Welcome back to my series on planning and organizing fall and winter wardrobes. In my last post, How To Organize Fall And Winter Wardrobes, I explained a simple system for cleaning out and organizing the clothes in your fall wardrobe. Now, comes the fun part. We’re going to plan out our ideal wardrobe, that will work for our real lifestyle, and make dressing well every day very simple. After putting in the initial time to get this system set up, the regular maintenance will really be easy. It’s really just a 5 step process. We’ll take it a step at a time. Let’s get started!
WHO ARE YOU?
The first step to an ideal wardrobe is to think about who you are, your lifestyle, and what your wardrobe needs are. It will be different for everybody. Everyone has different lifestyles and activities. So, before starting, write out a list of activities in a typical week. Then, for each activity, write what type of outfits you feel you would need for each one for an ideal wardrobe. For example, work-dressy, errands-nice casual, relaxing at home-very casual.
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
At the beginning of each season, it’s a good idea to do a little research. There’s a lot of clothing options available, so you need to figure out what types of outfits appeal to you and work for your lifestyle. Go through magazines, catalogs, fashion blogs, store websites, and Pinterest. Write down details about the styles you like, such as skinny jeans, button-down shirts, and ballet flats. Keep these ideas together on a Pinterest board or cut out pictures and keep in a folder. This might sound silly, but will be very helpful as you plan your wardrobe and your shopping.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE?
My last post covered How To Organize Fall And Winter Wardrobes. If you haven’t done that yet, it’s time to do that now. This is the step where you will go through your current wardrobe and clear out every piece of clothing that won’t work in your new ideal wardrobe. In this step, you will go through your closet and only keep the items that are in good condition, still in style, fits right, flattering for your body type, flattering color, and will be useful for your current lifestyle. Keep these items in your closet, organized by sections. Take everything else out and give away to charity.
You now have your “starter” ideal wardrobe in your closet, neatly organized by sections, categories, and by color. The next step is to see what’s missing in your ideal wardrobe.
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
Remember the ultimate goal for your wardrobe is to have a cohesive wardrobe that works for your real life and gives you plenty of options for all your activities, social events, and special occasions for the season. Now, with that in mind, it’s time to figure out exactly what that will require.
Grab a notebook and a pen and get ready to plan. Start by writing at the top of the page your life area where you spend the majority of your time. Then list categories of items you would like to have for that part of your life. By categories, I mean tops, bottoms, shoes, jackets, etc. Then, think how long you would like to go before re-wearing items. For example, you might want enough for two weeks, three weeks, or a month. With that in mind, write beside each category how many you want in your wardrobe. Keep in mind that bottoms are usually basics and, therefore, can be worn more often.
Now that you’ve decided on categories of items and how many pieces you want in your wardrobe, you can add more detail, such as the styles of each item you would like to have. So, for example, beside tops, you could break it down further and write button-down shirts, sweaters, long-sleeve tees, and how many of each.
Now that you’ve got a basic wardrobe plan with a list of items categorized and preferred styles, it’s time to fine-tune your wardrobe so that it’s cohesive. One important way to do that is to plan the colors you want in this season’s wardrobe. In the book, “The Curated Closet,” by Anuschka Rees, she gives a great method of planning a color palette for your wardrobe. I used it as I was planning my fall wardrobe and I came up with a color palette that uses my favorite, flattering colors. She stresses the point that if you have main colors, neutral colors, and accent colors that all go well together, you’ll have a lot of options when putting pieces together.
Do this written wardrobe plan for EACH area of your life. Each area of your life usually requires a different wardrobe. You might be able to interchange some pieces, but this system works better if you plan each wardrobe separately and hang your clothing items in your closet in a different section for each area of your life.
Now, take your written plan to your closet and compare what you’ve got with your written plan. Now it should be easy to see what’s missing. The missing pieces are what you will add to your shopping plan.
WHAT SHOULD YOU BUY?
Let me start by saying you probably have several things in your closet that will get you started on your new fall wardrobe. Make the most of what you already have and start wearing them, mixing and matching and trying several combinations.
The next step is to add to your wardrobe, using a strategy. Go through the list of items in your ideal wardrobe and see if there is anything specific you don’t have and need to add to your shopping list. Then, see if you have enough pieces in each category for each area of your life. You might have to start with a small number of items in your wardrobe and gradually add to it. That’s totally fine. Quality is more important than quantity.
Now take your list and re-write the missing items in order of priority. I also believe in sticking to a budget, so at the top, write your monthly clothing budget and beside each item, write the estimate of how much you think something will cost. Your budget might not be enough to get everything on your list, but with a prioritized list, you will get the things you need the most. Just start your shopping with the items at the top and you will soon have a very functional wardrobe for your lifestyle.
MY ORGANIZED FALL WARDROBE
I did this wardrobe project this week and this is how my ideal wardrobe looks:
Nice-Casual and Semi-Casual Wardrobe
28 Tops:
- 7 Knit tops
- 7 Button-down shirts and blouses
- 14 Sweaters, including cardigans
14 Bottoms:
- 6 Jeans – 1 very casual, 1 skinny, 1 straight leg, 2 boot-cut, 1 flare
- 5 Semi-casual pants – 2 black, 1 grey, 1 camel, 1 maroon or dark red
- 3 Leggings – Black
2 Jackets
- 1 Trench
- 1 Blazer-style
1 Winter coat – Black
7 Shoes:
- 1 Black ballet flats
- 1 Brown ballet flats
- 1 Patterned ballet flat – leopard print
- 1 Black Bootie
- 1 Black tall boot – flat heel
- 1 Black tall boot – with heel
- 1 Black pumps
3 Purses :
- 1 Black
- 1 Brown
- 1 Pop color (red)
Accessories:
- At least 3 scarves
- Jewelry – earrings, necklaces (various styles and lengths), bracelets
Dressy Wardrobe
2-3 Dresses – 1 black, 1 grey, 1 blue
2 Dress Pants – 1 black, 1 grey
4 Dressy tops – (Could be part of semi-casual wardrobe)
My Color Palette
Main colors – Royal blue, Light grey, dark red
Neutral colors – Black, grey, Denim Blue
Accent colors – Ivory, Soft pink, Turquoise
MY PRIORITIZED SHOPPING PLAN
- Black ballet flats
- Sweaters (3)
- Winter coat (longer style)
- Skinny jeans
- Leggings (1)
- Winter dress – Black or color
- Blazer-style jacket
- Black purse
- Semi-casual tan pants
- Semi-casual dark red pants
My shopping plan looks like a lot but, actually, I probably won’t be buying everything on the list. That is why it’s in priority order. I’ll start at the top and just buy a little, month by month.
I hope this project will be tons of fun and make you feel great about having plenty of options for getting dressed every day. And most of all, I hope your wardrobe will save you time, let you get dressed quickly and easily, and get on with your day, feeling confident and ready for your awesome, busy life!
As I mentioned earlier, there’s a great book called “The Curated Closet,” by Anuschka Rees, which gives more great advice for planning wardrobes, capsule wardrobes, color palettes, and more. Also, check out her website, Into-Mind, for lots of great information.
This completes part 2 of the fall wardrobe series. Be sure to come back next time for part 3, HOW TO SHOP FOR FALL AND WINTER WARDROBES. I’ll be giving some tips and advice for taking our shopping plan and using it to add to our ideal fall wardrobes.
Please leave me comments below and let me know how your wardrobe is working for you and please share with us some more great ideas.
Have a wonderful fall day!