Another Poll - Selecting the Day's Wardrobe - YouLookFab Forum

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Another Poll - Selecting the Day's Wardrobe

Eva

How long does it take you to figure out what you are wearing for the day? And when do you plan your wardrobe? I love Angie’s concept of “shopping in your closet.” I found that it works great to have pictures of my outfits printed for reference. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of all my outfit combinations. It is best if I have figured out what I am wearing the night before work or at the latest, when I am walking the dogs in the morning. However, I find that if I want to do something a little different or incorporate a newly purchase item, I need more time. Two days ago I had a formal business dress client meeting and a business casual client meeting. I changed 3 times before I figured it out (pinstripe suit pants, dark rich purple button down shirt, and vest for business casual meeting, then swap out the vest for matching suit jacket for business formal dinner.) I almost missed my bus to work. Oh, and if I have to coordinate a handbag …forget it!

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14 replies

Latest reply was from Eva

Kristen

(website)

Veteran

I give myself a good 20 minutes every morning to pick out an outfit. Sometimes I know I want to wear a certain piece, so then I try on various clothes that will go with and enhance what I had in mind. Sometimes I only know that I am cold or hot, and I dress with that temperature in mind. Other times I am preparing for a meeting or a party. Somedays I just feel fat or blah and I need something to perk up my mood and self-image. Every day when I approach my closet is different!

I am an amateur photographer, so to me getting ready in the morning is like working on a bit of "art", in a way. I'm looking at colors, shapes, textures, mixing things up until my eye tells me that's the right "shot". I think of it like I do my photography; for that, I need the right light, composition, framing, etc -- there are many variables that go into translating the image in my head to the one in the camera lens, and each moment needs emphasis on something else. (Dark days need more light, common flowers need unique framing, etc.) It's the same for getting dressed.

I actually really enjoy the closet-shopping in the morning, probably because of the photography angle. Now if only I could take some decent pictures of myself in the mirror so you guys could see the results! LOL!

Alecia

Veteran

As a I mentioned in Kyle's post, I usually think about what I can wear in the shower. That doesn't always translate into something that looks good when it's on my body. I don't usually leave myself enough time to make a change so I often times have to run out the door in something that I don't think is the best outfit. I do effectively figure out what I should and shouldn't put together but I have to live with the not-so-good outfits for at least a day.

Of course, I can change my strategy, but I haven't been motivated enough yet to do it. I guess I figure I'm dressing better than I have in a long time at least half the time so I'm still doing well.

Tanya

Veteran

I also tend to plan my outfits in the morning shower, after having checked the weather forecast and based on what my activities will be for the day. Very often I build the outfit around one particular piece, for example, " I really want to wear those skinny jeans today and the bad weather requires boots" type of thing.

What helps a lot to do that is the following:

1. Whenever I get something new I try to play dress-up with the new piece in my closet, that is to put outfits with it. and remember what worked the best ( I currently refuse to buy anything that will require me to get additional 2-3 new pieces to make an outfit out of it).

2. Sometimes I will do that even without anything new, just experimenting with something I saw on the street/TV/ YLF.

3. In both cases, I'll write down if something small is needed to complete one or more outfits, such as a skinny metallic belt, a cami in a particular color, a certain type of necklace; and next time I am out I try to look for those things.

4. Sometimes I will invent weekly themes, such as neutrals only.

5. With this weather, I wear pants exclusively during the week, so I try to rotate between regular jeans, skinnies, trouser jeans, cords and real pants within the week. I love dressing for the weekend the most, which is strange beacuse most people do the opposite, since I feel I can get creative without my coworkers giving me strange looks. So that's the experimenting time.

kristinaps

I pick out my outfits for the entire week ahead on Sunday. I look at the weekly forecast and figure out my activities for the week and go from there. I find that if I wait until that morning or even the night before I'm not as creative and will most likely resort to dress pants because I'm ususally exhausted and don't have much left mentally to choose outfits! Occassionally if the weather has changed or if I'm in the mood for something else I will wear something other than what I originally picked out.

Debbie

Wow, thank you for posting this topic Eva! It is insightful for me seeing how others do this.

I just made a discovery about myself that might help me in the future.

I think I am in too big of a hurry when I get dressed and therefore shut off a bit of my creativity!

So planning ahead like Kristen or or taking some time in the morning to sort of play around with different clothes might really help me actually WEAR my clothes and feel like I am getting a bit creative!

Thank you!

Violet

I usually think about my outfits in the shower. I will mentally go through my wardrobe and think about what I feel like wearing for the day.

In the fall/winter, I mostly wear pants or sometimes skirts with knee-high boots. I wear dress pants Monday through Wednesday and then jeans on Thursday and Friday. In the spring/summer, I wear skirts almost all of the time.

When I get new clothes, I will try them on and experiment with new outfits. I have been getting inspiration to try new things from YLF and other blogs.

If I have some type of special activity, I usually plan ahead on what to wear. But most of the time my outfits are decided the same day.

