YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Essentials 2020

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Essentials 2020 https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020 Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:16:05 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098810 Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:07:13 +0000 SarahD8 2098810@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thanks Barbara Diane, glad this was useful for you! I share your gratitude to everyone who has chimed in. Barbara Diane on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098550 Tue, 11 Feb 2020 20:22:33 +0000 Barbara Diane 2098550@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Interesting discussion. Thanks everyone. SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098528 Tue, 11 Feb 2020 18:41:03 +0000 SarahD8 2098528@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Jenni NZ glad this discussion has been helpful. Great that you've defined your essentials so precisely that you don't really need to go through the whole rigamarole every year! Soft jackets to long cardigans seems like a natural kind of evolution to me. Makes sense. La Ped, yeah, I was thinking about how thrifting/secondhand shopping might affect one's relationship to essentials. For example since everything is a one-off I can't just walk past the black and pick a different color like I might in a store. (I can sit on my hands and not buy more black once I have one black item of a given type. Which is mostly what I do. But black tends to show up first, so I just have to wait a long while for the other colors. That's probably the stage I'm in, and chafing at, now.) Don't know if you're the same way but I definitely have a mental list of "goddess help me when this thing wears out because I'll never find it again" items. Although, I actually have a lot of duplicates, despite shopping secondhand (well, same item in different colors -- same item in same color is much rarer, but it happens).  LaPed on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098286 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 21:21:01 +0000 LaPed 2098286@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Okay, maybe I will write an essentials post sometime... A couple more thoughts: Sarah and Shevia, I suspect that folks who do a lot of secondhand shopping have a different relationship with the concept of essentials. I might find a piece at a thrift store that becomes absolutely essential to my style, but I also have to accept the fact that I might never be able to duplicate it. When it wears out, its role may eventually be filled by something equivalent but completely different. It might be a chicken/egg thing: do I have a higher tolerance for wardrobe diversity/one-offs because I thrift, or do I thrift because I enjoy the variety of a lot of one-offs? Smittie and Rachylou, you’re absolutely right that figuring out the ratio of colours and patterns/solids within an outfit or within an entire wardrobe is very helpful. I’m a very neutral-heavy dresser which can, I think, make it trickier to identify statements, or make lots of things masquerade as essentials that aren't. Almost every individual piece I wear is, in and of itself, pretty subdued. It sounds like Rachylou is the opposite, using prints and brights as a base rather than an accent; treating what would be statements for many as her essentials. So those black apron skirts are probably completers, but not essentials like the orange. I have a lot of darks, a fair amount of mid-tones, and pretty much any white/pale colour that I wear is a statement piece, unless it's a white stripe in a breton top? The statement being, "I have managed not to stain my white denim jacket! Yay me!" :D Jenni NZ on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098138 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 01:47:23 +0000 Jenni NZ 2098138@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Really good thread thank you and I enjoyed going back to last year’s thread also, with the thoughts about the “glue”. I have been on YLF over 3 years and done a thread on my essentials in the first year and the third year. Not sure if I will bother this year since there is little difference, just that maybe long cardigans are taking some of the place previously occupied by soft jackets. I still think not many of my shoes are “essentials” except for my Skechers, most of my boots and sandals are statements and supposed to stand out. SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098131 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:14:54 +0000 SarahD8 2098131@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Someday my Wardrobe Ship will come in, lol!  Anyway this has been a really useful discussion -- refining my sense of how I can make the essentials concept useful for me; letting go of the worry about essentials emerging organically; and solidifying the importance of continuing to search for non-neutral items that have similar characteristics to my essentials. Thanks, all! rachylou on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098128 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:04:38 +0000 rachylou 2098128@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ It takes a long time to build a wardrobe, it does. It takes a long time for the right thing to come around. SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098127 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:02:32 +0000 SarahD8 2098127@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ nemosmom I'm glad this discussion was helpful and appreciate you "getting" the experience I described. Interesting that Angie describes that "backing into" sense as being natural/expected and maybe nothing to worry about. Hmm, good food for thought. Suz and rachylou, re: essentials "evolving," yeah, I think that would be really interesting to see the history of essentials and workhorses and how they change over time. Thing is, about a year and a half ago I was on here talking about how I was wearing a white tuxedo-pleat tunic more than I would like to because I had not been able to find similar garments in non-neutral colors that I really craved. So I think in my case it's not that my style has shifted or my essentials have changed. I think the