On August 26, my daughter challenged me to go without spending money on clothing for one month. I was unsure I could do this. I was in the habit of impulsively purchasing whatever I wanted, whenever I felt like it, without really considering if it fit with the rest of my wardrobe. This bad habit resulted in an overwhelming closet filled with too many clothes. My daughter threatened that I could end up on one of the hoarders shows! I agreed to the challenge, and began my style journey. I have been successful in not making new purchases, but i did try on clothes, and went into stores. I have been cleaning out my closet and considering my personal style. I am pleased with the results so far.

My initial goal for the closet clean out was to eliminate 1/3 of my items. As of today, I think I have almost cut my belongings in half! I started by purging anything that was obviously damaged, worn out, scratchy, ill fitting, or outdated. The next steps seemed less obvious and I needed more input. This is where I have enjoyed the wonderful support of the YLF community. I thank everyone who has helped me! Here are some of the lessons I have learned!

1. Stay current with silhouettes in tee's/jeans and pay attention to fit - I had 10-15 tee shirts that were body con fit. Clearly this is no longer the trend, and t-shirts are relatively inexpensive to replace if needed in the future. I purged all but a few for layering underneath sweaters. Some of my jeans were painfully tight and needed to go -out they went.
2. Pay attention to necklines - I have a long neck. I had v-neck sweaters and tops that were sitting rarely used in my closet. I decided v- necks are fine in a cardigan, and occasionally a dress, but not any other form. Good bye V-Necks! Hello high neck lines that are more flattering.
3, Clothes look really good in my closet when they are all hanging on the same kind of hanger. I replaced all the hangers so they are uniform.
4. I don't really need 11 pairs of the same exact style and color of straight leg jeans, do I? How about the same cashmere tee in 7 colors (No) Get rid of multiples! Oh, but I am keeping all of my long sleeve crew neck cashmere sweaters even though they are identical except for color, I love them. Maybe those aren't a mistake after-all.
5. OMG! I'm not a pretty pear shape?! I'm a Racy Rectangle? Thanks Angie! Now I understand why I've struggled with all the A-Line skirts, and get overwhelmed with too much arty drape. No wonder I've struggled with the recommendations for a pear silhouette! I'm not a pear! My DD tried to tell me this, but I didn't listen to her. She is so smart!
6. Where did all these bright vivid colors come from? A rainbow exploded in my closet! Bright orange, yellow and red? Out they go and off to my DD who can wear them instead. The closet is getting much leaner.
7. Mo teaches a great lesson on how to fold her undies, and sports wear! I love it and it works great. It is easy to keep up by the way. Thanks Mo! I can see all my tops and bottoms now, and they all get used. It's great.http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....ear-per-mo
8. I figure out that I have over 80 sweaters, maybe closer to 100, but I wouldn't publicly admit it. Most of them are solid colors. I begin to sort this out by picking color schemes, collars, and style words and really looking closely at the sweaters to see if they fit in or should be purged. They are slowly decreasing in number. I organize them and store them rolled in under the bed containers. It all looks so neat and tidy now!
9. I start trying out my 22 Ivory Blouses, and this leads to the idea of developing style words mentioned above. I use my Pinterest and some old scrap cut outs to develop my words.
10. Suz mentions two books to help me along with developing my style words. "Triumph of Individual Style" and "Style Statement". I have read the first book, and am working on the second. Very helpful! Thanks Suz! (So many interesting things I learned from the "Triumph of Style". I actually don't have a long waist, I have a long rise! All these years I though I was long waisted! Ha! I was wrong, I am in proportion there. I have a long rise, and slightly short legs for my height. I have a combination skeletal-molded body type. Interesting that the WIW outfits that got the most complements fit the silhouette for this body type most closely. My face has small features except my nose and eyes, which are medium, and there is very little space. Also, my features are curved. I think this is why patterns that are large, angular, or with lots of space don't work well for me. I tend to do best in small curvy patterns, and with those that have closely spaced details (if you look at my scarves with prints you will see this is the case). I hope I can use this information to find more patterns that work.
11. My style words are: Easy (simple, comfortable, casual, approachable), Creative (fun, funky, arty, eclectic, boho flavors), Calm (soft colors, understated elegance), Graceful (feminine, athletic, light, refined, polished, tasteful), Classic
12. There were some guesses as to defining my style based on what I call my uniform of tall boots, or refined shoes of some sort, jeans a cashmere sweater, and a scarf tied around my neck. Ie. euro chic, modern classic, etc. This helped me hunt for more style ideas and broaden my views for Pinterest, etc.
13. I asked some questions about what people ask themselves before they make purchases, in this case it was for boots, but it could apply for any item. The answers were so enlightening that it might be worth reading this post for anyone interested. http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....ot-edition
14. I also decided it would be a great idea to catalog my clothes to figure out what I am wearing and what I am not. I started out with Stylebook, but quickly became frustrated. This led to a lively discussion about cataloging clothes which is definitely worth reading if this interests you. http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....-my-closet
15. Many of my WIW posts were very helpful. I learned that I should pay better attention to contrast and color especially near my face. Marley, especially would repeat that I would look better in a higher contrast top. So after much thought I prepared some posts about contrast, and found out that most people think I am medium contrast, not low contrast! Or at least low to medium contrast. Now I need to work with this as well as I move forward.
16. I have also learned that black is not my color at all, and gray and navy aren't either. They will likely be worked out of my closet as I am able to replace them with better items in more appropriate colors from my palette.

