Thank you all for your very thoughtful responses!
First of all, suntiger, Jessikams, RobinF, I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone in pondering and planning ideal wardrobes.
A lot of you (suntiger, cindysmith, Brooklyn), are saying that there is one particular situation or subset of your wardrobes that you still struggle with, often a less often encountered situation. YES. I am there too! Part of what has precipitated this whine is that I spent the last week at a conference for work in a warm climate. And when planning/packing to go there I found that my warm-weather semi-professional wardrobe was absolutely dire. (I work from home, so rarely need work-appropriate outfits, and summer is not my dominant season in Seattle.) I attended the same conference in the same location two years ago, and don’t remember feeling the same panic about what to wear. So I’m going: what, how has my wardrobe actually gotten worse????
You all are helping me to articulate better to myself what exactly the problem is. rachylou, Gretchen, cjh, Staysfit — it sounds like once your overall style or outfit formulas fell into place the wardrobe followed. But I feel like I have a pretty strong sense of what my style is and what I want to wear, and have had for 3-4 years now. I know my outfit formulas. The trouble is building a wardrobe that supports that. My closet isn’t a mishmash. Pretty much everything in there at this point is “me.” If anything too much of it might be too on the nose. (Hmm, that’s an interesting thought…do I actually need more wildcards? smittie this might go to what you’re saying about trying new things.) But I still feel like I’m doing a lot of what I call “wardrobe Tetris” — oh, this shirt I want to wear really goes best with cardi X or Y, but I’ve already worn them both this week, and Z jeans are in the wash…
Fashintern, you mention my tuxedo shirts with riding boots and vintage jewelry. Yes, I like that look. But I want to wear the tuxedo shirts maybe once a week. I was finding myself wearing them 3 times a week because I didn’t have anything else. So, I know for example that I prefer to wear my black ponte leggings with a top that covers the crotch point and comes a little ways down my thighs, even if I’m wearing a long cardi. I only have two of those (white tuxedo tunic and black/navy plaid). I know that I want a few more 29” tunics in plum, burgundy, or teal; bonus points for plaid, paisley or dark floral prints; not solid black because I’m not so into the column of color look. But I just can’t seem to follow through!
Jussie I love my woolens and Liberty prints too, don’t worry they aren’t going anywhere. Good point about daily activities shifting. Yes, that’s happened a little bit. My daughter has switched schools this year, and now we’re carpooling instead of riding the bus. So, the only time I leave the house most days is to drive her to or from school. I don’t get out of the car. I don’t see anyone. So I suppose getting dressed seems a bit more pointless than it did when I was at least waiting at the bus stop twice a day!
Bijou, Jussi, and others — I will try to start doing WIWs again now that my schedule is calming down a bit. But again, that feels like a better tool for defining your style than building your wardrobe? But maybe there’s something I’m missing.
La Ped, good point about trends and how they match up with your style. I’m the opposite to you — high-rise pants and fitted/cropped tops are absolutely the worst match for my body and my style. So maybe I’m struggling because what I want just isn’t out there. (Of course, I’m a big secondhand shopper — but even so it can be hard to fill a very specific wardrobe hole that way.) smittie I take your point about seeing what’s available at retail first and using that to drive my style. I think that’s part of my problem. I keep browsing and browsing, and 95% of it just leaves me cold….
Synne, you like your lagom wardrobe! Maybe I need to get over my mental block about repetition…
Suz and JenniNZ, would love to hear more when you are able.
