Evolution of a closet - YouLookFab Forum

I’ve been taking photos of my closet at roughly 18 month intervals. Sorting my closet by colour family was something I started around the time I joined YLF. Older photos are on a retired device, but here are 3 shots that demonstrate my colour evolution.

#1 Spring 2018 - shortly after I retired. Blue, grey, and black dominated the closet, and there was quite a bit of ‘career/work’ clothes amongst the more casual pieces.

#2 Fall 2019 - I started adding red in 2018 and olive all through 2019. The gold/yellow/beige was all added September/October 2019.

#3 today (2021) most of the red is gone after 2 summers of hard wear. It was almost all thrifted. There is a red skirt hiding behind the lilac items, and more red in a dresser drawer. The gold/yellow/beige has been added to, olive green is still around, the lilac is new, having been started spring 2020.

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3 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Oh my goodness Carla! This is brilliant! I can clearly see the evolution of your color palette. Fantastic!

Bonnie

What a great idea. Fun to see how your closet has evolved.

Janet

What a change! I think my palette has stayed largely unchanged.

Joy

Carla, this is so impressive. You must feel that your wardrobe has been renewed . I am impressed especially by your thrifting skills and dedication to keeping stuff out of land fills. You create beautiful outfits out of the cast offs of others.

slim cat

Amazing! I admire your organization' skills - could never achieve those results!
Your black/navy&white printed tops and black jacket from 2018 could be easily used in my current work now .

rachylou

Wow. This is so cool.

Now I’m thinking about old sweaters stored deeper in my closets and what I have readily accessible. That’s probably where the most noticeable colour evolution has occurred, from more colourful to neutrals - whites, navies, blacks and browns.

Minaminu

What a great idea! I may be copying it, as I am planning to make some changes on my colour palette!

I think the new colour palette is varied and interesting!

JamC

This is amazing! These photos clearly show the ever-changing nature of your closet! I have a much larger and many colored wardrobe. Items don’t wear out so I keep clothes a long time. I do buy new clothes and donate items I no longer love. I don’t think photos of my closet over time would reveal any evolution.

kkards

What a great way to track the changes.
I’m loving were you are going. The lilac is so spring like, it gives a sense of quiet optimism

RobinF

Well that's fun! That is more change than I would expect, I don't think my colors change very much. Love the lavender addition.

LaPed

Now this is a FUN tracking method! I suspect I've shifted from cooler/crisper to warmer/earthier too. I love the new addition of lilac.

cat2

How interesting! Mine has had a solid base of black, which is my favorite dark neutral, and then a small wave of a new color each time retail provides a second dark neutral that works for me: steel grey, ink blue, army green and truffle brown come to mind. I am not a big fan of either the ink or the truffle, but having a few pieces from each of them in the mix keeps me from getting too bored. The army green is a long time keep and so I am building out a real capsule of it and have been keeping an eye on what I still need to add before it vanishes at retail.

lyn67

Great fun, I do these shots some times to times, too-thus never occured to do it regularly but it really is a great tool for keeping track of one's use of color over time.

Runcarla

Smaller wardrobes will show wardrobe turnover more obviously. Each of my colour capsules, and white has 5-7 items, whereas the neutrals (blue and black) have 10-25 items. If I don’t build on the capsule, but wear the garments regularly, a colour could disappear from my closet over a 2-3 year span. Dark blue hasn’t been added since 2019, and older blue items have been edited as they wear out. That capsule is shrinking.

This is very impressive and inspiring. You have made some big changes and the colors have certainly evolved. What JamC. said. I tend too much to stick to the same colors unless they have disappeared in retail. Most of my mint green, coral and taupe is gone. If they come back, I plan to stock up. One time I purged all black and missed and needed it to complete outfits. It is back but mostly essentials

nemosmom

The most recent photo looks so happy and bright compared to the first photo!

Helena

You are amazing at how you stay true to your core but also evolve your style in a very methodical way ... and it shows in your closet evolution.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

Interesting! Quite the change! It brings with it a fun and focused change over the years.

I hope to see bright red feature again

Sal

Fun exercise and it is revealing!

Anonymous

That is interesting. And makes sense , too. I second Angie's prompt to revisit your reds. They really are good on you .

Thanks for the numbers on the accent and neutral capsules.

SarahD8

Fascinating analysis! My wardrobe is larger so I don’t think it would show such pronounced shifts. I do think I’ve succeeded in increasing the percentage of color/slightly decreasing the percentage of dark neutrals in the last several years, but the palette I was aiming at was the same the whole time, if that makes sense.

A link that might be of interest:
https://www.girlsofacertainage.....-lavender/

@sarahD8 - thanks for the link!

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