January Summary - YouLookFab Forum

I’m at a crossroads for my everyday style, and I honestly don’t know where I’m going to go, except that new pieces I buy will need to have more personality than most of what's in my closet. My “sporty natural” persona is alive and well, but I need to tweak the “modern classic” in ways that I haven’t figured out yet, and also address a 3rd and/or 4th persona. Maybe I'll never fully name them and that's ok. I've assembled a list of fabbers who's style inspires me right now and will be studying their postings carefully. It’s going to be a journey and right now I’m in deep winter where staying warm and dry is the only thing that matters

In early January DH and I went on an awesome Caribbean cruise (out of Ft Lauderdale) that was a jazz festival at sea, with around 100 professional jazz musicians playing in various combos at 4 diff venues from late afternoon into the wee hours every night. The offshore excursions (2 in Mexico and 1 Bahamas) were a minor afterthought. Almost all the musicians stayed on the ship and were happy to chat at mealtimes, in the corridors, near the pool. Incredible!!! I knew my wardrobe was going to be a dull, and was ok with that. It WAS. My summer wardrobe is utilitarian, super casual, and completely boring, and has been so for quite a few years, despite various attempts to change that. Definitely time for an overhaul this year.

I bought 5 new pieces: one blouse worn twice on the cruise with jeans and black sandals for evening, a cream corduroy “trucker” jacket and lavender sweater for late winter/early spring, and two winter wardrobe-hole fillers: a black polo collar sweater and black straight Old Navy leg jeans. Just got the jeans yesterday so need to wear around for a few hours before I confirm. I'm done with winter shopping now unless something lands in my lap. I'm going into Boston in a few weeks with a friend for a shopping day and will check out Aritzia and Club Monaco but have zero expectations.

Returned 9. 2 sweaters in wrong size, 4 puffer coats in olive or camel (olives too grey and/or didn’t fit right or were not flattering), 1 pair of light camel boots (too many completer pieces needed esp when the camel puffers didn't pan out), 2 items for the the cruise that were not right once I got there (purchased in Ft L just before the cruise), 1 scarf (sales goggle item in a lovely dark cobalt blue that would be a great color on me but it goes with nothing and don't want to buy completer pieces) .

The counts of new/returned items are improvements (meaning fewer of them) over Jan last year and even more so compared to last year’s monthly averages. Also most of my returns were bough online meaning I'm doing few returns with what I bring home from B&M. I'm meeting my overall goals of reducing the churn, although I have keep in mind that my shopping is mostly online so the return counts will never be zero, and exploring a new style direction will likely mean more returns too.

Now I just have to get through the below zero F temps coming this weekend. We get a few bouts of this every winter so nothing unusual. The snow fall amounts have been small so far this winter, but that could change too because it's February.

As always I'm happy to hear any and all suggestions, thoughts, ideas ...

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1 year ago

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Your Caribbean experience sounds absolutely fabulous!Interesting reading your feelings re your own wardrobe.Great that you can take inspiration from fellow fabbers.The forum is obviously doing its job!I hear you on the weather,l feel like l am living in fleece at the moment,roll on the spring when we can all wear some”proper” outfits!Look forward to seeing the new you.

Roberta

Wow, that cruise sounds absolutely wonderful. Live music all day long and warm weather, sign me up!

I particularly like the Johnny collar sweater. I have been eyeballing one of those in navy at Banana Republic. Still haven't decided if I'm going to pull the trigger on that. Does the collar ever bug you? Can you wear it under something? Sometimes I struggle with collars.

LJP

I’m with you re the summer wardrobe that needs addressing . Every year I swear I’m going to upgrade my “ it’s really hot out and I don’t care “ outfits but I never do . I also have a mental list of forum posters I “use” for inspiration - hey , that’s why we’re all here , right ?

Suz

(website)

That sounds like a fun trip, Chris -- glad you were able to escape the bitter cold for a brief time, at least, and it sounds as if you've also done some serious thinking about your closet. It will take trial and error to evolve your style -- no question. And it can be difficult when online ordering is really the only way to go.

In Boston, if you can consider it a scouting mission for colours, fabrications, and cuts, you'll be set. They probably won't have your size in store, but if you try on sizes relatively close to what you need, you'll get a sense of what might work in that respect, as well. Online, Aritzia does some pant styles in SHORT. (You might still need to hem but not as substantial a job). CM fits narrow, for the most part -- you might have to size up.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

I saw how arctic the East Coast will be the next few days, so wrap up and take care, Chris!

Your Caribbean trip sounds AMAZING. WOW! What a treat! On that note, we saw you in delightful Summer dresses last year. Did you wear those on your trip? If so - FAR from dull!

kkards

Oh that cruise sounds fab!

Thinking about your summer wardrobe and your style personas…if I can be bold, and suggest that maybe its not what style persona your looking for, but one that you want to mute…I think of one of your personas as practical. And IMO if you let that persona buy to much you end up with boring…so look for more statement pieces and less basics. Hard, i know, especially for summer.

Chris987

Cardiff girl, thanks and yes I agree that the forum is a great place for fashion inspo. I suspect a lot of us have our favorite fabber's styles. (as ljp said too). I too am living in fleece, have been so since Dec and will until April, at least at home. I try to not wear fleece so much out and about except as underlayers because fleece is my "loungewear" in winter.

Thanks Roberta! I've only worn the sweater a couple of times so far and it lies very flat and is not annoying at all. Actually the one annoying thing is that the placket opening is a little to low and I've had to close it up with a safety pin; I need my neck fairly well covered in winter or I feel cold. The collar fold is quite flat, not like a thick cotton polo/golf shirt where the collar has more structured fold that kind of sits up a bit
higher on the neck. Not sure I'm describing that well. I haven't tried it under a jacket but I suspect it would lie more like a v-neck sweater than one of those polo shirts. It's a lot easier to see this in one of the lighter colors - find below.

Totally agree with you ljp. For me it's not just the “ it’s really hot out and I don’t care “ outfits that need work, it's ones for "it's a gorgeous summer day not too hot and I'm sick of wearing bermuda shorts and a tee"

Suz, thanks for the info on Aritzia and Club Monaco. Definitly a scouting mission. Good to kow that CM runs slim, and you are right that I usually need to size up for brands like that, which often don't work for me because to get the non-tight torso fit I want I end up with too much length. Their color palette tends to skew cool rather than my preferred warm but their clothes and stores are so beautiful that I just have to look.

Angie - thanks! I ended up returing most of last summer's experimental dresses because they felt a little too tight around the upper thigh but were good in the upper body so sizing up would not have worked.
I did later buy one at H&M that I brought and got a few compliments on it.

kkards that is an EXCELLENT idea - to think about what persona to mute. In other words tell that practical voice to keep quiet for a while and see what other voices gain some air time. It's a little kinder than "stop being so practical!!". I LOVE IT! Sometimes just thinking about things a different way causes real breakthroughs.

Chris, we are SO going to help you find Summer dresses and skirts this year!

YAAAYYY! Thanks Angie!

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