Define Your Style ❤ Part Five ❤
Fashion & Beauty

Define Your Style ❤ Part Five ❤

What Do You Need?

In Part Four we looked at your existing wardrobe to try and create a small capsule wardrobe of items you like and suit your shape and your style.

The next step from there is to look at the items you need to lay your sticky paws on to be able to build a decent wardrobe.

Identifying What You Need

To start with you need to look at the 3 or 4 outfits (or more if you had more!) that you came up with in Part Four and ask yourself 2 questions

  • What can I replace on this outfit to make a new outfit?
  • What can I add to this outfit to make it better?

It’s often best to think about replacing the most striking element of an outfit, as those are the elements that people will remember. If you wear the same black pencil skirt for a week hardly anyone will notice (unless you spill your dinner down it) if you wear the same bright pink jacket or studded belt for a week then someone is going to twig. You might just think the outfit would look better with different shoes. Or maybe something you still feel is quite plain could be improved by adding a lace collar or scarf.

It’s also worth going back to your lists of “basics” and identifying if there is anything that needs replacing because you don’t feel your current version suits your style.

Research these items online before committing to a purchase so that you know the kinds of styles and shapes that are available.

Write this list down! You will forget!

Getting What You Need?

Ok, lets get the easy one out of the way first. Go shopping. Either online or in the real life shops and charity shops. Don’t forget to browse eBay, if you know what you’re looking for it can still be a great source of bargains.

If you’re short of cash there are still ways of building up your wardrobe.

Throw your own swishing party. Call all your friends and get them to bring all the clothes, shoes and accessories that don’t fit into their wardrobe, are too big, too small, or they just don’t like. Open a couple of bottles of wine and trawl through it all till you find something you do!

If you don’t have a big enough group of friends near you it doesn’t mean you can’t update your wardrobe for free. Check out The Big Swish for an event coming to a city near you or try swapping clothes online through Whats Mine is Yours or The Big Wardrobe.

The key thing at this point, whether you are shopping or swishing, is to remain focused. Think about your list of things you need and the idea you have created of how you want your style. You don’t want to come out of this process with a whole new pile of clothes you never wear and don’t go with anything. Be honest about whether the things you try on suit you and if they don’t, no matter how lovely, leave them where they are.

Now, hopefully, you will end up with a “capsule wardrobe” that suits YOU, not someone elses ideas of what should be in a capsule wardrobe.

The next step, in the 6th and final part, is to look at evolving and updating your style as time goes on.

Photos by shannnnnonlowe.

8 Comments

  • Alice January 18, 2010

    I have most of my clothes for years. In fact, I haven’t done a proper shopping in ages. Since I never follow trends, most of my pieces are timeless. But now I feel like going for some pieces slightly out of my comfort zone but still within my style range.

    I am on a budget, so thanks for the tips. Looking forward to part 6.

    • Retro Chick January 18, 2010

      I’m not a massive trend follower.

      I sometimes add “on trend” pieces to my existing wardrobe, but only if I actually like the trend! I’ll talk about that in the last part though!

  • Leia January 18, 2010

    This is such a great article. My fave part is the swishing party 🙂
    .-= Leia´s last blog ..A cold Friday night =-.

  • Wholzy January 19, 2010

    great blog..
    love to read ur posts 🙂

    http://wulanasihsetyarini.wordpress.com

  • Eyeliah January 19, 2010

    Clothing swaps are my new way of shopping! lol
    .-= Eyeliah´s last blog ..Back from the Weekend =-.

  • Treacle January 19, 2010

    I just wanted to say “Thank You!” for those tips about using IFB. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. 🙂
    .-= Treacle´s last blog ..Wacky Tights from France! =-.

  • Sharon January 20, 2010

    Your tips are so helpful and detailed. I am currently going through a bit of a style overhaul and am considering starting a blog to document it and also motivate myself more. I find your blog so inspiring so I just wanted to say thank you for giving me a bit more confidence and courage with my style choices! xx

  • Gotta Get Something February 6, 2010

    Great article. I think defining your style is a step so many people skip, and then wonder why they have just a collection of individual pieces instead of a wardrobe

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