shopping frustrations and such

always trying

as I mam trying to eliminate my impulse buying, especially in footwear, I am analyzing how each new purchase will fit into my wardrobe, I have discovered that I have a couple of specific wants that will be multi purpose, and even eliminate some existing closet orphans with the right "wear it with" items. But it is frustrating and challenging to find the "right wear with it' items. Am I being ditzy or can anyone relate to this?

11 years ago

Shopping

6 replies

Latest reply was from

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Yes, it's hard to find specific items, and the more specific, the more difficult it becomes. Your question made me think about my approach to shopping. Generally I have kind of a rough list of wants in my mind, and I keep an eye out for them. But I also shop the way I understand practiced cooks shop for food: look at what's in the market, buy what's fresh, and create the meal around those items. (With food shopping, I am definitely a less practiced cook, so I tend to find a recipe and shop for the ingredients in the recipe.) With my wardrobe, however, I'm much more like the practiced cook; I feel that I can buy the occasional "fresh" items that appeal to me and figure out how to work them into an outfit with my existing things. I'm guessing that this method can work for me at times, because I have a fairly large wardrobe and a creative streak in my style.

11 years ago

rabbit

Veteran

I really like Firecracker's analogy of food shopping. I think what makes it work is when you know what your tastes are (your style descriptors), you have the spices/staples you need at home (the wardrobe basics), and you have some FFB's in the kinds of dishes or outfits you make so you know what silhouettes will work, and probably have a limited color palette as well.

Getting to that point for me was a process where each new purchase revealed more to me about the direction I wanted to head and I had the best luck when I wore one item a few times before buying the next item to go with it -- I needed that time to 'live with' new purchases.

But it's true, when you have pinpointed an exact 'completer' piece it can be quite hard to find. Sometimes I just give up and wait until next season or year. Sometimes I find that something else fills the 'hole' in a different way than I anticipated.

11 years ago

Anonymous

I am cautious about spending time and money to try and make closet orphans work. I understand the thinking and I have succumbed enough to know it doesn't work for me.

Far too often I have come home with new pieces that I just knew would liberate that orphan. It never worked. I'm sure why either .... because the thinking was sound. I am wondering if maybe my orphans were orphans NOT because I didn't have something to wear with them BUT because there was something off about the item in the first place.

11 years ago

Staysfit

Veteran

I have learned to give away the orphans. I am in agreement with Sterling, it isn't worth all the time and energy to find the right pieces to match them.

I also like Firecrackers food shopping analogy, maybe because I am starting to get hungry! Also, I think it helps explain how I get my closet orphans. When I go to the grocery store there is always some new and enticing food item that I am interested in trying so I buy it. Sometimes it was worth trying and other times I can't figure out what to do with it; it lingers in the fridge until it gets tossed. The same happens with my clothing. I see some item and am attracted to it, purchase it without knowing yet how it may fit into the big picture of my closet, and sometimes it works, and if it doesn't, out it goes.

11 years ago

Dimity

Active Member

The food shopping analogy is very apt. And it's true that it is very hard to find the right item that will work multiple ways across different outfits. I generally try to do that, and often find that the items are very classic, bordering on boring, and then I get sick of them. But they work. What's really fun is when you can find something that has that versatility but is also interesting in itself, like maybe a bright pair of shoes that magically work with lots of clothes and aren't basic black.

11 years ago

Anonymous

I find it more difficult to find if I want to cover a number of situations or outfits to wear the item with. It's as if because I expect it to be so versatile, it has to be really right and not just "good enough" which I might settle for with other things.

11 years ago

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