Monday, May 4, 2009

Wardrobe Building

So, no surprise I still suck at this. Oh well, it's good that I control this blog, however poorly, instead of it controlling me.

This post is about Wardrobe Building, if you didn't guess from the title, and more importantly, how its meaning has evolved for me.

I have always been interested in fashion, and since I am a realist, primarily in practical fashion; clothes that make up your wardrobe. Having traveled constantly for most of my childhood, my fashion philosophy can be summed up in the Diane von Furstenburg quote, "If you figure out your suitcase, you figure out your life." This also feels right to the simplist in me who wants everything I need to wear to fit in a suitcase, and the aesthete who believes that our design and lifestyle shoices really do speak deeply to our spirituality.

That's a lot of words to say that the things I learned today are just another step in a life-long journey for me.

Being poor, and a child, most of my wardrobe planning theory has been just that, theory, until recently. Two developments have changed this ever so slightly-Pregnancy, and Tha Amazon Universal Wishlist. Why these things you ask? This is why: For the first time in my life I actually have the need to build my wardrobe almost completely from scratch, and I have at my fingertips, the means to plan and coordinate things before I buy them.

From this more practical approach I have learned a better way to plan my wardrobe, and it is that which I want to share with you. If you are surprised that this now seems to be the point of this post, 6 paragraphs in, I apologize for being on of those people who turns everythin into a story, unless you like it, in which case we should be friends.

Method:

What pieces of clothing do you feel both comfortable and attractive in? This is a hard one, but I insist that the garments in your wardrobe should be both. While I appreciate many many kinds of clothes I tend to be most happy with myself in 1) Twinsets, 2) Empire Waist T-Shirts, 3) A-line Dresses, 4) Jeans, 5) Drawsting or Foldover Waistband Capris, and 6) Full Elastic Waist Skirts.

This is what I do: Pick a few colors that you already have some of these pieces in. If you are like me you are drawn to 3 or so bright color families. I also love neutrals with colored accessories (more on that in a minute). Now the action: you need to make sure you have several pieces in each color, so things go together. The fun part is that you can mix solids, neutrals, and prints. Also your green cardigan can be a different shape than your pink one.

This may not seem like anything brilliant, but I like it because it works better than the crazy completely from scratch without your personality approaches. Maybe I am dumb to have not figured this out sooner, but now I know, and now I can see more clearly where I have holes in my wardrobe.