Now here is the hard part. What is my color palette? I thought I was a soft autumn, but Rabbit raised the question of whether I am a light spring. Very good question? I am guessing the soft autumn is still correct. Does anyone have another opinion of this?

Finally, I am down to what it is I would like to purchase when my month of no spending is done. Not all at once of course! What do I need? What do I want? What is missing in my closet?

1. I do not have much variety in jeans. I have straight leg jeans (Ha ha! I have that covered for years to come) and skinny toothpick jeans, mostly in dark blue denim. i have one pair in soft pink and one in dove grey which i purchased just before this deal with DD started. I would like some bootleg jeans, a pair of trouser jeans, and a pair of boyfriend jeans.
2. I wanted a pair of track pants. I posted some that I found from J Crew. They were too short, and didn't look right. I think the proportions were wrong. I don't know if this is a good look for me or not. Now that I know more about my body type, I am inclined to think it could work, but maybe they would need to be longer, they would need to reach my ankles. I was looking at Athleta's slouchy metro pant, but those are maybe too casual.
3. A blazer - I finally found one and I like it. It is from J Crew though. It is their Regent Blazer. (See below). I tried on several colors in the store, and the size 6 regular not tall, fits me - the salesperson told me they are running small).
4. A plaid shirt - I have no idea if this one would work for me, but it has warm colors so it might be worth a try. What do you think?
5. The boots I already mentioned in a previous post, green lace-ups.
6. How about this sweater dress by Marc Jacobs? I love the color. It's pricey. It would replace a gray and black stripe sweater dress in my closet.
7. I'm loving the Rhumba boot by Aquatalia in chocolate brown, but they make many colors.
8. I don't own a chambray shirt. I don't know if I should. Here is one from J Crew. I don't know if this is a warm blue?
9. I love turtlenecks and wanted to update the silhouette of mine. This one looks to be the best color of the sweaters I could find online. The others were too cool in tone. I don't know if this camel will work for me or not. I can try it and see. Sometimes it washes me out, other times it is great.
10. I love the idea of a long sweater jacket. I am knitting one right now, but it will take a while. Here is one from Vince, and it is in a beautiful Camel color. I like the texture of the knit.
11. Still looking for cognac boots.
12. Looking for long sleeve blouses and tops with interesting prints or in solids that will look good with my current skirts and jeans.
13. One nice pair of dress pants in a good color for my soft autumn coloring. Hopefully it will coordinate well with my soon to be new blazer.
14. One pair of light wash straight leg jeans.
15. I am still looking at ways to update my silhouettes. I think it might be fun to try some straighter silhouettes to honor my rectangle shape.
16. I also like the idea of playing with asymmetry.
17. Finally, I think I need some replacement dresses because most of my dresses are wrap style and I have grown less fond of them. This is something that can take time because I have my pencil skirts, and I am happy with those.

If you've stuck with me this far, thanks! I know this was very long