The Basics

• Name Sofia Ziroka

• Works in Marketing

• Age 30

• Style in 3 words European, Chic, Comfortable

• Feels best in “I wear black all the time and I’m very comfortable with that.”

Sofia, Today

Sofia dresses in clean lines and dons simple jewelry. More than that, her looks are deep-breath-illicting.

“I only need a couple of muted colors and nothing else.”

Her style screams Neimans, but her favorite store is H&M. She is a classic beauty with an elegant stature, standing at 6’2.

During our time together, we pored over photos; some of her family, of her childhood, of friends.

The boxes of photos in Sofia’s home are easily accessible because it’s a long standing tradition of hers to look through old photos when family or friends get together.

These photos, combined with Sofia’s personal recount of her childhood, make clear that Sofia’s confidence and style were developed at a very young age.

“We have a video of me when I really young getting a purse for Christmas. I yelled ‘A PURSE!’ When I saw that I realized I am the person I’ve always been. Sometimes I’ll find these photos at my parent’s house and I think to myself ‘It’s like I could not be stopped’. This was just the way my life was meant to be.”

Gallery: Photos from Sofia’s childhood.

Then: The Female Influence

To fully appreciate Sofia’s style, we need to talk about the heartfelt relationships she has with her family.

In a day and age where younger generations are moving away from their families, it’s refreshing to hear Sofia speak so warmly and intimately about her family (most of whom live close by), and how the maternal figures have influenced the style she has today.

To paint a picture, the way Sofia’s voice and face change when she talks about her godmother and mom make me feel like I’ve had a Hot Toddy; my insides are warm and fuzzy.

INTRODUCTION TO CLOTHING QUALITY

Sofia’s relationship with clothing began early because of family influence. It’s in her blood to care about quality.

Sofia thanks her Godmother for introducing her to the importance of fabric quality. Her Godmother owns a fabric shop in Sweden and began imparting Marimekko fabrics to Sofia when she was 12.

“Quality has always been important to me. I appreciate how beautiful the pieces I have are. I love how they’re made, I love the textile of them.”

While her godmother taught Sofia about the importance of quality, her mother enlightened Sofia’s style.

Today, Sofia names her mother as one of her largest style influencers (right).

“I grew up with my mom saying less is more. This has really resonated with me. Less is more if it’s made well, if it fits well, you don’t have to have all of the distractions. Let your beauty own its own space.”

Sofia’s Process to Develop Personal Style

Sofia’s style has gone through a few iterations, to say the least. She has this amazing ability to redefine her look entirely. If this were a competition, I’d vote her mostly likely to be able to “quickly change her look and safely flee the country without notice.”

Gallery: Photos illustrating Sofia’s style transformations over the years.

Exhibit A:

“My style throughout high school and college was very much recovering camp counselor. I had a short, platinum blonde pixie cut. My style was edgy, with a lot of tanks and jeans.”

I see a potential future as head of disguise in the Witness Protection Unit...

But real-talk, Sofia’s ability to listen to her intuition and go after the style she wants to create is inspiring. After all, this is the purest essence in defining and owning a personal style. She’s not afraid to let her vulnerability shine through and make a change to her style if she’s feeling it (particularly when it comes to hair).

“My style is always evolving, my hair especially. I recently got my hair done, it was dark for a while. My hairdresser brought me lighter and I realized I am now the Swedish princess I always wanted to be. I’m in my true element.”

See what I mean? Sofia’s radiant confidence is intoxicating, but like the rest of us, her style journey hasn’t been textbook perfect as standing at 6’2 brings its own set of challenges.

The Challenges

For one, retailers haven’t 100% caught up with the fact that some people are taller than others. Sure, some companies like Banana Republic and Old Navy have sizes available in “Tall”, but the majority of your brick and mortar options do not.

“It’s been challenging to find clothing that fits me because I’m 6’2. This is why I go to town when I’m in Sweden because there’s a store there called Gina Tricot. They have longer camisoles and just everything is longer”

Sofia is defiant in achieving clothing-confidence. She recognizes that anything short of her vision won’t work (see what I did there?).

“I do think society is catching onto the fact that women may be taller. I actually got these jeans from Target and I have like 5 pairs of them.”

Closet Talk

If I didn’t think I could love Sofia more, her beliefs around her closet are 10/10.

“Holding onto clothes that don’t fit just to hold onto them is very, very  toxic”

Don’t agree? Consider this idea:

“If you hold onto clothes thinking you’re going to fit into them someday, when you do lose the weight you don’t want to fit into old clothes! You’ll want to shop and treat yourself to what will make you feel good then.”

Sofia’s advice: get rid of the clothing you don’t wear anymore or doesn’t ft right. You’ll thank yourself. It may be challenging at first (it is for nearly everyone), but it’ll free up your mental and closet spaces.

Sofia’s philosophy on shopping is so healthy. If you can replicate this habit when you go shopping, you’ll end up buying pieces you love wearing and reduce closet clutter.

“If I am thinking about buying something, I ask myself “what is this replacing?”. If I need a new leather jacket, I wonder if it’s going to replace the current one I have or if I’m going to have 2 and only wear 1 of them all the time. For example, I have a black blazer from OU that I’ve had for years but I can’t replace it because I can’t find something that fits better than that one.”

That’s right. Owning duplicates won’t serve you unless you love and wear them often.

Sofia’s Advice on Seeking Style Inspiration

Sofia has a lot of great basics, like 5 of the same black turtleneck tops (you can never have enough living in Maine).

“What I do to make that look different is change out the accessories. Like a big necklace.”

I hear this over and over again. Keeping your looks fresh (without shopping every other day) requires a strong accessory game.

For Sofia, here are her accessory rules:

• Loves to wear: Big rings (every day staple), a statement necklace with stud earrings.

• Avoids wearing: cheap jewelry

• Looks for: “Quality, quality, quality. I shop at the JCrew Factory store all the time for a discount on their statement earrings and necklaces. You can tell when a necklace is cheap, so hit up T.J. Maxx or Nordstrom Rack to find those discounted designer pieces.”

When Sofia does seek outfit inspiration, she often sources ideas from online.

“I think in today’s day in age Instagram and Pinterest are great. I love searching “street style” on Pinterest and browsing what’s there.”

When Sofia finds a look she digs, she’ll recreate it so it’s stylistically similar to the original look, but the pieces are sourced from clothing that works for her as opposed to purchasing the head-to-toe look verbatim.

This is a great reminder. It’s always important to find the pieces that work for your body as opposed to assuming pieces on another person will also fit you exactly the same way.

Sofia outfit example

Credits:

• A huge thank you to Sofia and all of the Seeking Inspirato participants for sharing their stories in hopes of inspiring other women.

• All of amazing photography work was completed by Webb Photo in Portland, Maine.