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The Seasonal Closet

— by Angie
on August 4, 2016

When thinking about how to store your wardrobe items at home, you’re faced with one big decision right away. Should you store items seasonally, or keep everything together in the same closet year round? There is no right or wrong answer, but both approaches have their advantages and one of them is likely to be better for you. 

Seasonal Assortment 

Organizing your closet seasonally means that you swap out your wardrobe with the change of the seasons while transitional items keep their permanent place. In other words, your closet reflects warm and hot weather clothing in the Spring and Summer, while you pack away cold weather clothing until it’s time to dress for cold weather. This method is practical in homes with limited closet space, and when your climate is extreme. It makes dressing in the hotter months easier because you don’t have to bypass all sorts of arctic Winter woollies to get to that breezy silk blouse and pair of linen pants. You shortcut your outfit creation process by focussing your seasonal wardrobe assortment. 

Keeping it ALL Together

This is when you don’t swap out seasonal wardrobe items by keeping just about everything together in one place. That way you can see exactly what you have with one quick glance. Swapping out your wardrobe seasonally can lead to forgetting what you have (out of sight, out of mind), which leads to unnecessary duplication. Having every wardrobe item available at any time can strengthen the outfit creation process, encourage creativity, and save you in unseasonal weather. It works well for larger closet spaces, and in more temperate climates, because you can wear a larger percentage of your wardrobe year round. 

I prefer to keep EVERYTHING together because I have the closet space and live in a milder climate than those on the East Coast of the US. I just love looking into my closet and seeing all of it right away, which might pander to my control freak tendencies. That said, I do keep wardrobe basics in a separate chest of drawers, and coats in a coat closet by the door. 

Over to you. Do you swap out your wardrobe seasonally, or keep it all together?

Closet Organization
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Final Picks from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

— by Angie
on August 3, 2016

The NAS ends on August 8, and hopefully you’ve already found some fab items. Here’s the last batch of picks to consider if you are still shopping the sale. These items have been winners on my clients and on YLF forum members since I posted my detailed lists of top picks at the start of the sale. 

You can see the items alongside my descriptions on the collection page.

Nordstrom
Wit & Wisdom 'Ab-solution' Itty Bitty Bootcut Jeans (Dark Indigo)
$68.00
View Info
Top Pick
7
Nordstrom
NYDJ 'Ami' Stretch Skinny Jeans (Marseilles) (Plus Size)
$144.00 $86.40
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
5
Nordstrom
Aquatalia 'Olita' Weatherproof Riding Boot (Women) (Nordstrom Exclusive)
$495.00 $247.49
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
8
Nordstrom
Caslon Two-Pocket Plaid Shirtdress (Plus Size)
$78.00 $46.80
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
5
Nordstrom
Eileen Fisher Print Sheer Silk Bateau Neck Long Shell (Regular & Petite)
$258.00 $99.97
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
9
Nordstrom
Vince Camuto Crepe A-Line Dress (Regular & Petite)
$148.00 $88.80
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
7
Nordstrom
Fringe Collar Necklace
$58.00 $29.00
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
17
Nordstrom
Nadri 'Starry Night' Crystal Ear Crawlers
$75.00
View Info
Top Pick
8
Nordstrom
Madewell Plaid Wool Scarf
$59.50
View Info
Top Pick
4
Nordstrom
Kate Spade New York saffiano leather laptop bag (13 Inch)
$298.00
View Info
Top Pick
6
Nordstrom
Kate Spade New York mini small square stud earrings
$32.00
View Info
Top Pick
10
Nordstrom
Helene Berman Contrast Collar Blazer
$298.00 $119.98
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
8
Nordstrom
Gabby Skye Medallion Print Scuba Sheath Dress (Plus Size)
$108.00 $64.80
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
3
Nordstrom
Sejour Mini Ottoman Tube Skirt (Plus Size)
$69.00 $41.40
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
5
Nordstrom
Halogen Windowpane Check A-Line Skirt
$68.00 $33.97
Sale
View Info
Top Pick
5
Nordstrom
Laundry By Shelli Segal Side Panel Detail Hooded Down Coat
$190.00
View Info
Top Pick
8

Lists · Sales & Promotions
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A Special Segment of My Clientele

— by Angie
on August 3, 2016

In the ten years that I’ve had my wardrobe consulting business, my clients have represented a wide variety of body shapes. Their heights have ranged from less than 5 feet to more than 6 feet, and their sizes from a US00 to US24 across petite, regular and tall. It gives me great job satisfaction to have the opportunity to dress so many different and beautiful examples of the female form. 

This post is a tribute to an extremely confident group of my clients who wear a US size 10 and up. They are trendy, enthusiastic and enjoy fashion. They have never shamed their bodies during our sessions together. Not once! They feel they can participate in any trend that tickles their fancy, because it’s a question of finding the right version of a look, and adding their personal stamp to what they wear. When clothing looks off in the dressing room, they blame the clothes and not their bodies. They quickly move on and say NEXT! It’s just a matter of minutes before they find something that makes them look and feel great. 

