Showing posts with label wardrobe planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wardrobe planning. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Shoe Organization Tip


My friend, Janie, amazed me with this shoe identification method. She has photographed her wonderful collection of shoes, then printed the photo and attached it to the end of a clear shoe box. This sure beats my black marker ID method with words like "silver heels". The shoes boxes pictured here are on an upper shelf in her closet. Her more frequently worn shoes were on an easy to reach shoe rack and casual flat sandals were lined up in rows inside a basket with the toe end pointing up on the bottom of her closet.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Wardrobe Planning Math


When I give corporate presentations and discuss wardrobe planning, I often suggest that you do some math. If you live in a warm climate like Southern California, and you were building a jacket or suit wardrobe you would need mainly transitional weight garments. That is, fabrics that can be worn most of the year. Therefore if you had 5 jackets, 3 should be transitional, 1 should be for cool weather, and 1 for hot weather. That's a proportion of 3:1:1. This formula would change according to the climate you live in. It should also help when you are doing a closet audit and deciding what to eliminate or add.
The jacket illustrated is a good transitional piece. With a white scoop neck tank, white pants and open toe shoes, it would be a great summer look. With a navy turtleneck, navy skirt, tights and boots, it would now be a great winter look. As pictured here with the navy pants or with a navy skirt and pumps instead of sandals, it's a perfect year round business look.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Wardrobe Colors by the Month



In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal Christina Binkley wrote about Holiday attire and the short number of weeks we might wear something like a red velvet dress. I certainly have a few items that only get worn in December. For years I have hung out on my hall rack a 3/4 length red and green plaid Carlisle coat that I wear multiple times per week all through December. I think the red silk dress pictured here can be worn October through March and not simply December though.



I actually tend to go through my favorite colors to wear by the month. In October and November it's my orange tops. My base tends to be brown. My December it's naturally anything red often with black bottoms. Though I wear red accessories almost year round. In January-February I love wool sweaters and pants in winter white. By Spring I am into corals and aqua blue. The hot days of summer it's often bright lemon yellow or lime green cottons with crisp whites.



As I buy classics these seasonally rotated clothes are in my wardrobe for years. Though many pieces can be worn any time of year, they just cry out to be worn certain months especially.



All this is somewhat mirrored by my home decor. I rotate my accessories by the seasons. In January and February it's mirrors with crystal vases and bowls and white candles to pick up the weaker winter light. Come Spring it's flowers and bunnies. In Summer I display all my seashells.



Am I alone in the joy of expressing the flow of the year by the rotation of my clothes or household decor? Certainly retailers hope other women do the same!






Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Frugal Wardrobe

How does one keep their wardrobe "up to date" while still watching the budget? By planning.

What are the neutral colors you look best in? Is it black and gray, or brown and beige. If it's black do you have columns of this color? That is tops and bottoms in the same color. Do you have your column in both warm and cold weather pieces, dressy and casual? Do you have great accessories in these colors. This is you base upon you can have lots of fun. Since you wear these pieces frequently replace them as necessary and buy the best quality your budget allows.

Over your base you can layer color or even just go monotone. When the new trends are out for a season you can simply add a few pieces like a great colored handbag, a fun belt, the latest costume jewelry, a scarf with the colors that look great next to your face.

Most important is review your wardrobe before you shop and make a list of what you could use to either maintain it or update.