If you have ever stood in front of a full closet brimming with clothes, many with tags still on and said, "I have nothing to wear" it could mean that you are buying clothes without any direction. This is a sign that it's time to redefine your fashion style and take inventory of how you spend your day and your wardrobe needs.
Here are five steps to help you get there:
Step 1. Start a Pinterest board and go pin crazy. Don't over think it by wondering where or when you would wear something to or skip it because you don't think it would look good on you--if it excites you and you find it pretty, edgy, cozy, etc., pin it to your board.
Here are a few key phrases to search by:
· Season e.g., “women 2022 spring fashion”
· Style e.g., “women business casual”
· Age e.g., “fashion outfits over 40 women”
Do this in small chunks of time over a week or two. Use your down time when you have a few minutes to let your mind be free to do this exercise.
Step 2. Study your board, preferably on a large screen when you can see more of the layout, and look for patterns. You may find that you have pinned a dress with a certain silhouette several times or a certain cut of pant for example. Also, not any colors that you see being repeated. You many find that you like a particular color or note that they are on the cool or warm tone colors.
Step 3. Delete the outliers, the outfits that don't seem to reference or match the other pins.
Step 4. Keep studying your board and now try to identify if they fall within a fashion style (it is okay if they fall within one or two styles). Maybe you've noticed that you're pinning a lot of flowy and pleated skirts that are lux and feminine that fall in the romantic fashion style. And maybe you also pin a lot of structured jackets and tops, with strong shoulders in a very classic and preppy fashion style.
Although you might have started this brainstorm process because you had a lot of different styles in your closet that became a bunch of one-offs that you couldn't make outfits out of, this exercise will help you synthesis all of those fashion ideas in one or two so that it is more cohesive.
Step 5. Breakdown how you spend your day in order to understand your wardrobe needs and how to allocate your budget when you shop for clothing. Your wardrobe should reflect how you currently spend your time, for most of us this is most of our time at a 40 hour-a-week job and then the rest is split between hobbies, entertainment and family. So this means half of your clothing budget should be spent for work clothes and what to buy will depend on what you do.
If you are an attorney, for example, suits and blouses are probably what you will shop for the most, but rest assure even in this career you don't have to be stuck wearing gray suits and a "comfortable" heel. Understanding your fashion style will help you spice up your outfit choices. For example, if your fashion style is a blend of preppy and romantic, wearing a structured blazer over a crew neck sweater and pleated skirt would look amazing-- professional, put together and gorgeous!
Let's say you were an elementary school teacher and danced salsa twice a week, so you'll probably need modest (not low cut or fitted) and comfortable outfits during the day. The typical teacher outfit includes stretchy dress pants, cardigans and sweaters for cold classrooms and flats to be on your feet all day--and there's nothing wrong with this, you can always spice this up a bit with your own style by selecting the colors and prints that you like + jewelry. BUT at night you can doll-it-up! Wear cute dresses and heels and up your make-up! And since dancing is only a couple of times a week, you can splurge a little here. Remember that you can re-purpose dresses for any other occasion with the right styling, like date night, girls night out, birth day parties, etc. It can be really fun pairing dress up clothes with more casual ones too.
Final Words.
The process described here can take you a few weeks or even months to complete because you really have to give it some thought. You might come to some conclusions one day but find over the next several days that you need to make some adjustments--this an iterative as well as a learning process so you should be doing this.
You'll also find that even if you have nailed how you spend your time and defined your fashion style, you may have to go through this exercise every several years to keep up with life's changes which create different wardrobe needs/requirements and your changing taste in aesthetics and what you find interesting and beautiful.
A Personal Wardrobe Stylist can help you redefine your fashion style, contact us at info@thecloseteditco.com or (408) 309-1696.
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