Hello all,

Just popping in to say hi and give a little update. Toronto is finally opening up a little more and I will soon be going on more outings and then back to work in September. I am excited!

I have spent most of this past year and a half in loungewear, which worked well for my WFH life and I was happy to wear it. though I think I have managed fairly well through the challenges of the pandemic, one of my vices was online shopping, and I have collected quite a bit.

I like my wardrobe and the pieces I have purchased a lot - but moving forward, I’d like to buy less and use what I have more. After doing some reflection, I’d like to move forward with a few principles:

1) after a whole year without a haircut (and growing out an asymmetrical cut TWICE!) - grooming is my top priority. I need to look polished and neat at all times to feel like me- which to me means a haircut that gives me structure (I’m choosing structured and polished over edgy this time) and well groomed brows (thank God salons are reopening - I’ve felt so schleppy for 18 months doing my own brows!)

2) I love my tight color palette. Over the last couple of years, I have developed a palette I call “Autumn on the Beach”, which I adore and feels intuitive and unique to me. It consists of Pastels, earth tones and neutrals that I mix together in many different ways. I know exactly which tones and colors fall into this palette when I see them, and I have to stick to this, as I feel best in these colors, colour mixing them feels intuitive and easy even though they are unusual combinations, and it helps me create some boundaries around what I buy.)

3) I need some help with proportions/silhouettes. I realize that this is where I am falling down. Creating silhouettes that work for my style, my body and my figure flattery priorities is key. I have not been doing this, which means I am struggling to find outfits that flatter even with a wardrobe full of wonderful pieces. And it means that I am not wearing pieces I love simply because I haven’t been able to incorporate them into a silhouette yet - so I buy them, I try them, then they sit there while I move on to the next shiny thing.

Also, I have been experimenting with silhouettes these days and pushing the bounds of figure flattery, which I rather like. But I need to identify what works to my eye and what doesn’t.

I realized that I wear a couple of key silhouettes by season, and they always include a topper and often even a shawl/scarf because I run cold.

But I am a petite curvy hourglass with sloping shoulders, a short torso, high hips and average neck - lots of layers often overwhelm me and don’t give me the clean, urban, sophisticated look I am after. And - KEY - boxy avant garde straight pieces that look great on models with long torsos and broad shoulders look very different on me! Somehow I have a hard time remembering that.

Task 1: come up with 2-3 silhouettes to wear over the summer months, and the pieces that fall into them. Challenge myself to incorporate items I own that I haven’t been able to put into silhouettes, so that I can start wearing them. Identify even the minute details of what pieces work in what combinations and why - so that I can refrain from buying pieces that don’t work for me in the future.

Phew! If you’ve made it this far, thank you my next post will be about Silhouette #1 and the pieces I am using to bring it to life. I am using this forum to keep me accountable!

I’m posting this all here because I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about silhouettes and how you put outfits together. I have been so inspired by all of your outfit posts and challenges lately!