Definitive List of 44 Different Types of Fashion Styles

By Alex Assoune

What are the best fashion styles and how to choose yours? Fashion is a very popular art form, aesthetic, vehicle for self-expression, and creativity, especially in lifestyle, apparel, footwear, and accessories.

There are so many different types of fashion styles to choose from. It can be difficult and overwhelming to pick the right one for you. Your preferred style can depend on your budget, taste, lifestyle, activities, location, culture, and current season.

I love the minimalist fashion style, keeping it simple with a small selection of shapes and colors. I do my best to protect the environment with a low impact wardrobe, a strong focus on sustainability, classic, durable, and timeless pieces of clothing I can wear for a long time.

Here is a list of different types of fashion styles for inspiration and to help you create a different outfit every day.

Artsy style

The Artsy fashion style might be for you if you like art, or prefer to avoid conformity and standards. If you want your clothes to reflect your opinions and choices, wear highly visual artsy pieces.

artsy fashion style

Biker clothing

Shirts, hoodies, jeans, boots, and jackets are trademarks of the biker fashion style. This style is sexy, flashy, glamourous, versatile, and casual. You don't have to ride a motorcycle to rock it.

biker

Boho style

The Boho chic or Bohemian style is made of summer, casual, modern, and stylish outfits. It takes inspiration from various free spirits, bohemian, and hippie influences, with colorful, natural, and handcrafted clothes.

boho style

Business casual

The business casual fashion style typically includes shirts, blouses, skirts, dresses, jackets, sweaters, or blazers. It's considered casual wear with elements of lounge and informal wear.

business outfit

Casual wear

Casual wear is a fashion style appropriate for everyday use. It prioritizes comfort and leisure making it simple to look stylish. This is a relaxed and informal style very popular today.

casual wear

Casual chic style

Casual chic is an elegant and easy-going fashion style with classic and feminine clothes. It's a perfect combination to look stylish and laid-back with timeless and sophisticated pieces.

casual chic

Classic fashion style

Classic fashion is a style that lasts several seasons up to many years. It emphasizes simple cuts, shapes, and silhouettes to create elegant, timeless, modern, and classy looks.

classic style

Cosplay

Cosplay or costume play is difficult to ignore today. This fashion style is trending in huge communities around the world. It's inspired by pop-culture and made of costumes and accessories representing specific characters.

cosplay

Dancewear

Inspired by ballet, jazz, street dance, hip hop, tango, and salsa, dance clothes are very successful worldwide. Dancewear is a fashion style perfect to wear casually, in the ballroom, to exercise, or at home.

dancewear

Elegance

The elegant fashion style displays unusual effectiveness and simplicity. Elegant outfits are high-quality, chic, classy, sophisticated, timeless, and smart. They compliment your features perfectly.

elegance

Evening wear

Evening wear encompasses a fabulous selection of elegant evening dresses, nightgowns, sleep shirts, and formal wear in many styles and colors.

evening wear

Exotic fashion

Exotic fashion is a clothing style centered on colorful, rich, attention-grabbing clothes. It's often composed of vibrant colors, prints, or embroidery.

exotic fashion

Flamboyant

Borrowed from French flamboyant (flaming and wavy), this fashion style is characterized by exuberance, confidence, and stylishness. Flamboyant clothes are extravagant in color or design.

flamboyant

Formal clothing

Formal wear or office wear is a traditional Western dress code for the most formal occasions. From beautiful dresses that standout to business attire.

formal wear

Garconne

Modern, simple, and elegant fashion style from France. It includes classic shapes, clean cuts, and androgynous silhouettes.

garconne

Girly style

Girly is a very feminine fashion style to adopt to feel young and cute. It includes dresses, skirts, blouses, with lots of features such as laces, flounces, or ruffles.

girly cute

girly dress

Girl next door fashion style

Keeping things simple is how you dress like the girl next door. Often classic and timeless, the girl-next-door look comfortable and easy to wear pieces, as well as cool accessories.

girl next door

Gothic fashion

Part of the gothic culture with gothic fiction and goth music, the gothic fashion style is beautiful, dark, and steampunk. It emphasizes strong, modern, and mysterious aesthetics.

gothic fashion

Grunge rock

Grunge is an alternative rock genre. It's a hybrid of punk and metal inspired by rock music. This fashion style is casual with jackets, boots, jeans, crop tops, beanies, and sweaters.

grunge rock

Haute couture

High-end designers and fashion houses often make exclusive custom-fitted garments for celebrities. It's an expensive fashion style with beautiful and truly unique creations.

haute couture

Hip hop clothing

Hip hop style is made of street clothing inspired by the popular music genre. It's the fashion style for those willing to stand out from the crowd and break trends.

