The Ultimate Style Advice
It’s so easy to open a closet packed to the brim with clothes and still have nothing to wear. Why is that? Why do we feel so inclined to constantly shop and fill our closets with more of what makes us feel, well… blah? The answer is exactly that– because we keep BUYING things that we feel blah about. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of buying a new thing, but how do we get down to the core of what really works for us and what we’ll still get excited about when we open our closet in the future? Not to worry! We’ve rounded up the ultimate advice in order to avoid those future “blah” blues, because we think we’d all like to shop a little less and enjoy our closet a little more. Don’t you?
Quality Beats Quantity
Ah, the ever-popular obsession with French fashion… Why do they ALWAYS look so chic? The funny thing is the French actually happen to have significantly smaller closets and less clothing than Americans do, but still manage to have utterly enviable style. SO HOW DO THEY DO IT?! There is a link: quality over quantity.
The book, Lessons From Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott, is about Scott’s adventures and the lessons she learns about life and culture while staying with a French host family as a foreign exchange student. She learns that French habits are vastly different from Americans’, especially when it comes to clothing. Scott recalls the pure panic she experiences when she first arrives at her host family’s home and discovers that she is provided with the tiniest armoire to store her oversized American wardrobe. A culture shock, indeed. In Scott’s book she lovingly refers to her host family as “Famille Chic,” which speaks volumes to how secure they are with their own style.
“I quickly learned that such a tiny space was perfectly adequate for the storage needs of Famille Chic. They each had a wardrobe of about ten items. Monsieur Chic, Madame Chic, and their son had really nice clothes; they just happened to wear the same things in rotation over and over again.”
She continues to discuss how wearing an outfit once in America stems from deep within our culture (all her friends had the same problems with oversized wardrobes) and notices that everywhere in France, including French films and media, they are consistent outfit repeaters. But when you have such beautiful clothes that you love and put so much thought into, of course you’ll want to wear them all the time. The French view their carefully selected pieces as a sense of pride. They pay very close attention to what they add to their closet. They know what cuts and colors suit them, what construction will last over time, and they will easily choose those elements over something ‘on trend’ for a tempting price any day. They know how to choose clothing that they will love for a long time and not just for the time being.
Spend More to Spend Less
In our last article, Improving your Wardrobe, we touched on how cheap clothing and fast fashion are harmful for our closets and for the environment. One way we can escape the trap of fast fashion and poor clothing choice is by researching and investing in small businesses and brands that produce high-quality clothing and are also conscious about their eco-footprint. There are plenty of small clothing businesses out there that are far more concerned with producing an amazing product than producing an extreme quantity of clothing per season. The less you’re involved with businesses that are constantly pushing new, low-quality items on you, the less tempted you’ll be to buy large amounts of clothing without consideration. The less you purchase items you feel mediocre about, the more money you’ll have in your wallet for the items that make you feel like your best self. And the less you buy items that are cheaply made, the longer they’ll last and the less you’ll spend having to frequently replace them.
Instead of buying something on sale just because it’s on sale, how about carefully searching for that perfect piece first and then waiting until a sale happens? If you don’t want to risk that special item selling out, don’t feel guilty paying full price if it’s something that you know you’ll wear, is produced with high-quality materials, and fits in with the rest of your closet. Plus, when an item has a higher price tag, you’re more likely to stop and think about if you actually want to spend that amount or really need that item before purchasing, making for better clothing choices in the long run.
Focus Your Style
When it comes to quality and spending, the best way to make an educated choice is to focus the ideas of your style into a cohesive vision. Yes, there are different versions of yourself, and there’s nothing wrong with trying something new, but the more your pieces are able to be paired together, the more outfits you’ll be able to create with less overall. This doesn’t mean you need to have a completely neutral-toned closet, but it can mean that you have a well-thought-out color palette with a few pops of something unexpected for when you’d like a little variation.
As we’ve discussed in the past, Pinterest can be your best friend. Create a style board and see what you’re naturally drawn to. What do those pieces all have in common? Do they all have more simple, streamlined silhouettes? Are you attracted more to vintage-inspired looks? You don’t need to go with a theme, but find clues on how your puzzle pieces all fit together in different ways. If you end up running into a piece that you were on the fence about anyway and that doesn’t fit into the puzzle, it’ll be easy to say no, especially if you have to purchase something completely new to wear it at all.
The more focused your style, the less you’ll purchase and the more you’ll have to spend on those ideal pieces when you run into them. If you’re up for an experiment, try this: each time you run into an item you want to purchase and ultimately decide isn’t the best choice for you, take the money you would have spent on said item and set it aside. Give the experiment a deadline. At the end of the deadline, take a look at the total amount of money that added up from those almost-purchases. This experiment will help you become more aware of your bad habits and impulses, along with assisting you in developing the habits you need to build your closet in a more conscious way. Then use that amount toward your dream ‘yes’ pieces that you know you won’t regret.
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to go as far as having a 10 item capsule wardrobe, but how many items would you have if you just kept the pieces you truly loved? Picture opening your closet to only the most beautiful, high-quality items that truly encapsulate your personal style and who you are. Every piece fits you perfectly, every color flatters you, and you’re able to mix and match each item with ease. You could have a future closet where instead of thinking you have nothing to wear, you realize that everything you own makes getting dressed a no-brainer. Trust us, it’s possible. And it involves purchasing much less than you thought and only the things that make you glow.
“If you love something, wear it all the time. Find things that suit you. This is how you look extraordinary.”