4/2013: Sylvie's wardrobe stats and 2013 plan

I meant to write this post around New Years but sort of accidentally disappeared off the forum for four months. I wasn't intending to take a break or SYC, but in hindsight, after an intense year and a half of shopping and wardrobe building, it was probably a good idea to do so.

Jan 2012 stats
June 2012 stats

I currently have 146 items, a net increase of 20 since June 2012.

Belt 9
Blazer 2
Bootie 1
Boots:Ankle 4
Boots:Tall 5
Cardigan 12
Coat 4
Dress 15
Handbag 11
Jacket 4
Jeans 10
Leggings 5
Pants 2
Sandals 5
Shoes 6
Skirt 5
Sweater 3
T-shirt 11
Tank 5
Top:Layering 2
Top:LongSleeves 8
Top:Sleeveless 13
Tunic 3
Turtleneck 1

I bought 40 items in the last six months of 2012 and purged 20. Current breakdown of wardrobe age:

<=2009 20
2010 23
2011 44
2012 59

I added more color to round out the following capsules, which are now "full":

Belts: white, yellow and olive
Sweaters: Red, purple and red/black/grey
Purses: Red and purple
Jeans: Grey, red, black and green floral
Skirts: Red and greenish yellow

I added three more pairs of flat everyday footwear, all of which have become workhorses: black/white oxfords, grey ankle boots and tall black boots.

Speaking of workhorses, I discovered that my black and plum leather jackets are the perfect outerwear for my climate year-round.

There were a couple of bad purchases but overall, I am pretty happy with my wardrobe and I didn't feel that I needed to buy anything more until, well, now. I did go over my budget of 2.5% of my pre-tax income but only by a relatively small amount, which I've carried over to this year. My 2013 budget is half of my 2012 budget, as I am now in wardrobe refresh mode and not wardrobe building mode.

If you're still with me, here is the plan for Spring/Summer 2013:

Casual tops: Purge t-shirts from 2007(!!) and replace with a combo of t-shirts/non t-shirts
Work tops: Needs to be one-in, one-out or a net gain of at most 1.
Summer shoes: Duplicate flat sandals.
Cardigans: Needs to be one-in, one-out unless the replacement is a new color.
Dresses: Add at least 2 machine washable, casual, comfortable knit dresses that aren't blue.
Summer jacket: Nice to have, rather than a need to have. I want a leather jacket that isn't a dark color (separate thread for this one).

Ask away if you want to know any other information and thanks for reading.

12 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I think this is interesting, which categories you have the most things in. Would you say those are your essentials?

Dress 15
Top:Sleeveless 13
Cardigan 12
Handbag 11
T-shirt 11
Jeans 10

Sylvie

Rachylou, I think it is fair to call those my essentials, although I'd have to add boots to that list too.

I wear jeans almost every day and dresses on the days I don't.

For lounging, my FFBO is jeans + t-shirt. For work, my FFBO is jeans, flat boots or shoes, sleeveless silk knit top + cardigan.

Now I'm curious to find out if other people's essentials correlate with the number of items in their closet. Also, I think I had assumed that everyone's essentials were the same but I can see that skirts, trousers, long sleeved tops and jackets might be essentials for someone else and they're certainly under represented in my closet.

Aida

Great breakdown Sylvie! Have you been working on also adding more of your personality into the items you bring in? I don't think that my essentials necessarily are the highest volume items in my wardrobe, but items I have a preference of wearing (e.g. pants over skirts) certainly do outnumber.

Marigold

Active Member

Great breakdown! I need to do that so I diagnose my wardrobe holes and needs (even though what I 'think' I need is more casual shirts lol). And stick to the plan! Glad it worked out for you.

(website)

Thanks for sharing. I have my own breakdown and 2013 shopping plan. I find my bicoastal living does complicate things. Here I wear a ton of pants. There I am in dresses and skirts a lot, with sandals. It has been hard to find the right balance.

I have found as I get into 2013, I am buying about twice as many items as planned but still staying in the same budget (pic 3 as opposed to pic1). I'm okay with this, as I am purging at least as much as I'm buying.

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Aida: That's a tough question to answer. I can't define my personality if I tried so I've given up on trying to identify my style for the time being. Instead, I'm just trying new types of clothes and ways of putting them together and seeing what sticks.

Isabela: If you find you have a lot of casual shirts but still feel you need more, maybe it's because you don't enjoy wearing the ones you have. I have a lot of t-shirts and sleeveless tops but some of them a loungewear and others.. umm...I'm holding onto if I lose weight. It can be really hard to get rid of clothes which are functional, fit but just don't feel like you anymore.

Mo: I always enjoy seeing your breakdowns and shopping plans. You are so organized, right down to a budget for specific items. I don't think I could do that if I tried.

Hmm. If you add up all your boots/booties, that does come to ten!

I've been thinking about the question. Haven't counted, and a little hard to be accurate judging by # of shelves (since different things tend to have different volumes), but I have 2+ shelves of sweaters and really only a handful of dresses hanging in the closet. My long sleeve tissue tee stack is all long sleeve tissue tees, pretty much exactly the same. My other stacks of tops are very varied. I do wear a sweater every day; they are my tops basically.

Very interesting!

Liz A.

Now I am inspired to set up my own CPW spreadsheet <-- Excel supernerd. I really need to get a handle on which items to invest more or less money in, and which to buy more or less of Thanks!

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