These clients are gloriously unaffected by an industry that lacks diversity of size and body type in its presentation of fashion trends. They make their own rules and derive enormous joy from expressing themselves and looking their best. From a style point of view, it doesn’t get more empowering than that. 

I hope that my clientele know how inspiring they are to those around them. They are an absolute pleasure to work with, and I can’t thank them enough for their incredible and contagious attitudes. ROCK ON.

Individual Style
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Roundups

Simpler Items

This week's list of top picks list is about basic pieces.

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Assorted Items

Items for Summer, both in and out of air conditioning.

Read More

Casual Summer Vibes

This week's top picks are good for a casual Summer vibe.

Read More

Summery Earth Tones

These items are for those who like to wear casual earth tones in warm and hot weather.

Read More

Hints of Spring

Some tried-and-tested winning items to refresh your style for Spring.

Read More

Dressier Items

An assortment of dressier top picks might be just what the doctor ordered.

Read More

Your Toenail Polish Style

— by Angie
on August 2, 2016

Toenail polish is making a more fashionable statement than ever. Like fingernail polish, these days it’s an important part of the picture and viewed as an accessory to an outfit. We paint our toenails regularly, especially during sandal season, because it adds interest to our look. It makes us smile when we stare down at our toes, and makes us feel more pulled together when our feet are exposed. 

There’s an almost infinite number of polish colours, and an enormous variety of intricate designs that you can create on your nails. How you choose to groom your toenails is a completely personal thing, and there is no right or wrong choice. Like most things in fashion, it’s all about preferences and going with what makes you feel fab. 

I wear toenail polish almost year round because I like how it adds sparkly polish to my feet. It makes me feel well-groomed and luxurious, especially when I’m without shoes and socks. I used to wear high-contrast blue or green toenail polish because I enjoyed the unusual colour. But about five years ago, I dramatically changed my preferences to a shimmery pearly white, and since then that’s ALL that I wear. I enjoy the low contrast of the colour against my skin tone, the visual softness of the white, the delicate shimmer of the pearl, and I find the subtle colour soothing.

I only recently started wearing sandals again, so my toenail polish style had little to do with how well it worked with open-toed footwear. That said, I like the way my white sandals match my white toes. It’s calming and modern to my eye.

Example 1

Example 2

Over to you. What’s your toenail polish style, and what’s the reason behind the colours that you choose? Do you prefer a high or low-contrast colour on your toes?

Save

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Grooming · Individual Style
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Five Ways to Organize Your Clothing

— by Angie
on August 1, 2016

There is no one best way to organize a closet because it depends very much on the space available and individual preferences. But I’ve seen some common strategies emerge from my work with my clients. Most of my clients tend to keep their outerwear in a coat closet near the front door, while they keep lighter jackets like blazers, vests and leather motos with the rest of their clothing. Here are the most popular ways they organize their tops, bottoms, dresses and toppers. 

Wardrobe Categories

With this option you store items from each category together with their wardrobe siblings. Your blouses in one place, your jeans, dresses, knit tops, knitwear and skirts in another, and your jackets in another. This way you can quickly target specific items when you are creating an outfit.

Colour Coding 

It’s lovely walking into a closet where the items are grouped by colour because it’s a visual feast. This option works well for a colourful closet, making it easy to head directly to a particular colour spectrum. Of course, you can also colour code your items inside their wardrobe categories.

Dress Codes

Some of my clients split their closet space into four sections: career wear, casual wear, formal attire, and workout wear. They find it much easier to dress day to day when their work clothes are in a place that isn’t cluttered by items that they can’t wear to work. Dressing on the weekends or for casual evenings out is easier too. 

Capsules 

A few of my clients organize their wardrobes into mix-and-match capsules. They hang ten to twenty items together that they know can create a range of outfits. This method tends to work best when you have a smaller wardrobe, a larger closet, and are very disciplined about maintaining your wardrobe capsules, adding only a few items at a time. 

Outfits 

This is the least common way of organizing your closet, but it suits a few of my clients down to the ground. They have small wardrobes and wear the same outfits repeatedly. They might hang two or three tops with the same jeans or pants, or just one top with a skirt. They tend to have a similar quantity of tops, bottoms and lightweight toppers, which makes the strategy work quite well. These clients do not want to think about how to create an outfit at all, nor are they interested in mixing and matching their items to create new looks. Once we’ve sorted out the outfit combinations — that’s it until the next time we shop for complete outfits. 

You can implement a few of these closet organization strategies at once to create a system that works best for you. You’re after a system that reminds you of what you have (remember: out of sight, out of mind), and that allows you to create outfits effectively and efficiently. You also want to implement a system that you can maintain as items channel through the laundry.

I share a small walk-in wardrobe with hubby Greg. I take up the lion’s share of the hanging space, while Greg takes up the lion’s share of the folded space. I keep EVERYTHING together apart from wardrobe basics that are stored in a separate chest of drawers, and coats that are in the coat closet. I hang and fold items per wardrobe category, and colour code them as far as possible. 

How do you organize your closet, and does your system work for you?

Closet Organization
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