DIY Wardrobe Rehab Step 6 - Focusing your shopping

If you've been following along you'll have seen a few pics of what my wardrobe looks like now, smaller and way more organised. (Check out the other steps here) Hurrah! The final step in my project is to put a few rules in place to focus my future shopping, so I don't end up with a massive jumbled wardrobe again. I've put these rules together from looking at a number of different blogs and articles in magazines.
My rules for focusing your shopping - making sure that anything I buy is useful and will be worn - are as follows:
1. As mentioned in the Wardrobe Essentials post, buy your basics and essentials in a neutral palette such as black, navy, beige or another neutral colour that suits you, increasing their versatility;
2. When you put together your list of essentials in one of my last posts, there were probably a few things that were on your list but you didn't own. If there are things that you truly need that will make your whole wardrobe more wearable - a navy blazer or well cut pair of black trousers for example - put these items on your list and save up to buy the best quality you can afford. Go without anything else and keep that item in mind while you are saving.
3. Don't go to sales unless you have a specific item in mind. How many times have we all nipped out to have a quick look in the sales and come back with something we bought for a tenner that will only be worn a couple of times. All this does is add to the clutter in your life. Add up all the stray tenners you spend a year and that is a whole lot of money that could be saved up for something good quality and infinitely wearable.
4. Limit the amount of cheap clothing you buy. To be honest, a lot of it is crap and poorly made. When you can, head to charity shops. Often you find better quality in charity shops and vintage stores than you do in high street stores.

How else can you maintain your organised wardrobe? Try to work through it and organise it as much as possible - have a three monthly clean out to get rid of anything you have accumulated that you won't wear. Sell these items on ebay or at markets so you can pay for new, good quality clothing that has been on your list for a while. Tash from Excessive Consumption recently blogged about this being her approach, and Dead Fleurette (who is on a blogging hiatus - devo!) only buys 3 - 4 items per season, and makes sure those are items she will treasure forever. I am sure we can all take a leaf out of their book! Happy Wardrobe!

Images: Excessive Consumption

DIY Wardrobe Rehab Step 5 - Colours

Check out the whole series of Wardrobe Rehab posts here

If you've been following along, you'll know that the purpose of the wardrobe rehab project has been to shrink and clarify my wardrobe, in the face of moving overseas, so I can throw together amazing outfits effortlessly and so that I have no 'tat' in my wardrobe that I don't wear. Through this process I culled my wardrobe (halving its size!), had a go at defining my style, made a list of  my wardrobe essentials and I tried to organise my wardrobe (although spent last night packing for HK so obv all the organising went out the window).

A major reason that historically my wardrobe has been a shambles, apart from the sheer size of it, has been my penchant for buying all different random coloured items with no reference to what exists in my wardrobe and what I will wear it with. How do you solve this problem? Firstly, as I mentioned in one of the previous posts, when buying basics and essentials you should probably stick to a neutral palette of black, navy, beige or white (or any other colours you wear alot and think of as your 'base' outfit colour). This is a point I picked up off this post by Dead Fleurette about the secret to french elegance, and I totally agree. If you think about all the amazingly dressed french women you see being photographed by The Satorialist and Tommy Ton, they usually build on neutral basics with lots of navy and beige and black.

But no one wants to wander around all day in only neutral colours, and thats where buying colour wardrobe 'updaters' comes in to play. Once you have a smaller wardrobe with lots of well fitting neutral coloured essentials, you can purchase a few coloured items (from the high street or charity shops) each season to mix with your basics and make them more on trend. An example? I posted recently about loving burnt caramel colour, and this colour has featured alot as the standout piece in my outfits - paired with dark jeans, black pants, skirts, tweed jackets and blazers. I picked up a top and a pair of shorts from a charity shop for nothing and they have been great for mixing with basics. Buying coloured shorts, silk shirts and other smaller items will allow you to mix them in with your neutral basics. Tash from Excessive Consumption has block colour dressing to perfection.

Another style of dressing that I really like is wearing tonal colours, choosing a single colour and wearing items that are different shades of that colour in the one outfit (see a few examples below). I really love this look, but very rarely ever do it - the Anywho girls and Maria from Vanilla Scented get tonal dressing so right! Can go horribly wrong if the shading is off though.

My main piece of advice is to wear what looks good on you. Choosing colours that suit your look and skin tone is much more important than strictly adhering to trend colours or tonal dressing- yes Zara might be pushing washed out blue but if it doesn't suit you don't go for it. Back in the day our grandmas used to go and get their 'colours' done, where someone would sit them down and work out  what colours suit them. This may seem a bit archaic but sometimes having an unbiased critique of what colours suit you is the best thing!

Block Colours

tonal dressing

frenchy (just for fun!)

