A new season doesn’t always require a new wardrobe. Sometimes it requires a better look at the one you already have.
By Tamela Clarke
BEFORE YOU SHOP FOR FALL, DO THIS FIRST
Not because you don’t need anything new. You probably do. But there is a difference between knowing what your wardrobe needs and shopping because a new season told you it was time.
Every fall, fashion starts telling us what’s next. New silhouettes, new colors, new shoes, new jackets and a new list of things we’re supposedly missing. I love knowing what is happening in fashion. It is part of what I do. But knowing the trends and needing the trends are two completely different things.
Fall is a good time to look at your wardrobe with fresh eyes. Before you start making a shopping list, take a real look at what you already own. Not quickly. Really look.
YOUR WARDROBE MAY NOT BE THE PROBLEM
I work with women who own good clothes all the time. The problem is not always that they need more. Sometimes they simply haven’t learned how to see all the possibilities in what they already own.
A blazer does not have to belong to a suit. Leopard does not have to be the statement piece. A button down is not limited to work, and a dress does not have to be worn exactly as it was styled in the store. Something you bought three years ago does not suddenly become irrelevant because a new season has arrived.
Personal style begins when you stop allowing the store to finish the outfit for you.
That is the part I want women to understand.
SHOP YOUR WARDROBE BEFORE YOU SHOP THE STORE
When I am getting dressed, I am not necessarily starting with the question, “What is trending?” I am looking at proportion, contrast and texture. I am thinking about what happens when something polished meets something unexpected and how the pieces work together as a complete look.
That is why I can wear a black blazer with leopard shorts and finish it with a yellow heel. None of those pieces needed to be purchased together. They simply needed to make sense together.
The individual pieces do not have to have the same personality. The outfit needs to make sense. There is a difference.
The same idea is at work here. A pinstripe blazer could easily be worn with trousers and heels, but putting it with camouflage pants and sneakers gives it a completely different life. Neither piece has to become something it isn’t. The contrast is what makes the outfit interesting.
This is what I mean when I tell women that knowing how to dress matters more than simply owning good clothes. You may already have plenty to work with. The question is whether you know how to use it.
THEN DECIDE WHAT IS ACTUALLY MISSING
This is where I do want you to shop. Once you have taken a real look at what you own, identify the gaps. Maybe you really do need a better blazer. Maybe the shape of your denim needs updating. Maybe you own plenty of clothes but don’t have the right shoes to finish them. Maybe one great coat would make ten outfits already hanging in your closet feel stronger.
That is a very different shopping list from saying, “I need new fall clothes.”
It is also a much smarter one. Shopping should solve a problem in your wardrobe, add something that expands what you can already wear or introduce something special enough to move your style forward. It shouldn’t simply add another piece to an already crowded closet.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN EVERY TREND
A trend can be relevant without being relevant to you. Part of developing personal style is knowing the difference.
Pay attention to what is happening in fashion. Try something new when it makes sense. Update the pieces that are keeping your wardrobe from moving forward. But you do not have to start over every season, and you certainly don’t need to buy everything fashion tells you is having a moment.
Know what is happening. Take what works for you and leave what doesn’t. Before you add another piece to your closet this fall, make sure you have learned how to use the ones already hanging there.
Because having more clothes is not the same thing as having more style.
Tamela Clarke
NEED ANOTHER SET OF EYES ON YOUR WARDROBE?
Personal styling with Tamela Clarke is designed to help you understand what works, identify what is missing and make better use of what you already own.
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