The 9 Types Of Fashionable Friends You'll Have

From high school to college and on into your grown-up life, you're hopefully always going to have a group of friends around you. And you may not pay that much attention to it, but chances are, each of your fashionable friends is influencing and inspiring your own sartorial choices.

And that's exactly what friends are for — to pull and gain new ideas from, while getting a fresh perspective on almost everything in life. When it comes to clothes, though, it's often the other ladies in your life that you respect enough to give input into your preferences.

It's quite true that "birds of a feather flock together," but there's probably more variance in your friend group than you realize. I've put together a list of nine of the most common groups of sartorial genres, as I've found they each represent a particular type of personality and friend (at least in my own life!). See if any of these categories remind you of some of your own besties, and then take note of what exactly you don't want to be taking for granted anymore when it comes to their fashion sense. Because we all have some pointers we can pick up from one another, and it'd be a total waste to not share fashion (and life) inspiration with your pals!

1. Artsy

Description: This friend is the one who makes just about everything in life about art. She's always on the lookout for the unusual and the unique. Her clothes are often loud and flamboyant as she tries out those cutting edge trends that no else has the guts to sport. She can be found wearing lots of colors one day but then a more demure black outfit the next. She's always changing it up, and has so much creativity, it never looks like she wears the same thing twice.

Inspiration to take away: Her sense of experimentation and fearlessness.

2. Bohemian

Description: This friend makes hippie and festival style — what some people reserve for only special occasions — her ultimate and signature look. She just can't get away from long, flowing pieces that make her feel like a flower child in the '70s. Of course, she's able to update the look and make it modern by adding new pieces to her repertoire, but there's nothing she enjoys more than older, distressed items, earth tones, and beads. Lots and lots of beads.

Inspiration to take away: Her ability to stay grounded, her sense of freedom, and her connection to nature.

3. Casual

Description: This friend always chooses comfort over anything else. To her, "beauty is pain" is not a mantra she chooses to live by. She has a combination of looks within her wardrobe, but most things are loose-fitting and don't particularly call attention to her. She also makes athleisure look incredibly stylish, because of the confidence she's able to exude in her coolness and capability to move comfortably.

Inspiration to take away: Her humility and flexibility, and her effortless sense of being.

4. Chic

Description: This friend knows how to combine classic essentials of fashion with new trends. She's the friend you see the latest trends on first, and this gives her very modern sense of style. Her clothes always look smart, whether she's dressed up or down, because most of her wardrobe is probably new — or she knows how to take care of her stuff really well.

Inspiration to take away: Her wealth of fashion knowledge and her penchant for quality.

5. Normcore

Description: Your friend who never really had any particular fashion style labeled onto her finally got some recognition in the industry, with the rise of what we've now been calling normcore. She would say she has no style, and just wears whatever looks fine. But this means she's wearing basics and time tested pieces that will always be around. She's happy with whatever, and doesn't mind all that much how she appears to others.

Inspiration to take away: Her ability to not take herself too seriously and to let other people take the spotlight.

6. Rocker

Description: OK, so this category is going to encompass the punk rock style and/or goth look. Not that they aren't separate in their own right, but for the sake of categorization, I'm combining them. This friend has music in her ears 24/7. The music scene dominates pretty much every aspect of her life, and she's not ashamed of it. She wears lots of black, loves anything alternative, and always makes a statement.

Inspiration to take away: Her ability to not take "no" for an answer. Because rebellion isn't always trouble-making.

7. Romantic

Description: This friend wears a style that is traditionally "girly" and super "feminine." She's a true romantic at heart and loves anything floral and frilly. She doesn't apologize for her idealistic way of viewing the world, and she's bound to be wearing varying shades of pinks and reds. She probably prefers dresses and skirts over trousers and jeans, because she loves to twirl around in them.

Inspiration to take away: Her refusal to believe that the world isn't made for lovers.

8. Sophisticated

Description: This friend has professional wear down pat. She loves a good pantsuit, and wears many of the finer things in life. She's always believed that dressing for success is important and that her appearance can make or break a deal at work. It's often thought that she's older than she is, because she carries herself with a lot more finesse than the rest of your friends.

Inspiration to take away: Her ability to keep her stride despite the busyness and chaos of the world.

9. Vintage

Description: This friend loves taking it back with her stylish retro looks. She's always finding interesting pieces at consignment shops and speciality vintage outlets. She'd be perfect as a ModCloth model, because she looks great in the styles of yesteryear.

Inspiration to take away: Her love for the past, because she's got a lot of perspective no matter her age.

Images: Fotolia; bellahadid, nylonmag, curvyvintagebohemian, weekendbabes, grettacurvy, josie_gets_fit_30, ruthfus, braveamberbeats, protoshrew, thepinupbible/Instagram