Do the clothes in your closet match the lifestyle you live today? Or is it reminiscent of a time that’s past?
Last week I went through how to get rid of clothes, especially if they don’t fit, but now it’s time to start building your wardrobe back up around your life.
When designing a collection, the first question that I ask myself is who is the customer? What does she do? Where does she go? What does she need? So, in this case you are the customer and you will build your wardrobe (collection) around you.
First list out where you go majority of the time and what do you do while there.
- If you work full time, what do you need for the office? What is the dress culture?
- Do you go out after work or on the weekends?
- Do you have small children? If so, look for clothes that are washable or stain resistant.
- How often do you dress up?
After identifying what the function of your wardrobe needs to be, you can start building around it. The capsule wardrobe is an option if you want to minimize your time getting dressed, maximize your options, and stay within a certain budget.
A 30- piece capsule collection is a good starting point. If that overwhelms you, start with fifteen-pieces. I didn’t include khimars or head wraps in the count, but when buying or making your bottoms be sure to get the same color gaylay/ khimar. If you like color, get a couple to go with the accent color tops as well.
1. Develop Your Color Story
Choose your two base colors or neutral colors, these will be the bottom and some of the jacket colors. Usually black, grey, navy, dark wash denim, brown or camel. Now you need 3 to 4 accent colors that work together and work back to the base colors. These will be mostly tops and accessories.
2. Choose Your Silhouette
A silhouette is the shape of the garment or the overall outline of an object. Do you know what shapes work for your body type? Do you have something in your wardrobe that you love the way it fits and you look great in it? What shape is it? That is the silhouette that you should look for when buying or making your clothes. Of course, there can be multiple shapes that you look good in, but stick to the ones that you feel good in as well.
3. Types of Fabric
Not all fabrics are created equal. Depending on your needs, will determine the types of fabrics to look out for. Take for example, myself. My kids aren’t babies so I don’t have to worry about clothes being stain resistant. I work in an office that is business casual, but I still give presentations and travel for work. Dark denim works with jackets to dress the look up. The tops could be either knit or woven. So, depending on what you do on a daily basis, will determine what you buy.
4. Budget
If you’re on a budget, you can start with a fifteen-piece collection and focus on buying or making key QUALITY pieces. You’ll get a lot of bang for your buck with quality verses having to replace items every season, it adds up very quickly.
I’ve created a 30-piece capsule wardrobe template as well as a 15-piece capsule wardrobe template which you can use to start planning out your clothes. Take pictures of what you have that you love and paste them on the template.
Now all you have to do is start to build your wardrobe around what you already have. You can either go shopping for clothes or go shopping for fabric, I will do the latter.
Until next week, happy shopping!
