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Guys,
I want to make it clear that I'm not wanting to buy new clothes to impress other people or to be too "try hard". I just want to look and feel good in MYSELF.
Are there any other brands that are considered "cool" at the moment? I know that sounds lame, but it's been a while since I changed my wardrobe image!
These two lines sort of contradict themselves a bit. Don't worry about brands or even what shops you go to. If something looks good on you, then it won't matter whether it's from primark and cost you £5, topman and cost you £15, or some top quality place and cost you £150! I don't like the large majority of the stuff in topman, but I still go in quite regularly, and often find a particular piece that will work well with something else I've got or whatever.
There is nothing wrong with wearing trends AS LONG AS they suit you. The current fad over in Britain is for these beige or yellow/orange chinos, usually "carrot" style that are skinny and you wear them down below your bum. And on about 90% of people they just look stupid. But loads of people wear them anyway. Only around 10% pull them off and look good. So, if you find a trend that suits you, go for it.
However, I'm not going to talk too much about trends, because I usually avoid them. From what you've put above, I'd do these couple of things. Firstly; ask yourself what style you want. Are you happy to keep wearing fairly smart casual? Do you want to start dressing - generally - more casual or more smart? (Obviously there will always be times where it is more appropriate to wear smart, casual, or smart-casual clothes, but I'm talking about in every day wear.)
Ok, so whatever you've decided on making your normal day to day 'style', now think how you're going to achieve it. For this, it's ok to look at inspiration online, in magazines, and people walking past. Think of trends if you want, or just find individual pieces you think look good and are either casual, smart, or smart-casual depending on whatever you decided in number 1. Example for this - casual is likely to be jeans and a t-shirt. Smart casual might be jeans and a polo shirt, or jeans and a casual button up. Smarter might be jeans or trousers, smarter button up shirt, and a sports jacket.
Once you've got that sorted, the next step is to find out what colours suit you. Look online for more indepth stuff than I can be bothered to go into on here - mostly, you'll end up matching your hair colour, your eye colour, and your skin tone to the colour of your clothes. Usually not at the same time though. For instance, your skin tone might be better suited to wearing pastel colours. So you might wear a light beige t-shirt. But your eyes might be bright green, so to bring them out, you might wear something that adds a flash of the same bright green, maybe a scarf or something like that. As I say, look it up online - it would take me ages to go through every skin tone/eye colour/hair colour combination on here, but shouldn't take you too long, as you know what you're looking for already, given that you already know what hair colour and eye colour you are and can match your skin tone to some pretty good online tutorials on how to do so.
Next thing - take that colour that looks good on you, and just do some general colour theory. At a very basic level, type "colour wheel" into google, and read what a few of the pages have to say. Get used to working with a colour wheel to match your colours. The main thrust of your outfit wants to be a certain colour (ideally one that works well on you, as above). Then you want to build an outfit that works with it.
That brings me on to the penultimate point I'll make - buy clothes in outfits. Ok, so not necessarily go out and say "right I need an outfit for monday, an outfit for tuesday etc. etc.", but have a general idea of what you've got and what can go. Go through your wardrobe and keep everything you like. Now I tend to build around my trousers, as these are often the more versatile pieces.
So say you've got 3 pairs of trousers you like. One is a dark blue pair of jeans, one is a black pair of jeans, and one is a grey pair of chinos. Try to match your tops and accessories to those jeans. So maybe you've got a green top that will go well with the dark blue jeans. You've looked at your colour wheel and realise that certain reds go well with certain greens. But you haven't got anything that is the right colour red. So maybe you go out and buy a red watch, or a red belt or something like that.
IE; you try to make up the outfit using the colour theory you've just learned, and then go out and buy what you need to buy to complete the outfit. So then when you go out shopping you're looking for specific items that will work with what you've already got. And by accessories, I mean everything that isn't a top or trousers - so scarves, belts, watches, pocket squares, ties, tie clips, whatever - and probably most importantly shoes. These can really make or break an outfit. A decent outfit with an average pair of shoes is only ever going to be a decent outfit. A decent outfit with a pair of shoes that works perfectly is instantly transformed into a very good outfit - especially in the eyes of women who love shoes and will notice!
So, again, sorry for long post, I tend to waffle on with this stuff. And sorry that I've not directly answered your question abotu trends - as I say, whilst it's not a bad thing per se to follow trends or to shop in particular brands of shops, you need to be careful to make sure they actually work on you. Figure out everything above - especially colour theory and what goes well with your skin tone, hair colour and eye colour, and then you can start to build stuff up that looks good on you. If you do decide to follow a trend you pluck straight out of a magazine, then make sure that you 'tweak' it to suit you - maybe swap the beige chinos for something a shade or two darker or lighter, depending on your skin tone for example.
Oh and one very very final point - FIT IS KEY. Make sure your clothes are neither too tight nor too baggy.
Someone who has followed all of these steps and has got an outfit that fits well, and suits him perfectly, with great colour combinations that suit his skin tone and hair or eye colour, with a great pair of shoes and some stylish accessories that supplement without overdoing the outfit, in his own style is going to look far more stylish and far better to girls than someone who has walked into a shop and bought something that is "trendy" just because everyone else is wearing it.
CHAT