What's goin' on?

Well, the beginning of November came and went and I didn't do my usual posts on what I bought or my outfits of the month. I actually completely forgot, as I was so busy with my new job (yay!) that it slipped my mind. I've also been thinking a lot about it and I'm not sure that I'm going to continue with the blog the way it is going right now. I feel like there is something different I can do to make it truly worthwhile for me, where now it just feels like going through the motions.

I've still been culling my wardrobe regularly and plan to do a count sometime before years end, hopefully.

I've been thinking about what I want this blog to be in the next year, and there are a few things I want to focus on:

1. Doing less online shopping and taking a few 'shopping field trips' throughout the year where I focus on fabric & quality garments
2. Developing my sense of style
3. Continuing to minimize my wardrobe

I'm looking forward to what the future will bring!

Decluttering & Minimizing

One of the best things I did in July was take a large chunk of cardigans, dresses and tops out of my wardrobe, and stick them into the back of my front hall closet where I couldn't see them. It has been weeks and aside from grabbing one top back out, I haven't thought about the stuff at all.

I think later this year some of the cardigans may come back into play, but honestly I'm not very happy with them and even through the past few winters I haven't worn them, but have kept finding excuses to be able to keep them hanging in my closet. Maybe the best course of action is to get rid of them and find one cardigan/sweater to replace them all.

I also went through my basic t-shirts and separated the 'fashion' shirts; any t-shirt that I will wear on a day to day basis and enjoy wearing, from 'work' shirts; any shirt that only gets worn if I may be getting dirty that day, or if I just need something to throw on without worrying how I look (I have a lot of work gigs where I need shirts like this). Now, my main shirts drawer has been cut in half, and my 'work' shirts are on a back shelf in my closet where I can specifically go when I need one. I'm loving the less 'cluttered' feel, and not having to search through a bunch of 'meh' shirts I would never wear on my day off to find my cute t's.

A few months ago in April I did my first closet inventory and came up at a whopping 354 items (that's not including accessories)! Since then I've bought some new things, and I've tossed a few things; and I'm not totally sure if my count was completely accurate the first time since I have clothing items floating around the house in different places. I've set my mind to it that I need to downsize. I figured removing 20% of my wardrobe would be a good start; but I did the math and that's 71 items! What I would need to do first is a completely new closet inventory and count every last thing before I begin purging. Here's hoping for success!

Halfway Point

It has been 6 months since I began my journey of moving away from fast fashion, curating my closet and enjoying the clothing that I have, so I thought it would be a good time to post a bit of a reflection on how it's gone so far.

I feel like I've finally hit on a bit of a turning point; the past few months I have been saying NO to clothes and I haven't been impulse shopping like I used to. When I've gone into H&M I've picked things up and put them away after really considering them- I think about how I'm going to feel adding them into my already full closet, and it doesn't make me feel good. I have been passing over garments that were almost what I wanted, but not quite. Old me would have bought them anyway and then bought the actual perfect item later on, had it come up. I feel that I must have a fear of missing out in terms of clothing- I'm afraid of letting that just okay item get away in case I never find the really amazing piece that I want. And I'm becoming okay with that- if it isn't perfect, why add it to my wardrobe?

When I look at my clothes I'm slowly seeing a cohesive LOOK emerge; I'm itching to go through and get rid of pieces that don't fit the image I want to project. In keeping with this I plan to go through my wardrobe and pull out the things that don't fit with 'THAT GIRL' I want to be- I'm considering doing the 333 challenge, but for now I just want to really focus on those pieces of clothing that scream "ME", and see where that takes me. Basically I will be re-doing Step 2 of A Pair and a Spare's post "Wardrobe Rehab"; 'Define Your Style' which I did in an earlier post about, using photos from Pinterest as examples.

I also plan on going through all of my purchases for the first half of the year (as a few other bloggers have done) and rating them based on how many wears they have gotten and if they were a good purchase. I haven't kept track of specific wears, but I have a general idea about how much I've worn something and how into it I've been.

