“Fashion is made to become unfashionable,” said Coco Chanel. These days that happens with alarming speed. In the many different looks filling monthly magazines, trends seem to overpower style, and uniqueness is almost extinct. Getting, and keeping, a signature look is almost impossible.

There were women who stopped us in our tracks with their signature style–Grace Kelly with her Hermes handbag and sleek, perfect hair; fashion editor/Old Navy spokeswoman Carrie Donovan with her huge, black-rimmed glasses and pearls, and Katharine Hepburn with her masculine-style trousers. The signature became synonymous with the person and their styles are readily identified even now. At a time when trends rule–and when reinvention is the prevailing trend–does anyone even think about creating a unique look?

“Originality is scary. And it takes effort,” says Michelle Lee, author of “Fashion Victim: Our Love-Hate Relation-ship with Dressing, Shopping, and the Cost of Style” (Broadway) and executive editor at In Touch Weekly. “Dressing in trends is safe. It allows us to be like everyone else.”

Women copy a look that they think would look good on them,” says Ruth P. Rubinstein, associate professor of sociology at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. “They also want to fit in and attract attention.”

“Our view of clothing is way too disposable,” Lee says. “The scary thing is that the amount of time it takes for a fashion trend to fall out of vogue is shortening.” Fashion’s fleeting nature barely gives us time to find a current style we want, let alone a signature look, she says.

With patience, though, most of us could develop a signature style by choosing a piece of clothing or jewelry, a color or cut that we love, and wearing it in many different ways until we become memorable because of it. Whatever style we choose, it should, above all, be comfortable.

“Fashion is made to become unfashionable,” said Coco Chanel. These days that happens with alarming speed. In the many different looks filling monthly magazines, trends seem to overpower style, and uniqueness is almost extinct. Getting, and keeping, a signature look is almost impossible.

There were women who stopped us in our tracks with their signature style–Grace Kelly with her Hermes handbag and sleek, perfect hair; fashion editor/Old Navy spokeswoman Carrie Donovan with her huge, black-rimmed glasses and pearls, and Katharine Hepburn with her masculine-style trousers. The signature became synonymous with the person and their styles are readily identified even now. At a time when trends rule–and when reinvention is the prevailing trend–does anyone even think about creating a unique look?

“Originality is scary. And it takes effort,” says Michelle Lee, author of “Fashion Victim: Our Love-Hate Relation-ship with Dressing, Shopping, and the Cost of Style” (Broadway) and executive editor at In Touch Weekly. “Dressing in trends is safe. It allows us to be like everyone else.”

Women copy a look that they think would look good on them,” says Ruth P. Rubinstein, associate professor of sociology at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. “They also want to fit in and attract attention.”

“Our view of clothing is way too disposable,” Lee says. “The scary thing is that the amount of time it takes for a fashion trend to fall out of vogue is shortening.” Fashion’s fleeting nature barely gives us time to find a current style we want, let alone a signature look, she says.

With patience, though, most of us could develop a signature style by choosing a piece of clothing or jewelry, a color or cut that we love, and wearing it in many different ways until we become memorable because of it. Whatever style we choose, it should, above all, be comfortable.