lesson is that I've long struggled to find sufficient non-neutral items and until I do I'm likely to be dissatisfied -- regardless of which neutral items I'm currently wearing on repeat. rachylou on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098084 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 17:56:04 +0000 rachylou 2098084@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Oh that would be interesting, Suz! Suz on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098074 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 17:35:55 +0000 Suz 2098074@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ It kind of makes sense -- essentials evolve. So that is the natural process. Maybe you see what has become an essential and don't like it (black tops) or like it okay but would rather be wearing something else -- don't feel it's fully "you" at the moment. Maybe you make a decision to move in a different direction on that basis...it's all part of style evolution.  Maybe if we went back over the history of our essentials and our workhorses, we'd see the evolution of our style over time... nemosmom on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098068 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 17:04:58 +0000 nemosmom 2098068@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <div>Thanks for writing out your thoughts - I find them really helpful as I continue struggle to define my own essentials. I completely understand what you mean about "backing into" your essentials, too. </div> Angie on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098059 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 16:35:38 +0000 Angie 2098059@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ *APPLAUSE* You NAILED your essentials, SarahD8. As I was reading through your list I could 100% relate them back to your wardrobe and style, which is soooo spot on and dead right! That's ideal.  I think that in some cases - maybe more than you expect - essentials fall into place organically and intuitively as a matter of convenience. Like the long black tops you wear frequently because they work with skinnies, and they are easy to find. That's fabulous :) Also, it can take a while to identify essentials that are right in your face! I have a larger capsule of dark blue outerwear that I wear like others wear black outerwear. I didn't think of the items as essentials until a few years ago. It was a purely intuitive and organic thing that happened as I switched out my black for blue - which I did slowly and over many years. Then the penny dropped.  SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098021 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 05:20:51 +0000 SarahD8 2098021@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Suz, re statement items, maybe — it’s hard to say because different things can feel like statements to different people. This may sound odd but I’ve thought for a while that actually what I want is a wardrobe with a high proportion of completer pieces. So not neutral and not entirely plain, but not really out and out statements either. That pale lavender tunic is maybe a good example. And then combine multiple pieces like that within an outfit in interesting ways. Like if I combined that tunic with a cable knit bottle green cardi. Neither one of those items on its own is really statement-y but their juxtaposition is. Totally agree that looking at wardrobe basics as a separate category is helpful. That’s why I’ve started “counting” everything. Instead of “this many items except for socks, gear, etc.” — I know that works for many but for me I have to remember that those underpinnings are important too. Rachylou hmm, I see what you mean about the black leggings. What about patterned leggings? And tops in bright/statement-y solid colors? Ideally the leggings pattern would have both black and the top color in it. Shevia, yes, constraints spur creativity. Or sometimes you need that messy palette! Jaime on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2098009 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 03:14:23 +0000 Jaime 2098009@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Restraints on freedom actually make it possible to choose. Otherwise there is just too much! So as Suz says, which jeans, which sweaters. Anyway for me that is plenty to think about. But I would not call my wardrobe essential heavy so ymmv . rachylou on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097995 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 01:55:19 +0000 rachylou 2097995@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I feel I’m having this problem with black leggings. I have sorta added them to my essentials list because I have no choice but to wear them. I mentioned replacing my orange mini skirt apron with the exact same skirt in black for my bakery wear. I’m not much of an essentials dresser; I use solid fields of colour as a visual rest and bridge for hectic pattern instead. But now I have this black skirt, and it comes across more as an unimaginative visual interruption. So I’ve been wearing black leggings with it to combat some of that. The black leggings really don’t help on the boring front and isn’t what I want ultimately... and all of a sudden, Edward Gorey’s picture book story, ‘The Uninvited Guest,’ comes to mind. They’re a strange creature with odd habits crashing in my closet! Lol Suz on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097987 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 00:42:11 +0000 Suz 2097987@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Hmmm. A less neutral heavy wardrobe. So more statement type items?  Interesting what Smittie says. Some of Angie's clients prefer to shop for complete outfits and don't tend to mix and match much. And in the blog comments several people who wear a lot of dresses said they had trouble identifying essentials beyond "fit and flare dresses" which is a pretty broad category. Maybe thinking in terms of essentials is less important if you don't rely on separates much.  