I am excited to see how the rest of the year goes!

A Pair & a Spares WARDROBE REHAB

I absolutely love Geneva's method on A Pair & A Spare for curating your closet; or as she calls it, 'Wardrobe Rehab'. The first step she has is to cull your wardrobe, which I have been doing and still am, so I decided to skip to number 2: Defining Your Style.

Instead of looking to my closet I decided to look to Pinterest; specifically my "Outfit Inspiration" board to see what I really love. I feel like my closet at the moment is a bit of a mish-mash of different things, which is why I decided to look to other people's style whom I admire to define what I really need in a wardrobe.

ALL OF THE LEATHER JACKETS

Leather moto jackets, followed closely by suede jackets are one of the first things I notice while perusing my Outfit Inpiration board. I have one great leather jacket from Viparo, and 3 other moto jackets that fulfill this catagory nicely (doesn't mean I don't have my eye on some amazing leather jackets from brands like Saint Laurent! one day!...) Followed closesly by... 

LOTS OF SKINNY JEANS

A leather jacket paired with skinny jeans is my go-to outfit. This really makes me realize that I need a good pair of dark-wash skinny jeans in my closet. Right now I have a couple pairs of skinny jeans, which I love, but they are of the $20 variety and they definitely look like it. Scraggaly threads and pulls aren't what I need in a jean- they DO look great when on (from a distance, at least) and I'll keep them for everyday wear, but a slammin' pair of skinny jeans that look like a million bucks (but don't cost it) are next up on my list of things to purchase.

TOUGH BUT CHIC

Another thing I notice on this board are the many outfits which have mixed tough leather and denim with sweet, chic swing skirts, soft blouses and floral prints. I really like the idea of mixing these two things to keep an outfit from going too masculine. I'm pretty sure if I shop my closet I can come up with a variety of outfits that fit the bill.

BACK TO BASICS

Simple sweaters, button down shirts, the holy WHITE-TEE, I really love the basics. When paired with skinnies and a leather jacket, you really can't go wrong! 

COLOR BLOCKING

Many of the outfits on my Outfit Inspiration board are made up of 2 or three colors; mainly black, grey and white, with some pops of color like pink or a leopard print. Luckily most of my wardrobe already adheres to these colors with a few exceptions.

 IN CONCLUSION

I think all of this gives me a really big clue towards what I should be focusing my shopping on in the future. I've always known this was my style and this is what I like, but it is easy to get away from yourself when you walk in to Forever 21 and everything is so cheap- thats when you start to water down your style. So my number 1 rule for future shopping is: FOCUS! & shop with intention!

Check out my Pinterest!

Progress

Tossed!

I had a bit of extra time over the past few days and decided to go through some of my skirts and belts- it really only took 15 or 20 minutes to blast through them all and decide whether to KEEP or TOSS.

Starting # of Pencil Skirts: 8

Keep: 4

Toss: 4

Starting # of Full/Circle Skirts: 4

Keep: 3

Toss: 1

I had 4 black pencil skirts and got rid of three, because I really didn't need 4 almost identical looking skirts. During this I also found one pencil skirt and one full skirt in need of hemming/mending!

Starting # of Belts: 34

Keep: 22

Toss: 13

13 isn't a huge amount to toss but I'm really happy about it! The belts I chose to toss ranged from too big/too small, to ones that I just don't like anymore. I also matched one of the TOSS belts to some old shorts and realized they are now 2 sizes to big for me... so those are getting TOSSED too!

I have to mention that before I did my wardrobe inventory a few weeks ago I actually had an even larger wardrobe, judging from the (very) big pile of clothes in my dining room that are going to be sent to the thrift store. I actually am very good about going through my stuff and getting rid of things, as I have done many times over the past few years- but evidently I am very bad at bringing new things in. It is pretty sad to see a pile of wasted money and fabric. But I am getting better at dialing down my impulses and really thinking about my style and what works for me. I'm looking forward to some more KEEP & TOSS times in the future!

