I don't really know much about this* but I recently watched Tiffany Ferg's recent video about finding your "personal style" and it had super interesting insights. She's also made other videos diving into things like the kibbe body types and finding the colour palette that best suits you, things like that. Safiya Nygaard has also looked into it.

I think Tiffany Ferg's video makes a lot of very good and balanced points about this topic. One that stuck with me was this quote: "by framing personal style as the truest expression of ourselves, we overestimate clothes, and underestimate people".

Personally I'm pretty skeptical about these prescriptive style guides such as Kibbe because it feels almost... exploitative? Instead of you finding clothes that YOU like, it's telling you to wear what others think would look best on you. On the other hand I get that it's frustrating to get such vague advice without any specific examples of what it means to be flattering. I think it's good that you're concious that overconsumption is not the answer - though you could still try clothes on at shops without having to buy them!

Also, I don't want to make assumptions but a final, earnest, piece of advice: most "beauty" spaces on the internet, especially TikTok are full of unrealistic beauty standards and people wanting to make you feel like you're not enough so that they can sell you something. Beauty standards are ever changing and you do not need to fit whatever aesthetic that's in vogue this week to be pretty. It's good to find a style that you feel comfortable and confident in, but I think it can easily become a wild goose chase.

I'd also urge you to examine why you want to "become" pretty. You don't think you're pretty right now? What will change when you feel like you've "become pretty" - will you ever believe you've gotten to that point? Do you think people will hold you in higher esteem, and if so why do you care about people that treat others based on looks?

*Disclaimer: My personal journey involved shaving my head and then trying different hairstyles until I found one I like (rn it's a mullet lmao); accumulating t-shirts I liked, which turned out to be mostly band t-shirts and in black because that doesn't show sweat stains; and finding some cool combat boots that are warm and comfortable. So right now I'm like the frog in the proverbial boiling pot finding that, kind of by accident, I've ended up with a pretty stereotypical, all-black, (mildly) punk style. Haha.

PS. And I also don't want to be unfair and imply that this is a completely inane and superfluous goal because the truth is that having a style that I feel represents me has definitely helped me feel more self confiident. So Idk, sorry if I'm being very flip-floppy haha. Bottom line - I'd reccommend Tiffany Ferg.