Images: (from top left) Style Scout / Just Jared / Hanelli Mustapata
The Style Crusader / Anywho
excessive consumption / image of me by Street Style London / excessive consumption
Vanilla Scented / Anywho / Anywho
Excessive consumption / excessive consumption/ excessive consumption

DIY Wardrobe Rehab Project Step 4 - Organising Your Wardrobe

Images: Maria of Vanillascented's wardrobe, wardrobe from mode d'amour, my wardrobe during the cull (most of its been sold now!), Girly Style Memo, Moodboard, Moodboard, Sabrina from AfterDRK's wardrobe.

Check out the other steps in the Wardrobe Rehab Series here.
If you've been following along with the Wardrobe Rehab project, you will have just finished Steps 1, 2 and 3, and should now not only have a wardrobe with only clothes that fit well, look good and make you feel great, but also have an idea of what your personal style is and a list of your wardrobe essentials. You are well on your way to an amazing wardrobe! An inspiring wardrobe is an important step to being excited to get dressed in the morning, remember Cher from Clueless and her futuristic wardrobe? 'I'm just, like, a normal girl!...'. Although we can't all have that level of sophistication in our wardrobes, putting the time into the organisation of your wardrobe will pay off.  Looking for pics on the net of blogger's wardrobes, I was surprised by small, compact and well organised many of them are, perhaps that is the key to looking great all the time? I love the simple look of Maria of Vanillascented's wardrobe (top pic), and she shows us that you don't have to have an over the top, carrie-from-SATC-movie type of wardrobe to look amazing.

How should you organise your wardrobe to allow for easy access and aesthetics? This is a question I have mulled over lots and lots. There are numerous schools of thought on this one - your could colour coordinate all the items to give them a rainbow effect (very pretty and what most bloggers tend to do) or organise them by type (ie all your skirts together etc), or have a kooky monica from friends style organisation going on complete with dewey decimal referencing....

Either way, when you are deciding how to do this you need to keep in mind that the purpose of this project is to make it easy for YOU to get dressed and look great. I love the look of my clothes lined up in a row all colour co-ordinated, but the mixed up styles does make it harder to get dressed in the morning and I tend to forget what I have if everything that is say, black, is all together. If you have a big enough collection of clothes and a wardrobe with different compartments, sort your clothes into different types (pants, shorts/skirts, jackets, tops, shirts) and then organise by colour within their types.

If you have enough room, try to hang as much as possible up. Drawers are great for jeans and underwear but I find I am much more likely to pull something off the rack than out of the bottom drawer. If possible store accessories and shoes at eye level and jewellery on a hanging rack. Hangers? I love wooden hangers and even padded ones for lace and sheer tops. That said, I haven't invested in any luxury hangers because, really, who knows where I'll be living next year?

DIY Wardrobe Rehab Step 3 - Wardrobe Essentials

Find the other steps in the Wardrobe Rehab series here.
I guess the first thing for me to say is that this post has been inspired by Dead Fleurette's amazing style blog. She has such simple style, and only buys 3/4 items every season! As a result she has the french simple/chic look down pat with the most lovely essentials, and she has inspired me to buy less and better quality. In addition to this post, you couldnt go wrong having a long read through her blog. Would love to have a chic wardrobe like her's one day!

Wardrobe essentials are the staple items in your wardrobe that you wear regularly and make special by mixing with different colours, trends, accessories etc. If you read blogs or fashion magazines you will have seen many a '10 things every woman needs' article, some helpful and others a barely disguised attempt to push a micro trend down our throats by labelling it an 'essential' (FYI sunday times style, I do not think I NEED a blue pair of suede boots).

This post by Garance Dore about wardrobe essentials is great, as she does a fantastic job of categorising what an essential really is - an item that is the starting point of any good outfit. The comments at the bottom of her post where other people have listed their own essentials is also interesting - you can see how everyone differs!

For that reason noone else's list will really tell you what your wardrobe essentials are, it will come down to your body, your style and a whole host of other things. What you can do, though, is determine your own list, based on what you love wearing and what looks good on you. Up until a couple of years ago I didn't think about basics at all and always purchased items I loved but that I found didn't go with anything in my wardrobe (it was a bit of a clashy mess in there truth be told!). Since then, I have haphazardly developed my list of essentials by trial and error, and by seeing what's in my suitcase when I have tp pack light. Writing this post I have tried to analyse what the important 'essential' items are in my cupboard, so here's my list.