Closet Inventory part 1

Let me preface this by saying; I have a lot of stuff. More than I originally thought- as I was counting and the numbers started adding up I was pretty shocked, but not really surprised. I decided to focus on my clothing and leave the accessories for later. So lets get down to it.

I created categories based on what I had in my closet to make it easier to divide things up.

OUTERWEAR	#
Leather/PU Jackets	4
Suede/Faux Suede Jackets	2
Winter Jackets	2
Blazers	4
Denim Jackets	5
Other	4
TOTAL #:	21
TOPS
Graphic & Print T-Shirts (Short Sleeve)	48
Graphic & Print T-Shirts (Long or 3/4 Sleeve)	2
Plain Shirts (Short Sleeve)	27
Plain Shirts (Long or 3/4 Sleeve)	14
Button-Down Shirts	16
Blouses	22
Cardigans	25
Ponchos	3
Graphic & Print Sweaters	7
Plain Sweaters	13
Sweatshirts & Hoodies	7
Vests	6
Tank Tops	13
Tank Tops (layering)	24
Crop Tops & Bralets	4
TOTAL #:	231
BOTTOMS
Jeans	13
Pants	4
Capris	2
Cotton/Tube Skirts	9
Denim Skirts	2
Circle/Swing Skirts	7
Pencil Skirts	8
Other Skirts	8
Shorts	3
TOTAL #:	56
DRESSES
Spring/Summer Dresses	11
Fall/Winter Dresses	15
Retro Look Dresses	3
Going Out/Fancy Dress	12
Formal/Special Occasion Dresses	5
TOTAL #:	46

I think the overall problem is that I have been hanging onto things that I've owned for YEARS- some from back in high school. I'm also one of those people who hangs onto things 'just in case' I need them- the thing is, quite often a random event will come up (like a steampunk show I went to recently) and I was able to create an outfit out of stuff in my closet that I typically don't wear. If I had gotten rid of that stuff, I wouldn't be able to do that. So maybe some stuff needs to be transferred to my costume bin for fun times like that.

I have a TON of graphic t-shirts. And I really don't wear them often enough. Over the past few years I have told myself many times not to buy anymore because I already had too many, and generally I have stuck to that except for buying a few concert t-shirts as mementos. In this case I need to purge some shirts, maybe transfer some over to my sleep shirt drawer, as well as just commit to wearing them on a more regular basis.

 

I really only wear a couple of my jackets on a regular basis, so as the whether warms up I'm going to need to make a really big effort to wear all of my spring coats & jackets so I can decided what is going to stay and what is going to go. In terms of skirts, I really want to wear them on a more regular basis but there are so many I really never wear that I just need to get rid of. I might keep one plain black circle skirt and a couple basic pencil skirts but the rest can go.

I think my upcoming strategy might be to box up a large amount of my clothing that I rarely wear, put it away and see what happens. Most likely I will forget about all the clothing I put in there and it will make it easier to get rid of. After looking at this inventory it would be hard to believe that I really need anything more at all, but I seem to always feel that way. I think it just goes to show that I'm not utilizing my wardrobe 100%- I have a lot of items that should be donated and really shouldn't make the cut in my wardrobe. So that is something I'm going to have to work on in the coming weeks and months, to really pare down what I have.

Mid-March Update

Well, its only 2 weeks until I finish my 2-year program at school and I am ITCHING to dive into my closet and really sort things out. I'm pondering doing a gigantic closet inventory- at first I thought I would do a spring/summer clothing inventory, but since some items crossover between many seasons it would make more sense to do an inventory of my entire closet. This scares me because a) I have a lot of stuff and b) I don't really want to know how much stuff I have.

The main part of my wardrobe that I wear on a regular basis is center stage in my closet, and over the past few months I've been peering into the back corners at the things I haven't seen in ages. These are the things I want to wear 'someday' but never get around to wearing, yet I don't want to face the facts and get rid of them. A big closet inventory could be just the thing I need to cut my wardrobe down a bit.

