There is some useful information out there that shows you how to put a wardrobe together, although the most common advice seems to be "think about what your wardrobe is missing, that fits into your style". I've read of bottom-to-top ratios of 1:2-4. I've read multitudes of articles on "finding your style". There's some color discussion and personality discussion in there as well.
My style, like most Americans, is a bit all over the place. I have a conservative corporate office job, but love to wear sundresses and flip flops on the weekends (it's the native Californian in me). I love dramatic outfits for when I go tango dancing and to the symphony/theater. Is there such a thing as a dramatic sundress?
It's something I'll have to think about. Even though I have a few pieces of clothing identified that I want to buy, I think I'm going to put a hold on buying new clothes for a while so I can collect my thoughts about where I want my wardrobe to go. When I was in high school one of my teachers had us do a writing exercise which involved envisioning where we saw ourselves at 30. I know one of the things I so desired and thought I would have was a lovely wardrobe (also nice perfume). I have the nice perfume now but (in my mind) an OK wardrobe. At the very least, I don't think it represents me just yet.
Janice from the Vivienne Files has some great posts on building wardrobes, Project 333 style. It's a neat philosophy, but trends towards having more separates and fewer dresses.
Redefining Normal - Besides showing how many outfits you can make with 33 pieces of clothing, she references Mother Jones in how our fast fashion culture has exponentially increased the amount of clothing we consume. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the number of new clothing items down to 10 a year (like what most people say the French consume?)?
Building a Wardrobe By Fours - Here she demonstrates her formula of creating a 33 item wardrobe
Some Examples of Building Wardrobes: My Clothes, Camel & Navy, Warm Colors
One specific example (over two blog posts) of integrating new pieces: Dream Specific Wardrobe Dreams, Dream Wardrobe
Going off of this philosophy, I'm going to try to take my list of french-inspired wardrobe pieces and break them down into the steps of building a wardrobe by fours:
Step 1: Core of 4 (Black)
- Wool Dress Pants
- Blazer
- Skirt
- Dress
- Linen Pants (White)
- Button-down Blouse (White)
- Silk Button-down Blouse (White)
- Skirt (Grey)
- Cocktail Dress (Red)
- Skirt* (Red)
- Bowtie Blouse (Ocean Blue)
- Polo Shirt (Dusky Plum)
- Jeans (Blue Denim)
- Wool Pencil Skirt (Navy)
- Denim Shirtdress (Navy Denim)
- Cashmere Sweater (Navy)
- T-shirt (Black)
- Long Sleeved Raglan Top (Navy)
- Chambray Top (Light Blue)
- Turtleneck* (Black)
- Breton Top (Blue & White Striped)
- Chanel-inspired Jacket (Black & White Boucle)
- Chanel-inspired Skirt (Black & White Boucle)
- Silk Chiffon Blouse (Navy Print)
- DVF Wrap Dress (Black, White, Teal, Brown Print)
- Sweater (Red)
- Cowl-neck lace top* (Black, something I have already)
- LBD (Black)
- Dressier Jeans (Navy Denim)
- Denim Skirt (Light Blue Denim)
- Leather Jacket (Black)
- Evening Top* (Red)
- Tank Top (Black)
I thought this was a really useful exercise; it definitely helped me to point out holes or gaps in my wardrobe. I ended up adding a few tops, which I had mentioned was a hole before. I also added a red skirt, which would be flashy and nice to wear with a lot of other things (namely black tops but I could see it working well with a lot of other things). I'm not sure I'll use this strategy again but it's certainly interesting.
This is brilliant! I'm so happy to see what good use you've made of this idea. Let me know how it continues to work for you.
ReplyDeletewarmest regards,
Janice