4 Tips To Help You Define Your Style and Create A Wardrobe You Love
If you feel caught on the ever-spinning hamster wheel of fast fashion and have whiplash from trying to follow the trends of what’s “in” this season and “out” the next, it’s time to break out of the cycle.
Spending some time rethinking your wardrobe and evaluating what works with your lifestyle, and what doesn’t, can help you create a long-lasting style that is utterly you.
Though fashion is only superficial, I know so many women (including myself) who feel much more confident in themselves when they are dressed in something they feel good wearing.
Instead of frequent shopping trips or hours browsing fashion websites, spend some time to really focus on your current wardrobe and lifestyle, and follow-up with the fun part: purchasing high-quality clothes and lingerie that work for you.
Following the steps I’ve outlined below have helped me to define my style and figure out what to purchase to help me reach my ideal wardrobe (I’m currently on Step 5: Shopping).
1. Work out what you wear most frequently
Can you immediately think of your most-loved items in your wardrobe? Sure, that’s probably easy for you; mine are ankle cropped, dark blue jeans and a dark purple leather jacket. But do these items match up with your most worn items? For me, that is a bit more wishy-washy as it depends on the season and situation.
I have to admit, even though my lifestyle requires me to have a relatively paired down wardrobe, there are still several articles of clothing that I don’t wear often.
How much of your wardrobe do you wear on a regular basis, and how much of it do you love?
To really see what you wear on a regular basis, consider the simple trick of turning your hanger around when you replace a worn item in your closet.
After a set period of time (say, a week or a month each season), check to see which items you’ve worn. Are there any of your loved pieces in your unworn section?
2. Clear out what you don’t wear
Now that you know what you wear often, what you love, and what don’t actually fancy, it’s time for a good closet clear out.
I tend to err on the side if you aren’t sure, keep it, so there is no need to do anything as drastic as what popular tidying books, such as The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, suggest.
After you’ve cleared out what you aren’t keeping, see if you can sell your clothes through a consignment shop or website such as Poshmark.
Later, you’ll get to spend this money on new clothes, but with a more focused approach.
3. Identify holes in your wardrobe
From your closet experiment of tracking what you wear regularly, you might have noticed that you felt as though you were missing a piece here or there to help you put together an outfit you love.
For example, I recently moved from a cold climate to a hot climate, and after doing this experiment, I’ve found that I’m lacking light dresses and undergarments to go with those dresses, so this is the hole in my wardrobe.
Are you missing any basics that could help to use more of the items in your wardrobe?
Think back to your most loved items and if you’ve worn them enough or if you feel as though you are missing pieces to pull an outfit together.
4. Pin or take screenshots of your favorite styles
Maybe you wear all of your clothes frequently enough, but still feel as if you are missing something to create outfits you admire in magazines or on the street. Or maybe you know what holes you have to fill, but still need a bit of inspiration.
Now’s the time to spend an evening curled up on the couch with a relaxing glass of wine, a few of your favorite magazines, and Pinterest.
Search for styles that inspire you and fit with your lifestyle.
Though you might be tempted to head straight back to those fast fashion stores, now is the time to really think about what you need and plan to spend time looking for a high-quality piece that fit directly into your current wardrobe.
5. Go shopping
Now is the best part (in my opinion at least): shopping.
With all of this combined information, you can head to the shops (either virtual or brick and mortar) to fill the holes in your wardrobe — and any special lingerie to go with the new clothes.
Even when I’m shopping, I sometimes like to refer to the screenshots I’ve taken of style that inspires me, so I avoid purchasing something just because it is inexpensive or on sale.