Well fitted black blazer (cropped just below the hips)
Blue/grey skinny jeans
Black skinny high waisted pants
Neutral coloured singlets and three quarter length tops (I don't go for tees much)
Nautical striped boat neck tops
Black, high waisted full mini skirts
Black and tan high waisted mini shorts
Black bodycon dress
Black leather jacket
Black and white herringbone winter jacket
Black opaque and sheer spotted tights
Patent black heels (with a toe that's midway between pointed and round)
Black ankle heeled boots + suede wedge boots
Black flat brogues and ballet flats
Wide brim fedora hat
Tan and black skinny belt.
Black pashmina scarf

Along with a few patterned and coloured bodysuits and shirts, the above list is all I would need to dress well - and I have continued to cull my wardrobe recently with this in mind. In relation to the colour of your wardrobe essentials, I usually stick to a neutral colour palette - black, white, camel, navy or beige being easy ones, so that I can then mix in coloured items and accessories. What are your wardrobe essentials? I'd love to know!

Images: Knock you for Six, Jak and Jil, Excessive Consumption, AfterDRK, Moodboard

Wardrobe Rehab Step 2 - Defining Your Style

Images: TFS / Hanelli Mustapata / Helmut Lang via Because I'm Addicted

Find the other steps in the Wardrobe Rehab Series here.

Defining your style is a very important step to ensuring a wardrobe that works well, is gorgeous AND functional. When I say defining your style, I don't mean deciding what you are allowed to wear and then never straying from that, but more, deciding what looks good on your and what suits you, and then working in trends and experimenting with looks from there. Defining your style is not always an easy thing to do though, and takes a little bit of time and thought. Once you have done it, it will be easier to know what you will and won't wear when you are shopping, and faced with a sale or bargain item when your first instinct is to swoop, so you don't end up with a cupboard full of unsuitable styles. In this step  I'll give you some guidance on how to determine your personal style.

Assess the 'Good' Pile
Remember the pile of 'keepers' from the last step when you culled your wardrobe? Well, hopefully this pile says something about how you like to dress and what your style is. The clothes that are there you obviously enjoy wearing and (should) look good on you. Ask yourself, what are their characteristics? What do I like about them? What principles of what is in this pile can I apply to my future shopping so that everything in my wardrobe is immensly wearable and enjoyable?
As an example, in my pile were alot of the following things:

• High waisted mini shorts and skirts
• Skinny leg jeans
• Pegg leg trousers
• Girly Long sleeved dresses
• Bodysuits
• Blazers and statement jackets

What I could tell from what was in the pile is that I prefer an hourglass silhouette, structured, sometimes girly aesthetic with the exception being for work clothes where I tend to prefer a more man-ish look. You don't necessarilly have to let this pile define you, and maybe you want to break out of your current style and start dressing differently, butunderstanding fully what is in your wardrobe will definitely help you choose items when shopping that will work well with what you have, and help you build your wardrobe further (we'll learn about basics and colours in the next few steps!).


Know what suits you
Knowing your bodyshape and what looks good on YOU is also key to defining your personal style. We are constantly bombarded with new trends and looks, and only a small number of what we see will suit us and work with our bodyshape. Desiring every new style isn't abnormal (I have a strange breaking in period where I hate a trend and then bam! I'll want it) but buying every new trend and filling our wardrobes with unsuitable items is a bad idea. Unfortunately I am not an expert at determining what's best for different people's bodyshapes (there's a heap of stuff on the internet including here if you need it). But one thing I would recommend you do if you are in need of guidance, is get together with a close friends and talk honestly (and lovingly) about what suits you both best. Sometimes it is hard to see ourselves without a bias, and our friends are much better at that. Tell each other when you looked your best recently and what it was about that outfit that made you look good. 

Another obvious point about bodyshape is to chose your best features and make sure the items in your wardrobe are promoting that feature. Got nice ankles? Steer clear of maxi dresses and go for a mini. Lovely decolletage? Go for tanks or off the shoulder. Great boobs? Go for a plunging neckline.Small waist? Go for high waisted. Great bum? um, I think you get the picture.

Catalogue your favourite looks
Another step for determining what your personal style is (or in some cases, what you want it to be) is to collect images of aesthetics that you like - I could rattle off a number of different looks (boho, classic, preppy etc etc) but I often find these a bit generic and cliche. The best thing to do is to collect all the images you can (from magazines, saved off from blogs etc) to inform the style you like. The blogging world is a treasure trove of outfits and aesthetics on different people that you can mix and match from. Who not start your own blog on which to upload your favourite looks? This really does help to better affirm what your style is (and who knows, you could become an overnight sensation!). Couple this type of style research with a knowldge of what looks good on you and you'll be on your way to better personal style.

For me, a few blogs that I love that sum up what my aesthetic would optimally be are Excessive Consumption, Vanillascented and AfterDRK. My wardobe motto has to be 'keep it simple, stupid'. I don't like feeling overdone, much like the fellow minimalist enthusiast Dead Fleurette (amazing blog that helped inspire my need for a wardrobe makeover and this process).  When doing research as to what your favourite looks are, try to look past element of 'trends' (its hard, I know) and focus on what styles look good on you. This is because the purpose of the wardrobe rehab project is to develop a wardrobe that works for the next five years and more, full of perfectly fitting simple items, into which you can mix a small number of wardrobe up daters each season if you want to be more on trend.

