This is the last in a series of five outfits that showcased some of client Karen’s everyday Summer looks. You’ve seen stunning Karen love leopard print, rock white jeans, wear crops with fun flats, and sport a green linen blazer and stripes. Today she’s gorgeous in my favourite of the five looks — a cold shoulder top with flares and denim jacket. Her confidence in this outfit makes it look even better. 

Karen was excited to show me her new zebra printed top. It was such a coincidence because I had written about cold shoulder tops just that morning! Thoroughly delighted, we put together some outfit possibilities. What drew Karen to this top was the pattern, the semi-structured silhouette, the crease-resistant fabrication and the cut-out detail on the sleeves. Karen still wants to look and feel alluring at her age, and this is one way to show some skin while staying covered. 

I love Karen in this top because it’s bold, simple, dramatic, and of course, flattering. It’s in her favourite colour palette, black and white, and in one of her favourite patterns, animal print. It meets her strict sleeve length coverage requirement. It’s in a knit, which is Karen’s preference. And it’s on trend. This spells perfect in my book. 

We added even more drama to the top by pairing it with flared black jeans. Somehow, the extra volume on the bottom creates the best visual balance for the top. Because things cool down in Seattle, having a topper on hand is a good idea on most Summer days. We went with a denim jacket because Karen LOVES her denim jackets, and because it tones down the boldness of the top. That way Karen gets to enjoy the drama and tone it down all in one day. 

We finished off the outfit with Anyi Lu’s Luisa sandal in black patent, a black patent bag, graphic silver earrings and all essential shades. Karen’s beautiful glass green eyes provide the pop of colour along with a bit of magenta lipstick and gloss. 

Thank you Karen, for generously sharing your time and style with us. I can’t adequately express how much I love working with you and how much you inspire me. Apart from getting serious about how we feel about fashion and style, we also laugh and laugh and laugh. And laugh again. We truly have the best time. Cheers to many more seasons of fashion fun! 

As you can see by her reaction, my little assistant on photo shooting day was as impressed as we were with Karen’s stamina and grace.

Also on Karen’s Summer Style

1. Skirt and Denim Jacket
2. White Jeans, Tee and Jacket 
3. Cropped Pants and Fuchsia Flats
4. Denim Skirt and Linen Blazer
5. Cold Shoulders with Flares (this post)

I have suggested that you make a pile for sentimental items when you edit your closet. These are the items that you don’t wear, but that you can’t part with either because they tell a story, remind you of good times, or just make you smile. You can store them in a “sentimental box” that you keep away from the rest of your wardrobe items. That way you can look at them from time to time and think about those memories. 

I also have clients who prefer to take photos of their sentimental items instead of keeping them. The photo serves as the keepsake.

Personally, a photo is not an adequate substitute for the items in my sentimental box. But I have so few items in there that it’s no bother to store them. So for now, I definitely want to keep the physical items so that I can hold them when I want to reminisce.

How about you? Will a photo of the item work as well as keeping the sentimental piece itself?

As you might have noticed, I have been thinking a lot about the closet review recently. Having done this so many times in my own closet and for clients, it has become an intuitive thing more than a structured process. So I decided to spend some time trying to distill what I do into a usable set of steps. 

And If I haven’t convinced you that reviewing your closet on a regular basis is a brilliant idea, here are 10 more reasons. 

1. Keeping track of your inventory: You can’t wear something when you forgot that you had it. There’s nothing like a closet review to remind you that you have fab stuff. Wear it! 
2. Identifying wardrobe gaps and surpluses: By keeping track of your inventory, you’ll put the right items on your shopping list. No unnecessary duplication.
3. Embellishing capsules with the right pieces: Running through the contents of your wardrobe makes you think of each piece as an item, each item as part of an outfit, and items and outfits as components of a capsule. The result is a closet bustling with outfit possibilities.
4. Passing on items that do not work for your style: This is a liberating feeling. You’ll make others happy with the things that you’ve passed on to a new home.
5. Decreasing cost per wear: Familiarity with your wardrobe will lead to wearing items more frequently, and in more combinations.
6. Addressing new storage needs: Who doesn’t want their closet to look attractive and organized? Get that belt hanger. Get those shoe boxes. Hang up your necklaces inside your closet. Install those shelf and drawer dividers. Shape those boots. Give your closet that extra TLC and you’ll get it all right back.
7. Fine tuning your style goals: The more familiar you are with the contents of your wardrobe, the easier it is to compare them to your current set of style goals. Are your current wardrobe looks in line with these goals? If not, think about why that’s the case. Do you need to tweak your style goals, or do you need to adjust your shopping list. If it’s all in sync, enjoy the satisfaction that you are honing your style and mastering the wardrobing concept. 
8. Sparking off a sense of creativity: Running through the contents of your wardrobe kick-starts the creation of new outfit combinations. This costs nothing but a little extra time in your wardrobe. Priceless. 
9. Keeping things tidy: Closets always look neater after a review. As you sorted through your stuff, you refolded, rehung and reorganized items and got rid of the clutter. Bonus. 
10. Speaking to your inner control freak: I feel particularly in control of my life after I’ve reviewed my wardrobe contents. I walk into my neat, edited closet with a good knowledge of the daily looks I want to pull together. I feel a sense of calm, and this calm filters through to other areas of my life. 

