Proportions //
high waisted, loose top
skinny pant, tight top
high waisted, tight top
Colors //
BASICS // Black, White, Gray
MAIN // midnight blue, red, creme
STATEMENTS // teal, purple, pink, maroon
Elements //
dark vs. light & bright
feminine vs. bold, casual, & comfortable
high waisted skirts and pants
bright pops of color
Key Textures //
cotton tops
floaty or thick fabric bottoms
knits
statement textures (lace, velvet, leather)
Uniform//
High waisted bottom, comfortable top, layered jacket or cardigan, boots
Every spring, there's spring cleaning. Spring cleaning, of course, goes hand in hand with the mass wardrobe clean-outs everyone seems to strive for. I've been seeing a lot of wardrobe downsizing (or talk about it) in the blogosphere recently, and I'm afraid I've caught the bug!
Before seeing the posts, however, I stumbled across Into-Mind's blog, which contains a plethora of wardrobe and style advice. Notably, her most interesting bit of advice talks about the idea of a capsule wardrobe: Owning only a certain amount of pieces and using all of them to create new outfits every day. The trick is to identify your personal style, your go-to outfit (your uniform), the colors you'd like your wardrobe to mainly contain, and the main proportions you gravitate towards. This technique can be applied every season or whenever you see fit: the most important part is not to get stuck in a rut!
This whole concept really made me think, as I've wanted to clean out my closet for a long while. I haven't gotten rid of clothing in years, resulting in having about fifteen T-shirts, some of which I bought in high school, almost zero of which I wear on a regular basis. However, without a clear game plan, it's been almost impossible to weed out: what if I want to wear those shirts again?!
The part I found most enlightening about the whole thing was the definition of style: I'd never really even thought about it! However, actually setting aside time to go through my fashion inspiration folder and pinterest made me see the similar links between everything I liked, which lent itself to defining the proportions, elements, and textures I would like to define my style. I started thinking about this a little for my first personal style moodboard post.
The colors were easy, as I mostly just wear red and black when I have no idea what to grab in the mornings, with a few exceptions here and there for gray, blue, and pink. I also already knew what sorts of textures and fabrics I like in clothing. Cottons are a must for tops, as I sweat in anything else. Bottoms don't have to breathe as much, so they can be anything from tights to my disco pants. I also have always loved the pairing of more feminine fabrics (what does that even mean) with harsher tones, like leather.
Either way, in the end she says not to define your style with typologies (since that's first step down the road of being boxed in, style wise), but if I had to describe my ideal style in ten words:
"a little bit of classic, punk, retro, and quite comfortable."
xxTanya