I really like what you say here, Sarah:  I wonder if for me (and maybe for you??) the "essentials" concept is mainly useful not as a list of items I need to keep stocked, but as a chance to take note of how I'm currently working within the constraints I've encountered. Although it's easy for me to identify essentials as items, and this can indeed remind me if I have wardrobe holes (or potential holes), I'd say the concept helps me more as a way of fully seeing my style -- it's a bit like seeing the skeleton (even though it's an exoskeleton, ha!) So, for me, noticing that I am currently reaching for short jackets more often (despite the vogue for longer jackets now) was really interesting. This is what is working for me to create outfits at the moment. Two years from now, I might be wearing my longer jackets more again...that will depend on the silhouettes of bottoms, most likely, since it seems essential to me to update my bottoms silhouettes quite often.  Another way it helps? The distinction between basics and essentials is useful to me just to remind me to update my basics yearly (something I used to ignore). Just seeing it out there as a separate capsule is useful.  And then the distinctions between essentials and statements helps me work out a balance of those items that seems to work for me personally (and that will be different for each of us and probably different at different times in our lives.) Maybe you are craving more statements or a different kind of statement than in the past?  SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097982 Sun, 09 Feb 2020 00:02:55 +0000 SarahD8 2097982@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ La Ped, well now I'm curious to know what you would come up with but on the other hand I get it -- if it ain't broke don't tie yourself up in knots over it!  I just have to say how incredibly helpful this bit was for me: "They don't feel intrinsic to my style so much as an expression of constraints" -- yes, that's it exactly! And then this: "but then I do feel that good personal style is about working artfully within the natural constraints that life gives you..." is a great way to frame it because it puts me back in control. Thank you so much for these comments! I wonder if for me (and maybe for you??) the "essentials" concept is mainly useful not as a list of items I need to keep stocked, but as a chance to take note of how I'm currently working within the constraints I've encountered. Suz, yeah, I don't think that this is a shopping without thought/defaulting to black problem. I think it's a "you can't buy what isn't there" problem. It's not that I want a different dark neutral, it's that I'd like a less neutral-heavy wardrobe in general, but I have to get dressed in the meantime. So the black tops will serve. (And again, I don't dislike them or want to get rid of them altogether! I just want to rely on them less.) But I resist calling them essentials precisely because I do have a strong sense of my personal style. I don't want to assign these items a label that implies a role I don't really want them to play. I want to keep in mind that they're only in an "acting" position, as it were. smittie great point that these concepts might not work for everyone. I'm very intrigued by your system. You've got me thinking more about that icy lavender tunic. It occurs to me that I've had a couple of other items in that color -- a 3/4 sleeve summer cardi, and a long-sleeve t-shirt (the latter of which I no longer own) -- that were surprisingly versatile. And I have probably enjoyed outfits featuring those items more than those featuring a similar item in a true neutral (like white or light gray). So regardless of whether those icy lavender pieces "qualify" as essentials, the real insight is that this is an incredibly useful color to have in my wardrobe that brings a high happiness factor, and I should always be on the lookout for it.... smittie on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097974 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 23:16:18 +0000 smittie 2097974@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ My feeling is that Angie’s framework of essentials/basics/statements Might not work for you, and that’s ok. Come up with a different framework! For example, my framework is more about outfit formulas and colour combos: I make sure that I have the individual pieces to form a complete outfit formula in the colour combos I like best. This works better for me than thinking about essentials because I have a very small wardrobe with almost no duplication. That’s just an example, but I’m sure you could think up something for yourself that works. Suz on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097971 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 21:32:38 +0000 Suz 2097971@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ But they don't feel like things I choose; they're simply the narrow range of things that work consistently for my body, climate, and lifestyle, tempered by what's readily available and affordable. They don't feel intrinsic to my style so much as an expression of constraints, but then I do feel that good personal style is about working artfully within the natural constraints that life gives you... --- quoting LaPed.  I get this, I really do. I used to say to myself, gah, I have no style. I just wear jeans and a sweater every single day and have done since I was 16.  Because, yes -- it worked for my climate, lifestyle, body, and it was available/ affordable.  Then I started looking at the details and making firmer choices. Or working with tougher constraints. Which jeans. Which sweater?  Why? I feel like you, Sarah (and also, you, LaPed) have actually done a ton of that work already and it may simply be taking a bit of time to catch up to you and for you to embrace the idea that yes, this (leggings and tunic or wide crops and slim tops in xyz colours)  is a style, it is your personal style, and that's okay, and you can continue to refine to make it ever more your own.  Suz on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097966 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 20:44:26 +0000 Suz 2097966@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ There's a simple way to minimize "essentials of convenience." Choose consciously. Make some decisions.   