Feel free to add on to my list in the comments. And let us know which part of the closet review process gives you the most satisfaction. Mine are a tie between #3 and #10. I love creating wardrobe capsules and I’m a complete control freak.

Editing is only one aspect of the closet review process. It is a very big aspect, which is why we spend so much time talking about it, but in addition to editing things out, you need to think about adding things in. So once the edit is complete, your attention should turn to the following question:

What should you add to your wardrobe so that it reflects your current style preferences, lifestyle, environment and climate in the form of great fitting, comfortable and flattering items?

You will be thinking about how to put together your looks for the next few months, the next season, or perhaps even the next couple of years, and building a shopping list for what you need to acquire.

Of course, you were probably already doing this while you were editing your closet because it is natural to think about the adds as you deal with the edits. You probably also created a list of missing wardrobe items along the way. Great idea! But it’s always best to also do a thorough review once your wardrobe is edited and organized.

Without this final review, you run the risk of putting the wrong things on your shopping list, buying up all this stuff, but still feeling like you have nothing to wear. On the other hand, if you have the discipline to take this final step you’ll get a better idea of how your wardrobe items relate to each other, which in turn will help you to make more informed decisions about what to put on that shopping list.

You can think about the final step of a closet review in terms of the following questions:

• How does each item fit into an outfit, or into several outfits? Are there any incomplete outfits?
• What are your personal wardrobe essentials? Are you missing any of these items? Do you have any that need to be duplicated? 
• Have you covered all the wardrobe capsules for your lifestyle? Sleepwear, underwear, lounge wear, socks and hosiery, workout wear and sports gear should not escape the closet review process. Be sure to address those areas of your life too.
• How does each item fit into a capsule, or into several capsules? Are there any additions you could make to help existing items work with more capsules?
• Do you need to build onto a particular capsule in order to get more mileage from its components?
• Do you need to introduce colour and pattern? Do you need to introduce neutrals and solids? 
• Do you have enough tops for your bottoms, and vice versa?
• Do you have enough dresses to balance your outfits that are based on separates? 
• What new styles or silhouettes would you like to try? Can you slot these silhouettes into an existing capsule, or do you need to build one from scratch? And if the latter, can you afford to build a new wardrobe capsule? 

When I review closets with my clients, we answer these questions as we haul out the items and spread them onto the bed. That helps us think of items in the outfit and capsule groupings. Visuals are important! I also encourage clients to try on suggested outfit combinations to make sure that they like the pairings. There is no use thinking up a combination in your head just to satisfy the need of creating an extra outfit when it doesn’t work in real life. Get cracking and try on those outfit combinations.

We end up spending a chunk of time creating outfits with existing items, as well as thinking about how we can create that next level of fabness by adding the right new items into the mix. As we go I capture the shopping list on a piece of paper, but you might want to use your laptop or iPad.

Remember that your shopping list is not cast in stone. You can change your mind as you see fit. But it does help you to focus on your needs when you shop. For example, as much as you love to shop for tops, you might have that covered. And what you really need is to flesh out your assortment of bottoms. If this is reflected on your list, and you make a point of using your list, there will be less dilly-dallying about, looking at tops. You will naturally focus on looking for the right bottoms. 

This process might sound overwhelming and I wish I had a shortcut solution, but there’s no free lunch. If you want to create a fully functional wardrobe in a cost effective manner, closet review discipline pays off. The good news is that the more regularly you review, the faster and easier the process becomes. As practice hones your closet review skills, you will reach a point where editing and adding to your wardrobe becomes much less a process and much more intuitive. When that happens, fashion becomes more fun than ever.