Sorry there are no pictures (and probably loong!) with this but reading others' purging etc posts reminds me how happy I am in my wardrobe right now. I decided to be very strategic about buying for this coming season, espec since here in Australia we are moving into spring summer and this few weeks stores will be most likely to have year round pieces, 3/4 sleeve tops, year round fabric weights etc. While I have always loved clothes and shopping, I have been taking careful notes from you and Angie's inspiration - shop the dominant season, what do you keep purging/orphaning (so stop buying!), are you buying for your actual life, how to make a capsule to include some trends etc etc... I am already the purging queen which in this house means the boot of my car has been to capacity with discards - AS WELL AS MY closets with new shopping bags lurking behind etc. And I am in total denial about how much I spend in both time on internet and stores searching and in cold hard cash. I also love a lovely small curated wardrobe I can toss into a suitcase when I need to go (Clearly Claire, I so couldnt meet you in Arizona because despite all of above I have NOTHING to wear - the lady at Nordstroms even looked me up and down big time - and this is despite all this shopping and buying). SO strategy, I had both a list of clothes I wanted but also the KIND of clothes I wanted (do not come home with short sleeve tops because you can't take of fthe jacket, you know you can NOT walk to work in heels, you cannot live a summer in grey fitflops alone!). I became buddies with the key brands and department store and asked them to show me the incoming collections, and I will still not inspired. I then took on a personal shopper who probably did not help me too much more but DID get me to buy a magenta jacket whcih has become a show stopper and gets so many complements), BUt then in googling, I rediscovered a local designer (I think her workshop/office is like 5 blocks from home)! and her store, with parking maybe 10 minutes drive. She has the most amazing assistants who spent maybe 5 hours with me over 3 days as I tried on, took things homes, tried them with stuff I had, I took back to the store more things/shoes etc I wanted to match etc! But more her philosophy is so like mine (is this the key Angie!) - She makes for our climate, she has grown up stuff that means its sassy (There are 20 year olds and 60 year olds in the store!) AND covers the bad bits women have. Yes the high quality tshirts do cover bodgy elbows, the dresses accommodate blobs,,, rave rave rave. I have for the first time a WHITE SHIRT that works - covers the butt, slim through the waist, french cuffs which I just ahve to take off to wash. The 3 tops where I carefully selected colours for flattery and variety (she does new seasonal colours in same styles each year) go under all my jackets, feel different, can be worn without jackets... My existing trouser collection is now whittled down and they all go with all these tops etc. And I have my first DRESS (Ange did you advise me this for the dinner which comes up this week?) for ever -its not black, it looks great and goes with all my jackets and cardigans etc..I still might go back and get some accessories - she does cute things to dress up/down some pieces -... Anyhow I just feel SO happy, I have a small tight collection of clothes now that are not all black, go with each other, they are washing a dream (I wear them all all the time!), I am covered but still v modern... I think the hard work in planning and looking back over all your posts has paid off. I have a couple of things I can see need replacing over the next few months but now I feel confident to hold my line until they come... Thanks Ange and everyone! and thanks for listening!