E.g. decide on your key dark and light neutrals. If you want black, full steam ahead! If you want a different dark neutral (navy? charcoal? burgundy? dark olive?) then slowly but surely make it a practice to walk past the black items in your favourite stores and keep your eyes open for the items you need in your key dark neutral. Bit by bit, your closet will begin to reflect what you want. Of course it will take time. Just don't make the mistake I (and some others here) have made of getting so excited by the colour that you forget whether the item in question is also in the silhouette you need as "essential."  The lighter tops sound like essentials to me -- maybe not the specific coloured one, but something light to bring light to outfits.  LaPed on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097962 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 20:16:19 +0000 LaPed 2097962@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I know exactly what you mean about intellectual tailspin! I have been intentionally avoiding writing an essentials post of my own because I don't have the mental energy to devote to it, and can't remember the last time I struggled to get dressed, so I figure my essentials must be sorted. :D I really like how you've expressed "essentials of convenience" -- I feel that way about a lot of things in my closet. I can reflect on which components I repeat over and over again in diffrerent outfits, the types of garments I duplicate as closely as possible when they need to be replaced, etc. But they don't feel like things I choose; they're simply the narrow range of things that work consistently for my body, climate, and lifestyle, tempered by what's readily available and affordable. They don't feel intrinsic to my style so much as an expression of constraints, but then I do feel that good personal style is about working artfully within the natural constraints that life gives you... SarahD8 on "Essentials 2020" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/essentials-2020#post-2097957 Sat, 08 Feb 2020 19:04:43 +0000 SarahD8 2097957@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Contemplating this very nearly sent me into an intellectual tailspin, but just in the nick of time I remembered our <a rel="nofollow" href="https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/here-goes-nothin-my-essentials">discussion last year</a> and the concept of “neutral (or very quiet) glue” and I was able to work up a list quite quickly. My list is not all that different from last year’s but I do feel that I have a better handle on things (by which I think I mean both the essentials concept and how my wardrobe works) now. THE ESSENTIALS: <ul> <li>Non-trendy skinny jeans without distressing that are mid-rise for me in medium and dark wash blue, and gray (cold seasons).</li> <li>Dark neutral (black, navy) leggings and skirt leggings (cold seasons, skirt leggings also in transitional weather.</li> <li>Long, textured cardigans in black and shades of gray (cold seasons). I bet if I had similar cardis in my other neutrals (navy, white) they’d function as essentials too.</li> <li>Scoop neck and v-neck black tops, especially tunic length (cold seasons).*</li> <li>Cognac footwear (year round), extra special honors to riding boots (cold seasons).</li> <li>White tops made of soft (not crisp) white cotton, with detailing — various styles and sleeve lengths (year round).</li> <li>Pale woven tunic length tops with detailing (cold seasons).**</li> <li>Classic Breton stripe tops, both jersey and sweater knits, various styles/sleeve lengths but all with open necklines (spring and summer).</li> <li>3-in-1 parkas, black (winter) and navy (fall/spring).</li> <li>Teal cross-body bag (it functions as a neutral, trust me).</li> </ul> My wardrobe is not essentials-heavy and it is even less so in summer. But here are some summer essentials (in addition to items in the “year round” categories above): <ul> <li>Black knit midi-length straight skirt (sort of like a tube skirt).</li> <li>Navy shorts.</li> <li>Cropped mid-wash jeans.</li> <li>Chambray blue canvas plimsolls.</li> <li>Metallic sandals. Ok, the silver slides might be statements (they have tassels after all) but the gold Euro sandals are definitely essentials.</li> <li>Tan woven leather cross-body bag.</li> </ul> THE ASTERISKS: Oh come on, you knew I was going to have Thoughts. *Those black tops. I rely on them a lot. I have worn a black tunic-length top 3 out of the last 5 days. But, do I WANT black tops to be among my essentials? I am not so sure. I would probably often be happier about the outfits in which I wear them if they were burgundy or teal or something rather than black. I continue to feel like many of my essentials are sort of “backed into.” They don’t come from a thought process like: “At this stage in my style journey, I want to wear solid black tunic tops.” It’s more like: “Well, I have these skinny jeans, tunic length tops work well with them, here are some black ones, that is acceptable, now I am wearing them a ton.” This is what I was trying to get at with my discussion of “<a rel="nofollow" href="https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/what-are-your-essentials-of-convenience">essentials of convenience</a>” a while back. I find it to be still an issue that complicates the effort to define essentials for me. I think it is Runcarla who defines essentials as the items you would replace with something nearly identical if they wore out. This makes sense but, in the case of those black tops, SHOULD I? (I think in an ideal world, I’d still have black tops, I would just wear them a lot less.) **Pale woven tunic-length tops. So I have this icy lavender silk-cotton tunic that I reach for a ton. I think the color is “quiet” enough that it can count as an essential. I made this a general category rather than a specific item because I suspect that if I had tops in other similarly quiet, light colors they would be essentials too. (Although I’m not sure that light blue tunic I recently bought will turn out to be an essential. Hm.) Anyway, what I’ve noticed is that I don’t reach for that shirt to “glue” together outfits. I rely on it a lot to BREAK UP neutral-heavy looks. Again since neutrals, especially dark neutrals, are so much easier to find. Sort of the opposite of how an essential is supposed to function, yet it “feels” like an essential to me. I’m not sure what my overall point here is. Maybe that if your style is NOT essentials-heavy, you do need to make sure the essentials are in place, yes — but it’s easy to go overboard because these types of items are so readily available.