Wardrobe Rehab Project Step 1: Culling

 

Following on from my post a few days ago outlining my Wardrobe Rehab project, here's the first step (look in the right hand side bar under 'popular posts' for the rest of the steps)

If you are like me, your current wardrobe is stuffed with so many different things and has such a mix of colours, styles, prints that it isn't always conducive to quick, easy and chic dressing. Therefore, the most important step on the path to an amazing and organised wardrobe is culling it down to a manageable size, with only things in it that look good on you, are in good condition and you wear.  To decide what stays and what goes, I recently did a huge cull. These are the steps I followed.

DIY Wardrobe Cull
1. I tried EVERYTHING in my wardrobe on. I took a morning out and hauled all my clothes into the living room (I find it easier to do these things when watching the 400th re-run of friends) and tried them on in front of a mirror.
2. I sorted my clothes by type and tried them on in order (tops, jackets, dresses, skirts, short and pants) to make it easier.
3. I made five different piles in the living room (you can imagine the mess) one for clothes to keep, one for clothes to sell, one for clothes to give away, one for clothes for DIYing and a final one for clothes that needed altering in order to keep.
4. I was ruthless about every item's wearability. I asked myself:

• When was the last time I wore this? If I hadn't worn the item in the last 6 months (taking into account the season) I probably wasn't going to wear it again. I let myself keep a small number of 'sentimental' items as well as expensive basics, but most things I hadn't worn went out, particularly cheap items bought on a whim or on sale.
• Does this make me feel attractive? If you look at yourself in the mirror and what you're trying on doesn't make you feel your best (wrong shape, colour or style), maybe you should get rid of it? If it doesn't make you feel good you'll be much less likely to wear it.
• Does this fit properly? For each item I checked the fit by lifting my arms, sitting down, bending over etc. Bum crack or too much boobage is not a good look. I got rid of things if I had grown out of them, even if I liked them (oh the pain!). The likelihood of me being the same size I was when I am 19 again? Ummm slim to none. Perhaps you're different and you fluctuate in size, in which case you could allow a bit more flexibility here. 
• Is this item out of date? Some fashions and prints will date very quickly and if you haven't worn it because it reflects a trend that has passed completely, you'll not wear it again soon.
• Is this item worn out? If the item isn't in good condition and is ripped, stained or stretched, don't hang onto it unless you are committed to fixing the problem.
• Does this need altering? If something doesn't sit or fit quite right but is well made and of good quality, see if you can get it altered or alter it yourself to make it more wearable.

5.  Do the same for shoes, accessories and underwear. Anything you haven't worn or used in a while or is in bad condition needs to go. Underwear needs to be comfortable and supportive (and cute) to be kept. Ditch any even slightly worn out tights and scruffy looking shoes.

Once you have done this properly, you should have left in one pile only things that look good, fit well and make you feel good. This is the basis from which you will develop a successful and gorgeous wardrobe.

What to do with the other piles you made?
Clothes to sell - for items that are of high quality and good condition, sell them on ebay, to your friends through facebook, take them to a clothes swap or sell them at a market or car boot sale.
Clothes to give away - for things that are a bit worn out and not worth investing your time in selling - bag them up and take them down to your local thrift shop or give to a friend/sibling. Try not to throw anything away in the bin because clothes can so easily be reused and not end up in land fill.
Clothes to DIY - I love having a bag of things that I can play around with and experiment various DIYs on. Make sure if you keep things that you have some idea of what you're going to do with them (refer to the rest of my blog for ideas!) and make some time to do it, otherwise they'll probably sit behind the couch collecting dust forever.
Clothes to alter - for those things that need a bit of tweaking to work perfectly, make time to get them to a dressmaker or to borrow a friend's sewing machine. Again, make time to do this and if after a month or so it hasn't happened - add these items to the selling or giving away basket.

I know it's hard to get rid of clothes you like, but if they aren't and won't be worn its best to remove them from cluttering up your wardrobe.  You can always give them to a friend or sibling if they are expensive - or put them in a box marked 'to give to my daughter one day'. Don't we all wish our mum had kept those amazing outfits she wore wear 30 years ago? I also kept a small number of items that shouldn't have made the cut because they meant lots to me - including a red cape jacket, a printed maxi dress, and a gold and black fitted mini dress, all of which I loved to bits in their day and couldn't part with.

I actually repeated these steps three weeks after the initial cull, because it was much harder than I thought to be unsentimental about items I hadn't worn, and the second cull allowed me to be even more bold about what I would and wouldn't wear.

Once you've done this all, congratulations, you have completed one of the hardest parts of the wardrobe rehab project and are well on your way to an effortlessly amazing wardrobe.  I've included a few pics above of the chaos of the cull when I did it.