hip hop clothes

Kawaii style

Kawaii is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It's associated with a pop-culture aesthetic of unique pieces with pastel colors. Kawaii fashion is very lovely, charming, and childlike.

kawaii style

kawaii skirt

Lagenlook clothing

Lagenlook means layered look in German. It's a popular way of dressing from Europe. This fashion style involves many layers of uniquely shaped clothing worn on top of each other.

lagenlook

lagenlook sweater

Loungewear style

The loungewear fashion style focuses massively on comfortable clothing with sweatpants, sleep pants, lounge shorts, jumpsuits, harem pants, leggings, sweatshirts, and cardigans.

loungewear

Maternity clothing

Maternity clothing is made of comfortable, stylish, and flattering pieces such as dresses, jumpsuits, swimsuits, shorts, skirts, pants, and shirts, perfect to wear during pregnancy.

Read up my article on maternity clothing to learn more about the importance of sustainable materials, especially during pregnancy.

maternity clothes

Military fashion style

Military clothing offers distinct colors and shapes. With khaki and sand camouflage shirts, cargo pants, warm parkas, jackets, and coats, the military fashion style is comfortable and highly functional.

military fashion

Minimalist fashion

Minimalism is all about simplicity, going back to basics, and your wardrobe-essentials. Remove what is superfluous to make every item in your closet a winner.

minimalist fashiun

Modern urban

The urban modern fashion style incorporates contemporary looks. It can be minimalist as well as street-inspired. It's often associated with today's fast-paced city life.

modern urban

Modest clothing

Modest fashion or modest dressing is a trend of less revealing clothes for personal preference. Modest clothing is very feminine and specifically designed to show less skin.

modest clothing

Nerdy and geeky

The nerdy and geeky style used to be unpopular but it doesn't mean overly obsessive or introverted anymore. This clothing style is now widespread with a passionate pop-culture community.

nerdy

Preppy fashion

The preppy fashion style is most similar to the classic style with a simple look but with more bold colors and prints. It's made of sportswear, casual lifestyle apparel and outdoor gear.

preppy

Punk rock

Punk rock is a style of clothes inspired by the music genre. David Bowie is a great inspiration for the punk rock look, known for its bright colors, prints, and jackets.

punk rock

Rock style

Heavily inspired by rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, rock style can be chic, modern, glamourous, edgy, and alternative. It also combines influences from metal, punk rock, and gothic rock.

rock style

Sexy fashion style

The sexy style is all about showing off your best features. Mostly casual and trendy, sexy clothes offer a very seductive, hot, and sensual look highly effective to grab attention.

sexy dress

Streetwear style

Streetwear is a fashion style including casual clothing and sportswear. It's heavily influenced by hip hop, surf skate, punk, and Japanese street culture.

streetwear

Sportswear style

Activewear, workout clothes, and gym clothing make the sportswear fashion style, popular outfits designed to transition from exercise wear to casual wear.

The large majority of sportswear manufactured today is made of petroleum-based materials, which are highly polluting. Luckily, many environmentally friendly alternatives exist.

Read up my article on what to look for in sustainable workout clothes to learn more about them.

sportswear

Summer clothing

Summer wear, cruise wear, vacation clothing, and travel clothes are ideal for traveling and relaxing, on vacation, or during leisure activities. They are perfect to say cool in hot weather.

summer clothes

Surf skate style

Graphic tees, sneakers, baggy pants, and hoodies are part of the surf skate fashion style. These are functional, loose, and comfortable clothes for maximum freedom of movement.

surf skate

Swimwear style

Swimwear and beachwear include fashionable clothes of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Versatile outfits help you transition from beach to street with style.

swimwear

Traditional fashion style

Traditional clothing refers to clothes with significant inspiration from the culture and identity of a specific ethnic group. A traditional style is an important part of every region's history.

traditional outfit

Trendy fashion

Every clothing piece that follows trends is trendy. By nature, trendy clothes are fashionable, up to date, and in style. They are influenced by or express the most recent fashion looks.

trendy

Vibrant style

The vibrant fashion style refers to anything rich, bright, loud, striking, and brilliant. This style is full of energy, enthusiasm, spirit, and confidence. Designs and colors are various and exciting but often only worn by minorities.

vibrant fashion

Vintage fashion

Old vintage clothes can be found in resale shops, thrift stores, and vintage stores. When an item is at least 20 years old, it is genuinely vintage or antique.

vintage dress

Wild West style

Inspired by the period with the same name, the Wild West genre is a country, cowboy, and Western aesthetic from America. This fashion style is very distinctive and unique.

wild west pin

About the Author: Alex Assoune

Alex Assoune (MS) is a global health and environmental advocate. He founded Panaprium to inspire others with conscious living, ethical, and sustainable fashion. Alex has worked in many countries to address social and environmental issues. He speaks four languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools.