How do you build up a wardrobe? - YouLookFab Forum

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How do you build up a wardrobe?

plonkee

It looks like lots of people are in the culling and reducing size stage, or just the maintenance stage. But do you have any tips, suggestions or ideas for someone in the wardrobe building stage?

I'm feeling at the moment that while I have sufficient clothes to wear, my wardrobe always feels slightly understocked. I do have a tendency to stick to uniforms for most things, and I can be quite picky about what I buy (and I don't like to spend too much). This might be helpful for some, but I'm actually feeling like I don't quite dress as fashionably as I would like to, and also when my clothes wear out I have to replace them very quickly because otherwise I simply don't have enough to wear.

So, if you've built a wardrobe, how did you approach it? Are there good ways and bad ways?

If you have any specific advice about what I should add to my wardrobe, I work in a business casual office M-F (with dress down Friday), am casual on weekends. I live in the UK so it's mainly autumnal/spring weather with a few weeks of cold and few weeks of hot each year. Until recently my regular rotation clothes for a season were 3 skirts, 1 pair of jeans, about a dozen tops, maybe 4 cardigans, one jacket, a couple of hoodies, 3 dresses and a couple of tunic and leggings outfits. And about 30 or more scarves. I have now expanded the skirts and tops selections for this autumn.

Dressing

19 replies

Latest reply was from

Staysfit

Veteran

http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....are-enough

Plonked take a look at this link. It will bring you to another link at the Vivienne files where there is a good way to estimate how many items of clothing you need in your wardrobe. It sounds like you should start there to find a target goal.

I rebuilt my entire wardrobe last year because I changed the colors. I don't recommend that anyone do it the way I did because it was expensive and time consuming. You can look through my posts for ideas because even though I pruned my wardrobe, I also went through the stages of defining my color palette, defining my style adjectives and persona, and figuring out what worked for my lifestyle. It was a big journey. It's well documented. I deleted some of the pictures, but if you want to see them send me a pm. Maybe something in my previous posting will be helpful to you.

Kim

Veteran

A long time ago, a former member (Mo) did a wardrobe needs calculation by the number of hours in a week (168) that you wore a type of item (gear, business, gardening, sleeping, etc.) and your laundry style, as well as how much variety you liked. Then you could calculate needs of that capsule. When that was done you could see what capsules were in need of more, and which were overstocked.

For example I do laundry once a week, and I don't mind repeating outfits once a week (for calclation's sake) so I need enough clothing to get through 7 or 8 days. I wear gear 5x times a week for one hour. I wear pjs for 8 hours a day (7 days a week) I wear jeans and casual tops and a topper or scarf 14 or 15 hours a day, 5 days a week and smart casual 14 hours, 2x a week.

So gear is 5/168, pjs is (8 hours times 7 days a week) 56/168, casual (real life!) is 75/168, smart casual is 28/168

I have 7 pairs of gear pants and 14 tops, so I'm well stocked for my 5x a week.

I wear a top/bottom and topper/sweater/scarf 5 times a week most of the day.

I have 10 tops/ 7 bottoms and 25 scarfs and 5 toppers.
I'm a little overstocked there. Don't need any more. Can function on the one-in-one-out principle here. Let one go, when I want to buy a new one.

Smart casual is 2x a week and I have ooohhh 10 tops and 3 bottoms and 3 dresses, along with 5 toppers...(way overstocked for my fantasy life...LOL). Cull and remember this when shopping.

It's getting colder now, so I'll need a coat when I run, (3x a week) It needs to be washed after each wear, due to sweat, some of mine have worn out, so l need 3 coats. I have one. Wardrobe hole! Time to start looking for those coats.

If you like to wear your outfits once every 2 weeks, or once every 3 weeks you can just calculate that in as well.

I found it gave me a REAL idea of what was really happening in my wardrobe life, and a realistic look at wardrobe holes and buying habits. I'm always attracted to smart casual, but it only functions as a small part of my real life. I have to keep that in mind when I'm shopping and see, yet another! blazer...LOL

All this is to say, I'm betting you don't have enough of the clothing you wear the most in your wardrobe, and too much of the stuff you only wear occasionally. It begins to feel like you never have anything to wear, even though you have a closet full of clothes!

Hope this helps!

And welcome to YLF!

I

plonkee

Thanks those are both really helpful.

Looking at the sort of thing I wear Sept-May (ish), the numbers from the Vivienne files thread suggest that I'm overall short at least 7 items. On the other hand, that suggests that I'm overstocked for summer by 5 pieces, but it actually felt about right this year, and I can move to one in one out.

I'm wondering whether it's also not just that I don't have enough in the categories I need but that I have quite a few 'same item, different color' things going on. So day to day outfits don't feel different enough.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Welcome to YLF!

When I joined YLF I was in a similar position to yours. I had never owned very many clothes, and following an extensive weight loss, I had precisely none, and had to restock everything from the underwear up.

I also had an additional problem -- almost no budget for shopping!

My first year here, I concentrated such money as I had on good foundation garments, a great haircut, winter coats (I live in Canada). I then relied on hand-me-downs, discount finds, and consignment store buys for most of my regular wardrobe. It wasn't ideal but it was the best I could do.

I DO recommend that you begin building your wardrobe with these core items:

Hair
Foundations
Specs (if you wear them)
and also any necessary clothing to protect you from elements.

Eventually my income improved, at which point I confess that I went a little crazy with my shopping. For two years I went on a bit of a shopping spree. And it was (an expensive) blast! I experimented with trends, learned what I actually wear (by wearing it...or not), and generally had fun with fashion. But now I am stage of paring back and refining.

I would recommend that you begin with some of Angie's blog posts about defining your style. It helps to have clear style goals. How do you want to look? When you say you feel unfashionable, what do you mean? What would you like to look like? Find some images that appeal to you, or think about your own favourite outfits ever.

http://youlookfab.com/2012/01/.....e-persona/
http://youlookfab.com/2012/01/.....y-are-not/

And here is the archive of posts on individual style -- you can spend some happy hours there: http://youlookfab.com/category.....ual-style/

I'm right now trying to figure out a "signature" look for myself, as a way of simplifying my life a bit during a time of extreme stress. I came across an article the other day that gave three key questions for developing a signature style. I don't think they are enough, in themselves, but they might be useful to you if you tend towards uniform dressing but want to do that in a stylish way:

1. What kind of outfit do you feel your absolute best in?
2. What do you have a lot of in your closet? (In your case, this would be in relative terms...or you might ask, what are you often tempted to buy more of? It could be an item or a colour.)
3. What specific items always draw your attention/ interest? (It might be shoes -- or a specific type of shoe -- or bags or jackets or jewellery or scarves. Sounds like it IS scarves, in your case. So scarves are part of your signature.)

It's also important to think about what you actually DO in your clothes. I quickly discovered that in my own life "casual" needed to be further analyzed -- there are different types of casual and I need the right clothes for each. (Hiking in park is different from meeting friends at pub and to feel stylish and comfortable in each activity I might need different clothing.)

Meredith

Veteran

Angie also has some posts on basics vs essentials that I find to be very helpful. I can't easily post the links from my phone, but they should be easy to search out. I have found it helpful to think about the building blocks that need to be in place for my wardrobe to work. Not necessarily the fun pieces, but the supporting acts that let the others sing (and get worn vs sitting as orphans).

Liz

Veteran

The "same item, different colors" in a small wardrobe can definitely lead to a feeling of not enough. I have a quite small wardrobe, and have had to stick to the "one is enough" rule, and "cover the basics for outfit builders first" rule.

One is enough: One solid color dark pullover sweater (jumper) is enough. I don't need a navy one, black one, brown one. One black skirt, not three. The next skirt has to create a different look and feel for an outfit. So, I have one black pencil skirt and one patterned, colored one. Same silhouette but the outfits feel different. If I were just switching from a black pencil skirt to a navy one, I'd be wearing essentially the same outfit all the time.

"Cover the basics." I try to make sure I have a core of basics and then add accents from there. That lets me create multiple outfits that look different.

From your wardrobe, the "4 cardigans" seem like an issue to me. Because of the chill, you probably end up almost always needing a cardigan or jacket. If that's the case, even though you have a whole bunch of tops, you're essentially always wearing the same thing: a cardigan. And if your cardigans are all similar shapes and colors ... there's your uniform. I'd go for one dark cardigan, one light one -- and then when those basics were covered, branch out into other kinds of toppers (1 moto jacket, 1 knit blazer, 1 pullover, and so on).

Anonymous

You have lots of great advice here. I had to replace my whole wardrobe due to weight loss. Go slowly and pay attention to quality and fit. You might stick to a couple of neutrals and use your scarves for color and pattern. I did well with a column of black and of grey plus dark wash denim straight jeans and skirt. That meant a great little black dress, a nice pair of black Ponte pants, a couple of black silk tops (sleeveless and long sleeved), a couple of white tops ( dressy shirt/blouse and sleeveless shell), straight dark jeans, grey slacks and grey knit jacket. I also wore a thrifted black blazer a lot then.
It looks like you wear skirts and dresses more than pants/jeans. You might look at Ms Mary's pencil skirt and jacket outfits on the Forum for inspiration.

TraceyLiz65

(website)

Veteran

Great advice from others I built a wardrobe from scratch after weight-loss. If you already have the basics covered then I would suggest adding in a new color or a few statement pieces to take things up a notch.

Elly

Veteran

I have a really small wardrobe that I'm trying to build on. I have a small enough wardrobe that I get dressed (and mostly well-dressed) every day, but I'm doing laundry a lot and wearing out a ton of clothes each season. I started even smaller because my previous job/lifestyle allowed me to wear lots of gear. I'm building really slowly, because I'm afraid of getting to the point where I have too much to manage-- variety is good, but I know for myself I need to keep things simple. Other than replacements, I like to add new things a piece (or outfit at a time). I'm very reluctant to duplicate except for my personal essentials (bootcut jeans, long/sleeve tees, etc.).

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

What Suz said.

A wardrobe based on your needs is best of all. This post will get you started.

https://youlookfab.com/2015/09.....our-style/

rachylou

Veteran

For me, taking a real look at how I spent my time made a huge difference... and assessing my tolerance for repeating the same item (I don't like wearing out items too fast)...

elpgal

Veteran

I suspect to really build a wardrobe you have to stay within a narrow size range but I would love to be proven wrong.

Anonymous

In addition to the YLF posts, there are a couple of other sites that provide really good starting points. I like the Vivienne Files (starting from scratch: http://www.theviviennefiles.co.....ratch.html) and Into Mind (http://into-mind.com).

I learned the capsule technique from both YLF and the Vivienne Files. If you are just starting out, you might want to start with very narrowly defined capsules. For example, define a single work capsule based on one or two bottoms. Pick three or four tops that coordinate with those two bottoms and maybe two toppers. Everything should mix and match seamlessly. As time and money permit, you can add to that capsule or define a second also narrowly-defined capsule.

I envy you. This is an exciting time for you.

Sal

Veteran

I would shop a mini capsule two-three times a year.

For example for winter you might get
- winter sweater
- jeans that it works with
- ankle boots
- additional shirt/top that works with the jeans and boots

Then in your closet already you may have a second pair of jeans that work with the sweater, top and boots, and maybe a scarf or two that tie in, and probably another cardigan and top combination, and additional shoes. Adding these four items makes your existing items work well and creates lots more options for you.

Bonnie

Veteran

My life has changed in the last year from one of travel with very few clothes to one with an opportunity to actually have a wardrobe. It's been fun and this blog and the forum members have given me a lot of help. The advice you have gotten to your post is a good summary of what to do - the only thing that I would add is to photograph your outfits to see what works and record what you have. This will help you determine what you need. You can get by with fewer items if you mix and match, and trying different combinations might give you new outfits that you wouldn't have thought of. The photos will tell you if they work. Have fun!

Anonymous

I like Sally's advice as well. I dream of buying a complete capsule all at one time. That hasn't happened for you yet, but it is a goal.

Anonymous

To add to Bonnie's thoughts on photographing your outfits. Try the YLF Finds feature to record your wardrobe while you are building it. The Random Outfit Generator can give you ideas for new combinations with what you have.

plonkee

Thanks everyone these are really helpful.

Anonymous

This post has actually been quite helpful to me as well. I realized I don't have an official color scheme down! I really enjoyed reading all the comments and links, so thanks Plonkee, for posting this