I gathered together all my fashion and style books - they don't even take up one half of a cube on my book shelf! Not one book on Chanel... I will have to remedy that.
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I find it strange that my wardrobe posts always get really high readership, on the once-in-a-blue-moon occasions that I look at my blog statistics. But I do it too. I like to look nice but am not a fashionista, and even I can’t resist a different wardrobe point of view. Why is that do you think?
Much of the time I am not that excited about my wardrobe. I love some of the pieces and others are just there. Sometimes some of the items are a little snug… so I wear the bigger sizes :) I probably do take my wardrobe a bit for granted. Why do I say that? Well, I am surprised sometimes when I don’t seem to have many options and then realise I haven’t been shopping for many months. I just forget to.
I would happily show you my summer wardrobe, except that it’s the same as last summer, just with two new dresses added, oh and a couple of pairs of capri pants. Maybe I’ll do that post next week.
So today, I’m going to get excited about my wardrobe again. It rolls around cyclically, this closet malaise. What are we going to do about it?
Borrow other people’s enthusiasm
Nothing gets me more enthused about fashion again than following fashion bloggers on Instagram or reading style blog posts. I think it’s so cool that I can see what a stylish lady is wearing, today, in Paris or Milan. I love modern times!
As a teen in the 1980s I would patiently wait for my favourite style and music magazines to arrive from the UK and devour the street style photos which would have been months old by then. But I didn’t care, I was always inspired to be more out there, make a new outfit (literally, with my sewing machine) and not let myself lapse into mediocrity. My mother still has nightmares from those days.
Re-organise everything
Without thinking about it too much (otherwise I’ll talk myself out of it and say it’s too big a job), I pile everything out of my drawers and onto the bed. Then, sort and put back, seeing what I have as I go. Maybe I’ll declutter a few pieces but it’s mostly about reacquainting myself with what I have.
Same with my hanging items, I would take them all out of my wardrobe and lay on the bed, starting with an empty hanging bar. Then, put them back with my current favourites at the front.
Create a mini-capsule collection
After the organising comes the fun part – putting together a mini capsule collection as if you were travelling somewhere. When we travelled to Sydney for four nights last year, my husband and I decided to take carry-on luggage only. Our carry-on bags are tiny. It was a fun challenge though and it was so liberating to have a tiny bag. No waiting at the carousel; no dragging a big suitcase through central Sydney.
After that experience I have created a mini capsule for myself at times when I was either bored with my wardrobe or one time had put on a few kilos. In the bored example, I chose some of my nicer pieces that I would not wear because they weren’t as practical, and mix them in with pieces I loved. This made it feel like I had a new wardrobe and it was fun getting ready in the morning.
In the case of my clothes being a bit tight, I made a mini capsule of my looser/more forgiving clothes and gave myself a break while I reset my weight. Please note I wasn’t moving into track pants and baggy tee-shirts. This mini capsule was made of clothes that while they were bigger, were still flattering. You know how some jeans have more stretch than others. The rigid jeans went at the back for now.
Wearing a pair of jeans so uncomfortable and that has your muffin top spilling over is not going to help you be slimmer. Aside from looking nasty, they will make you grumpy and more likely to comfort eat, as paradoxical as that sounds.
So that’s my three tips to falling in love with your wardrobe again. What do you do when wardrobe malaise sets in? Maybe it’s the end of the season, I think I’ve mentioned that one before in another post. It’s easy to be excited about the changing season and the promise of wearing different clothes, but then once you’re a few months in, they seem a bit samey.
Please share!
fiona
PS. If you haven’t already read my bestselling book Thirty Chic Days, there is a chapter on making your closet like a bijou boutique. It’s one of my favourite chapters in the book and it is very inspiring to look at your wardrobe another way. You can download it on Amazon or read the paperback too.
Check your public library also, because more and more are stocking my books. If they don’t, ask if they will order it in. Some libraries accept reader requests, and some don’t. One of the librarians at our library told me they love it when people request titles, because otherwise they have to choose from big catalogues. It’s saving them a job!