The good news is that over the past month or so items from my wardrobe have been making their way into my 'to sell', 'to swap' and 'to donate' piles. Next month I plan on listing a bunch of stuff on Ebay and I'm also planning to host a clothing swap with a friend. Looking forward to it!

Wardrobe Challenges

If you aren't ready to hop on the 5 Piece French Wardrobe bandwagon, there are many other ways you can maximize your wardrobe while coming closer to a better vision for the way you dress. For anyone who wants to rethink how they shop or downgrade their shopping habit, one of these wardrobe challenges could be up your alley.

PROJECT 333

To participate in Project 333, you need to choose 33 items of clothing, hide away the rest of your wardrobe, and only wear your 33 chosen items for 3 months. Basically, you will be creating a capsule wardrobe that you can wear for 3 months at a time before you can switch out to another 33 items (if you so choose). This challenge is about learning to live with less, and slowly removing and donating clothes you realize you no longer need or wear.

The 6 Items Challenge

The 6 Items Challenge is going to test your creativity and reliance on fast fashion by challenging you to choose 6 items of clothing and wear them over the course of lent (about 6 weeks). You read that right, the creators of this challenge want people to consider the way we shop today, raise awareness about the working conditions for garment workers around the globe, and decrease your reliance on fast fashion. (And don't worry, the 6 items don't include shoes, underwear, or work-out clothes). They'll be beginning the challenge this March and you can participate along with them on the blog.

30x30 Clothing Remix

The point of the 30x30 clothing remix is to create new and exciting outfits out of clothing you already own- 30 outfits with 30 garments, to be precise, and to not shop for 30 days while you take the challenge. This challenge was started by Kendi of KendiEveryday.com when she wanted to start shopping her closet instead of purchasing new clothes all the time. In this blog post you can see all 30 outfits Kendi created during her fifth time taking the challenge.

The Unworn Clothing Challenge
In a bit of a more easygoing approach, Janneke began this challenge by dumping all the clothing she hadn't worn in the past 6 months, and proceeded to wear only things from the pile for the entire 30 days. Any unworn clothing was donated at the end of the month. She has included cute drawings of all of the outfits she put together over her time doing the challenge. This would be a great one for anyone with a closet full of unworn clothes that still have tags on them.


After doing one of these challenges you may realize your closet has a lot more to offer than you once thought. I think there is a chance I might try the 30x30 Clothing Remix in the near future- I see a a lot of possibilities for creating some new outfit combinations I haven't put together yet.

Curating Your Wardrobe: how I began

I don't remember where I read about curating your closet the first time, but I do remember feeling as though I had had a revelation. The 'perfect' wardrobe had been elusive to me for quite some time- and I kept buying more and more, thinking that I was one purchase away from having the most enviable wardrobe in town. But I never arrived there. My closet ended up filled with poorly constructed garments from fast fashion stores, a few thrift store pieces I kept meaning to DIY, dresses that were too short that I promised myself I would wear because they were so cute (sometimes I did, but having to constantly make sure my crotch and ass were covered meant I never felt comfortable). Instead of buying a pricey piece I loved because I felt the cost couldn't be justified, I ended up spending the same amount of money on various items that I didn't really care about.

Somewhere in there I knew I wanted to be laid back, cool, and chic. And yet I was none of those things.

Closet Curation opened (a very polished and well sorted) closet door to the possibility that yes, the perfect wardrobe was in fact within my grasp. One of the very first websites I began reading about it was SortaCrunchy.net, where I learned from blogger Megan that:

• the curated closet is often edited
• the curated closet has a vision
• the curated closet shops with intention

and after that, Geneva Vanderzeil's blog A Pair & A Spare; with the blog post Wardrobe Rehab - 6 Steps To Your Perfect Closet:

1. Cull
2. Define Your Style
3. Gather Your Essentials
4. Organise Your Closet
5. Choose Color Palette
6. Focus Your Shopping (Quality over quantity)

Geneva goes into much greater detail with each of these steps on her blog. Seeing this all laid out in simple steps felt so exciting, and yet so calming knowing I could have a potential great wardrobe in the works, with less stress and anxiety about getting dressed each day.