I just cleaned out my dresser and I found I have a lot more outfit options than I thought I had. I decided to try and include some items in my wardrobe that I haven't worn in a while.

Like Tanya, when I buy new pieces it has to work with the existing items in my wardrobe. The exception was when I bought skinny jeans for the first time and I did buy a couple of new shirts to wear with them.

Anonymous

Most of the time I lay out my outfit the night before, including scarf or jewelry, underwear and shoes because I'm definitely not a morning person. Sometimes I have a Plan A and Plan B, especially if the weather is iffy. Planning the night before gives me time to press or spray out any wrinkles and make sure everything is in wearable conditon..no broken buttons or anything.

Especially as most of my wardrobe is new to me because I was a different size last year and the changing seasons, I really need time to play with making outfits. I try to do this when I buy something or on the weekend. Many of the types of items I own now are very new styles for me...boots, biker jacket, denim jacket, even pencil skirts (when not worn as the lower half of a suit) and straight and skinny jeans (or any jeans as smart casual). YLF photos are a huge inspiration, but it still takes work to get it to work for me. Right now I couldn't wait until morning to plan and ever get anywhere on time!

Eva

Wow, excellent ideas. Looks like I may not spend enough time planning what I want so I get crunched for time if I wait until it is time to put on my clothes. It makes sense that I wouldn't be as creative then, as pointed out by several people.

It looks like most of you plan in the shower. This is probably equivalent to when I walk the dogs. KristenKP, you put a lot of thought in your clothing! I love how you incorporate your artistic talents in your dress decisions.

Tayna, excellent points. Interesting idea to plan a week theme. (I did that for the week of 4th of July wearing red, white and or blue for the week.)

Kristinaps, I like the idea of planning for the week. Sometimes I have some ideas for the week. (I know I want to wear several pieces that I haven't worn in a while.) but I don't get around to firming up a full week with whole outfits.

I usually try to plan where I mix up my main bottom color so I would wear black pants one day, then brown, then grey, then a skirt, etc.

Does anyone else take pictures? I really liked this idea (from Angie), but I'm not very good at keeping my pictures up to date with new stuff.

Anonymous

I love the idea of taking pictures but read recently of making a clothing journal. A picture (photo or quick drawing) of what you are wearing with comments added as to how well it worked out during the day. Did you get compliments? did you have to keep readjusting the waistband? Were you stepping on your pants with the shoes you wore? etc.

Ellen

I tend to think this out the night before and if I'm going out right away in the am, I will lay out the outfit, or at least part of it. Because I'm a SAHM, I'm usually home for much of the morning and so I put together an outfit I've thought about after I wake up and if an element isn't working for me, I am still at home to change it.

If I really like an outfit I try to remember to take a photo. Often I don<code>t get around to that though - but I like having a computer folder I can go to when I</code>m stuck. Mainly I have a pad of paper next to my bed where I will jot ideas for outfit combos, purchases, etc. I like having it close for when those moments of inspiration hit... also it is where I often read magazines or fashion books. I will later try out the ideas.

Thanks to YLF I am not only getting much better at editing purchases, but also I have grown leaps and bounds in the "shopping my closet" area. I am finding that I have generally had good taste in purchases, just didn't know how to combine items - and now that I'm getting a feel for that I am wearing outfits that I absolutely love!

Laura

(website)

Veteran

I love the idea of planning ahead, but when I lay out an outfit the night before, something in me rebels the next morning, and I almost never end up wearing it. Why?? (Also it doesn't help that at least 50% of the time the meteorologist in Chicago has gotten our crazy weather wrong). I always feel best in a spontaneous outfit that suits my (ever-shifting) moods. The downside is that thanks to my kids, I have little time to get dressed in the morning. Now that I see how all of you manage it, I'm going to try to be more disciplined in picking outfits ahead of time, and see if I can keep the spontaneity through scarves, purses, etc.

anne

Veteran

I completely identified with Alecia! Practically the same words I would have used

yublocka

(website)

Veteran

Joy (& anyone else!) if you're in to taking pics of outfits you might be interested in checking out http://www.weardrobe.com

I've recently signed up and it seems to be a nifty way of both cataloguing your items of clothing, as well as recording how they combine in different outfits.

When I signed up I was *hoping* to find something similar to the wardrobe system Alicia Silverstone uses in Clueless, where you can preview outfit combinations. It doesn't quite do that though! If anyone knows of a product that does, I'd be very interested to hear about it!!!

Eva

The clothing journal is a nice idea, Joy. I like the oranization, but I don't think I would keep it up. I don't keep up a regular journal.

Fun webpage, yublocka. I am impressed with how high Jessica can jump. However, I think it would also take a lot of time. I can barely take the pictures in my bedroom and dump them in my computer.

EllenM, I also do best if I figure it out the night before. I might put one item out to remind me what my idea was. But as with Laura65, in Seattle the weather changes so quickly, my original thought may not work. Still, at least I have a base to work with.