Women's Lifestyle October 23, 2026 0 Comments

Unlock Your Ultimate Style: How The RealReal Is Shattering Fashion Myths and Redefining Personal Expression

Ever find yourself typing some quirky, downright peculiar phrase into a secondhand fashion site just to see what gems might pop up? I mean, who would’ve thought that a search for “Betty White fur coat” or the elusive “dark academia” vibe could unlock a treasure trove of style? Since 2011, The RealReal has been that gateway—an online luxury consignment universe constantly refreshed with rare vintage finds and everyday fashion steals that make dressing up feel less like a chore and more like an adventure. Whether you’re one of those diehards setting alarms for drop times or just the casual browser on the hunt for something unique, it’s clear we’re in a new era of fashion where personal style reigns supreme. And now, with their new book, Real Style: Dressing with Intention & Expressing Yourself Through Style, they’re tossing the rulebook out the window, encouraging us all to listen to that inner voice and build a wardrobe that speaks our truth—quirks, mood swings, and all. So, are you ready to stop chasing trends and start tuning in to your true style story? LEARN MORE

4 min read

These days, if you want to find the kind of extremely rare, once-in-a-lifetime fashion grail that dreams are made of, the easiest way to go about it might just be opening your browser to a secondhand site and typing in a weird search term. “We’ve been seeing all these funny search terms, things that actually feel sort of digitally conversant, like ‘dark academia’ or ‘Betty white fur coat,’” says Kristen Naiman, chief brand officer of the RealReal.

Since it launched in 2011, the online luxury consignment retailer has opened up the floodgates to a steady stream of secondhand fashion at our fingertips, with thousands of new items going live every day. Its diehards have alarms set to check the drops twice daily at 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. EST. Others only frequent the site when they’re looking for something particular. But the mix of high-end rare vintage with everyday secondhand fashion at more accessible prices means there’s never been an easier way to cultivate a more meaningful sense of personal style—whether your search term is simply a brand name or something much quirkier.

Arsh Raziuddin; Courtesy The Realreal

Now the retailer is releasing a new book, Real Style: Dressing with Intention & Expressing Yourself Through Style. It’s a celebration of finding your personal style through vintage shopping, born, says Naiman, out of the understanding that the game has shifted in recent years. “We were having a conversation about the way we think about shopping and style and really getting dressed and how much we feel like it’s changing,” she explains.

After all, we’re living in an era with an unprecedented interest in archival collecting and vintage culture. Social media has provided a massive opportunity for people to document their collections, share their obsessions, and collectively create new trends that often stem directly from the secondhand marketplace—like this past summer’s resurgence of Pucci or Roberto Cavalli.

The new tome, which is constructed like a coffee table book and set up like a guidebook, prizes individuality and personality over trends and shopping for shopping’s sake. The first section is all about defining your style. The second half is centered on building your wardrobe. “We were inspired by this idea of a wellness book mixed with something that was fun and engaging and interactive about style,” says Naiman. The idea is to celebrate true style, the kind that honors the little voice inside your head above all else. Rather than being focused on shopping seasonally or jumping on trends, it’s about the journey to understanding what you’re trying to say with your clothes.

Arsh Raziuddin; Courtesy The Realreal

Sections of the workbook are marked with questions, like “Would you rather” alongside a Jacquemus clutch and a Bottega Veneta bag. A later chapter asks you to write thoughts down from your “good voice” and “bad voice.” There are concepts like the “outfit spiral,” which is defined as the moment where you’re leaving the house and the fashion is just not flowing. The retailer’s advice is to pair something that you’ve been feeling really good in lately with two other things that always work for you. “It may not be your favorite you’ve ever looked, but it will pull you out of this thing,” says Naiman, who suggests asking yourself, “Where am I going? Who am I seeing? What’s making me feel like this? What else is going on?”

The book even has something called an incident report which encourages you to pause after getting dressed and question, “What happened? What brought that experience and is it something in my closet that I don’t have?” Another section asks readers to define their sun, moon, and rising brands.

Beyond the workbook element, the text is full of different voices, including Rachel Tashjian on desire, Jia Tolentino and Janicza Bravo on style, Kim Hastreiter on her idea of sexy, and LaTonya Yvette on separating style from status. There’s even an excerpt from fashion icon Chloë Sevigny, who shared how she was inspired by the personal style of her brother’s punk rock girlfriend. “I lived in a town that was really homogenous, and she had blue hair and wore kilts and Doc Martens, and I just thought she was so cool and so pretty and I wanted to be like her, because it was clear that her wardrobe reflected what she believed in, and I wanted to find something that I believed in,” she says.

Arsh Raziuddin; Courtesy The Realreal

Being able to shop older pieces from your phone anywhere and anytime allows you to think less about trends and more about what appeals to you. You can truly go down the rabbit hole. But the book also emphasizes that going to a random antique mall, a local thrift shop, or even an estate sale opens up new possibilities of clothing, jewelry, and accessories. “The act of secondhand shopping is in many ways a master class in understanding how to listen to that voice, because you have to be able to sift through so much stuff and understand why [certain pieces] call out to you,” adds Naiman. Online or offline, it takes cultivating that voice to have real personal style.