2014, a good vintage....review of my purchases.

I spent an hour tallying up my new purchases in 2014 and planning into 2015. I bought more than I thought I did....shows my wardrobe management is a little sloppy.

I let in 23 items, including shoes for the calendar year. This does not include exercise gear, lingerie or accessories except for a handbag. I did not buy many scarfs or hats but there were a couple including a sunhat and a beanie!

I have ranked them, 5 being the top vintages, and 0-1 being duds. I am happy with the 3 and up rankings. I have put comments why some are only a 2.

Pink jacket 5
White jacket 4
Kimono 5
Khaki Parka 4

Black fluid tee 5
Black tank 5
Black shirt 4
spotty sheer tee 4
coral sheer tank 2 - hard to wear, very sheer.
Cream structured tee 4
Multicolour casual tee 3

Ink and white patterned shorts 2- a little unflattering, needs care over top.
Navy and cream fluid pants. 5
Black and white ankle pants 5
Blue work trousers 3

Striped Maxi 5
turquoise Maxi 2 - a bit tent like, but so good on a hot day, and a great colour.
navy Maxi 0 (passed on without wearing)

Black moto ankle boots 5
Tan sandal boots 5
Flat black sandals 4
tango Sandals 5
Tan handbag 5

7 items were made by my friend, a local designer. 2 items were NZ local designer pieces from local retailers, 9 items were from local branches of chain stores in shops in my city, 2 items were bought online and imported from the UK, 1 pair of shoes bought on holiday in Argentina, 1 item from a local consignment store and 1 item bought on the NZ EBay.

The only real mistake was the Navy Maxi from ASOS which was thin and just horrible on me. One or two pieces have had limited wear but I will wear them next summer again.

I suspect I will buy a similar number of pieces in 2015....but my needs are different. My list to date is

Jeans, maybe two pairs
Black Blazer/ Tuxedo?
Sweaters, two
Coat, dressy, to wear in the evening or with dresses
Party dress
Black Handbag
Sunglasses

My only purchase to date was a coat from NZ EBay, which sadly is too tight, and will be resold hopefully for a similar amount. A risk that did not work. I love the shape but I could not layer underneath.

This has been long, and probably a little self serving.

I appreciate all the wisdom here, good advice, humour, tips, fashion, style and support here very much.

Thanks for reading and I am open to comments, suggestions or feedback.

11 years ago

Dimity

Active Member

It's great to do these reflective exercises. I think we learn a lot from them.

shipskitty

Veteran

Sounds like you did pretty well overall. Not bad at all!

shedev

Sounds like you had a really great year.

Suz

(website)

It sounds to me as if you did amazingly well! Especially since some of this involved online shopping without return options.

As I read along, my main question was how one maxi dress could be such a winner for you, whereas another was your worst item of all. But you answered that question below. Oh, the risks of online.

What I notice is that you bought a few key items in every category (tops, toppers, bottoms, dresses, footwear, bags.) That seems like a sound approach. Also, it sounds as if most of your purchases were quite versatile for you.

All in all, it seems as if your shopping has been very much in line with your goals and I know it worked well for your trip (always an important consideration in my books -- if you can feel good in a travel wardrobe, you've hit some kind of fashion nirvana).

Dee

I really like that you kept track of every purchase and impressed at how many of them worked for you. It sounds like your system is resally working for you.

I was wondering about your rankings. What criteria did you use? Is a 5 because it got a lot of wear, low cost per wear, high happiness factor, or some combination?

Sal

Thanks Dimity, Suz, Shipskitty and Shedev. I did have lots of success which YLF played a large part.....I have never tracked before, so it was interesting to me where the clothes came from....and the categories that I purchased in. There were no sweaters or jeans hence the need in 2015. I expect 2015 to be more expensive - blazers, coats, party dresses and jeans are all items that I tend to spend more on.

Suz, the successful maxi is very "sleek" and modern - I found it useful travelling and perfect for a couple of work from home days, and a couple of summer BBQs. I love a long dress but preferably not too boho and not nighty like.

Dee -it is not very scientific!!

5 would be a high degree of love/happiness, and in all bar one case (the tango shoes) the item has been well worn. Most of them are statement pieces or essentials that I adore and wear very often.

4 is a lot of wear, but maybe not with the same level of excitement, in most cases there were workhorse items but not the star of the show.

3 - there were only two, they are both nice items. but both have slight fit issues that bug me. The trousers I may look to replace when I can afford/find a better pair but I still wear them when I need to look smart and conservative for work.

2- not worn enough, not quite working with my lifestyle. While these two pieces have been worn and were relatively inexpensive, I should not have spent the money. In both cases I adore the colours (coral and turquoise) and did not plan for bra and sheer issues which stop them being worn often.

The one dress I did not wear at all was just a disaster. Gaped, clung, too short, tacky...ugh...it lasted about one day in the house!!

Anonymous

I like the idea of scoring each piece. That alone is a valuable exercise, never mind counting wears and buys. I just might have to try this.

jackiec

I like your analysis. It's great to actually write it down and post it. Sure makes you more self aware. I applaud you

trekkiegirl

This is a really good system. So far I've only been rating an entire outfit, but I might start looking at individual pieces now too!

carter

Wow. You did really well. I didn't track anything for 2014, but I've committed to doing it for 2015. Love the idea of ranking the purchases. Hope my 4s and 5s are as prevalent as yours!

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