharp, and monochrome outfits. This was a far cry from the mix and match approach I had enjoyed in the years prior.

These changes felt more than the standard growing up and looking for a more mature look. They helped me fuse what was going on inside me with how I wanted to present myself to the outside world into a holistic picture of personal style and image.

It’s refreshing to have that clarity now. There’s an efficiency to my creativity in getting dressed that I appreciate.

Great Personal Style is Holistic

At the end of the day, I learnt that personal style at its best is holistic. It expresses outwardly the potential, the unique spark you carry inside.

Personal style is an amalgamation of cut, colors, and vibes. It’s a unique point of view that cannot be copied, because it is truly your own.

To express that through clothing, you have to find and kindle that spark in you first, irrespective of whether you’re 23, 38, or 52. At that, personal style can be a life-long journey of self-discovery and creativity.

Isn’t that fun?