Do you struggle to put outfits together? Is clothes shopping not your idea of fun? I get it, I really do. Whilst I love clothes, clothes shopping, putting outfits together, accessorising etc., I don’t feel the same way about cooking, another task that we have to do each and every day. When it comes to food, I crave simplicity – I want to prepare healthy food in as quick a time as possible and requiring as little fuss as possible. So I’ve outsourced the problem to Hello Fresh (yes, there are many other similar providers!).
If you’re looking for simplicity when it comes to your wardrobe, here are some top tips:
Keep to a colour scheme that makes life simple. I often recommend choosing say 2-3 of your best neutral colours (navy, grey, olive, black etc.) and 2-3 of your favourite accent colours. For me at the moment, this would probably be emerald green, cobalt blue and perhaps red. When you’re shopping be disciplined with yourself and only buy things if they are in one of these 4-6 colours. This way, you’ll pretty much be able to mix and match most things in your wardrobe. In fact, this is how to build a capsule wardrobe, which you can read more about here and see examples of here.
Try to nail your ‘style personality‘. By this I mean, start to refine what styles you like, that really feel like you and that flatter you. Making pinboards using an app like Pinterest, or even the more traditional mood boards from cut out magazine images if you like to get creative, can be a good way to do this. Don’t be influenced by what others wear or their comments on what you wear. Try to be crystal clear on what YOU like. What do you feel most comfortable in? What do you wear time and again that you enjoy wearing? Think about the staples that you reach for time and again – what is it about them that you like – their simplicity, the fabric, the pattern, the quirkiness, the vibrancy, the detailing, the colour palette etc. The more you can really get to grips with your style personality, the easier clothes shopping and putting together outfits becomes.
Organise your wardrobe into an order that makes choosing what to wear each day easy. For some people, they like to hang things in item order (eg. tops, then skirts, then trousers, then dresses etc) and then in colour order within each category. This is how I like to do it as I enjoy creating outfits around colour themes. Others prefer to organise their wardrobes into distinct lifestyle categories (eg. ‘home’, ‘work’, ‘socialising’, ‘gym’ etc.). You may be someone who likes to have a summer and winter wardrobe perhaps? Or maybe you like to literally hang whole outfits together on one or more hangers next to one another. Whichever way works best for you, it’s really worth taking the time to get organised. It’ll save you so much time each morning if you can clearly see what you have in your wardrobe.
On that note, make sure you can see most of your clothes and accessories. I can’t count how many times clients have uttered the “oh, I’d forgotten I’d got that” line when we’re going through their clothes. Things hidden in drawers and cupboards get easily forgotten, so if you’ve got the space try to put them where they are visible, or take photographs and hang those where you can see them. The more you see something, the more you’re likely to wear it.
Start taking photographs of outfits you’ve worn that you have enjoyed wearing. Either take a selfie, or lay the items on a bed or floor and take a quick photograph. You can start building this up into a montage of outfits which you can then look at for inspiration on a day when you’re having one of those ‘I don’t know what to wear moments’
If the DIY approach feels like too much effort, or you really aren’t into clothes and would like some help and inspiration, do what I do with the cooking and outsource the problem! I’d love to help to make it easy for you, whether that’s by helping you to create outfits, to understand your style personality, to learn which colours and styles of clothes flatter you, or to help you on an ongoing basis with my Stylist At Hand service, where I literally create outfits for you from your existing wardrobe along with new items (if you want any), all put together as outfit images (showing you the top, bottoms, jackets, shoes, bags, accessories to put together), and accessible via your phone, tablet or PC. You just choose which outfit you’d like to wear and you’re away. It’s the ‘done for you’ way to make getting dressed each day super easy. If you’d like to see how it works or find out more, just email me here and we can book a zoom call where I’ll show you it all in action.