In terms of the second step "Define Your Style"; I felt I had been doing that for years, but also while accumulating more and more that didn't stick to what I really loved. I feel that before you begin the 5 Piece French Wardrobe, you really need to define your style explicitly. How can you only buy 5 pieces each 6 months without knowing exactly what is going to work for you and your wardrobe?

I also feel like you really need to decide for yourself what your 'essentials' are. I've always been annoyed at those lists that tell you that you NEED to have a black pencil skirt, a white button down shirt, a black blazer etc etc (it's always the same list, wherever you go). But what if you don't need those things? What if they have no place in your lifestyle? You need to figure out what you need, what works for you, and not base it on what anyone else thinks you should have.

All in all, this should be a fun process, because in doing it you are getting closer to having a great wardrobe and closer to really personalizing your look. Go for it, with abandon!

The Journey Continues...

Now that I have commited to doing the French 5-Piece Wardrobe I am at a loss as to what I feel my wardrobe needs next. I still need to go through and continue curating my wardrobe, which will probably reveal some holes that will want to be filled.

I have also been mulling over the fact that generally buying only 5 pieces of clothing every 6 months means you should buy higher quality, more expensive pieces; and for someone who shops almost exclusively at Forever 21 at H&M, will I be able to drop down the big bucks for a better wardrobe? My gut clenches a bit at the thought of paying $100 for- well, anything.

Also, those Forever 21 gift cards I got for Christmas- when I use those, do I need to count each item as one of the five? Should I just purchase basics? Isn't the point of this to buy really nice quality basics to have for a very long time? Can I go from maximalist to minimalist? Will the questions ever end?

As someone who loves shopping almost constantly and with not too much money, I think I'm going to be thinking all this over for awhile.

The Journey Begins...

My journey began, sometime last year when I opened my overflowing closet and thought that I had nothing to wear.

Or maybe it began a few years before that, when I was hauling a trash bag (or two) to the thrift store every few months, and then popping in to buy a few more mismatched items.

Or maybe it was sometime in between then when I would try to recreate outfits I saw on style blogs using things I owned and realized none of my clothes worked together in fit or proportion.

I think over the past few years I had the idea that the more clothes I owned, the more creative I could be with my wardrobe. Anytime I want to create a whole new outfit, voila! There it is! I could go from a bohemian princess, to a punk rocker, to a chic and polished lady all in the span of a week just by changing my outfit.

It has slowly dawned on me that this is not the case.

Where I used to love getting dressed and putting together outfits, I started to become anxious and nervous- I needed to find the PERFECT outfit- there were many times when my floor and bed would end of covered in clothing (yet looking at my closet you didn't see a dent) trying to figure out what to wear; when I found a top that looked good, none of my skirts matched. I would decide to wear jeans, but they wouldn't go with the top. And on and on. And the amount of STUFF- clothes, accessories, jewelery- it was starting to stress me out. It was really messing up my zen. I used to get a kick out of putting together an outfit with pieces from all over including that one amazing "I found it at Value Village" scores; but now more often than not walking out the door in head to toe Forever 21 (boring!). Where was I going wrong?

And then I decided that I had had ENOUGH. It has taken me years to realize I am not content to be a clotheshorse, that I actually gain satisfaction from living on less. Last year I stumbled upon the phrase "curated closet", and had an a-ha! moment. I began unburdening my closet of various unworn, unloved garments with abandon. Since then I have read about the capsule wardrobe (no thanks...) and the French 5-Piece Wardrobe and have become event more committed to the task.

You guys, I think I may be a FAST FASHION convert. Here's hoping...