Your Autumn wardrobe Edit

Around this time of year you’ll find me knee deep in my own wardrobe rather than everyone else’s. This time of year is perfect to clear the clutter and make some space for the new season clothes pulled out from my storage boxes. Every inch of space will be taken up by heavy knits, leather trousers, knitted dresses, coats and big fluffy scarves.

When preparing your wardrobe space for Autumn, it’s all about creating the feeling of a clean page to greet you when you get dressed every morning. With a clear wardrobe you can see what you love about your Winter style, what you can’t wait to wear again and everything is easily accessible.

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Tips on how to get your wardrobe Autumn ready

• You have to be in the right mood to embark on your wardrobe swap over / edit. Make sure you have the time, the energy and the motivation to do it right and well.

• Pack away summer things to allow your Autumn-Winter pieces to take up the space you have.

• Try on the items you are unsure about and either put away for next year, donate it or sell it.

• Think about the pieces you love and will wear time and time again and build on these key pieces every season.

• Be tough on the pieces you don’t love or never wear, they are taking up space in your wardrobe aswell as in your mind.

• I love to organise my wardrobe by product type so trousers together, blazers together and knits altogether so that it makes getting dressed everyday easier.

• Remind yourself of your accessories such as bags, scarves and jewerlly so that you style it with your outfits.

Dressing for 2022

There is a definite change in the air, it’s not just the smell of Spring, the coming out of our covid bubble, it’s far more than that. It’s positivity about life, work and travel and the feeling of moving on now. But what I am finding is that you need to learn how to dress for your new life. Whether that being going back into the office, getting a promotion, children growing up, divorce or moving house, life has changed but our wardrobes have not followed.

A great place to start is by looking at your wardrobe. Spending time assessing what you need and what you don’t need. Whilst this process has always been a cathartic one, it’s far more about clothes, it’s also about letting go of past and future selves.

It always begins with questions; does this fit? When did I last wear it? Does I feel good wearing it? This can led to a full assessment of the life that you have led, the choices made, the careers lost or the ambitions not reached. Saying goodbye to the clothes that have accompanied us through those choices and our lives is its own form of therapy.

Read this quote below from a client where we had recently re-visited her wardrobe after 3 years where she went through a divorce, a house move and a job change…

“Thanks so much for a fab day today, I actually feel lighter already and super excited about getting dressed tomorrow and the wardrobe looks so organised too which makes me so happy.”

Some things will no longer have a place in your life but these clothes can accompany other women through theirs, women who are in a different place in their lives to you. Saying goodbye to the clothes that no longer serve us is hard, because it’s an acknowledgement that a part of us has moved on. But it can also feel like momentum, like your like is evolving and growing and there is no greater feeling than that.

If you are reading this and feel like you are ready to let go of your past lives and clothes that don’t serve you well then please email me for a consultation.

Help! I'm in a style rut

Stuck in a rut? Bored of your style and your wardrobe? Have no idea what to wear everyday and feel frumpy? Then you need a wardrobe reboot!

If these past 2 years has taught us anything is that it is now socially acceptable to wear a tracksuit out for dinner and pretty much any social occasion, but if wearing loungewear doesn’t make you feel good then you need to take a good look at what you have in your wardrobe. If the thought of getting dressed everyday fills you with dread then you are not alone, it can be frustrating and even upsetting but it happens to everyone. A style rut usually takes years in the making and let’s be honest if the last time you put an outfit together that made you feel good was before Covid then it has been years.

Do any of these statements resonate with you?

• You own many pieces of clothing that still have the tags attached

• You have a safe, go-to colour that dominates your wardrobe

• You’re in an endless buying cycle and quickly fall out of love with your purchases

• You pick up the same designs and cuts when you go shopping

• You have a huge wardrobe but wear less than 25% of your clothing

• You’ve kept lots of ‘just incase’ pieces that you haven’t worn for years

If you read each of those and thought “that’s me!” then it’s safe to say you’re in a style rut, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. So, I have developed a 3 step process that helps me identify why I'm in a rut and helps me find the inspiration to take myself out of it. And I'm sharing that with you in this post so you can start to enjoy getting dressed again!

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STEP ONE - ASSES WHERE YOU ARE & WHY YOU ARE IN THIS RUT

Before you start to try and get out of your style rut, it's a good idea to assess where you are at the moment, and how you got here, so spend 30 minute or so thinking about the following:

WHY ARE YOU IN A RUT?

• Have there been any changes to your lifestyle recently?

• Maybe it’s that you don’t feel like you have the knowledge or tools to be stylish, so you’ve put the blinders on and have just fallen into a rut?

• Or maybe it’s as simple as the end of one fashion season and the start of another?

Taking the time to think about what the catalyst is, will help you to identify what you need to fix it, and what changes you could make to climb out of your rut.

WHAT DON’T YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR CURRENT LOOK?

• What’s frustrating you?

• Why do you think your style is boring?

• What don’t you like about it?

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR CURRENT STYLE?

Some ideas on how to work this out are -

• Try everything on in your wardrobe and think about how it makes you feel

• Photograph your outfits everyday for a week and think about what you liked about them

• Can you pick up on a theme of the things you like that will help you with your core style?

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STEP TWO - FIGURE OUT WHAT DIRECTION TO TAKE YOUR STYLE

Now you’ve assessed where your style is and come to some conclusions you now need to re-build and discover what you want your style to be. Have a think about the following -

• What inspires you?

• What do you want your style to say about you?

• What is your lifestyle?

Then get inspired, take some time to look at Instagram, Pinterest, online magazines or newspaper pull outs to help you get some ideas for your style. Make a mood board, look at online shopping and add things to your basket, don’t buy them just build up an image of what you want to buy and wear.

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STEP THREE - START CREATING NEW LOOKS

Creating new looks and helping someone with their style is my absolute favourite part of my job, but if you are feeling overwhelmed and are still not sure what to do then here are some tips on how to pull together some new looks.

ADD SOME COLOUR

If you have no idea what colours suit you the best or struggle with colours then having your colours done by a professional then should be the first thing you do. If you have had your colours done but still don’t know how to add colour into your wardrobe then sort your wardrobe into colours and see what colours you have too much of and what you have none or very little of. This will give you a good indication of what colours to focus more on and what to stop buying into as you have enough of it. If solid colours are too much then look at adding in prints and stripes into your wardrobe this also mixes up your style.

ADD SOME GREAT ACCESSORIES

I’ve lost track of how many times a client has said to me that she couldn’t believe that the coloured bag I got her to buy has elevated every single outfit she wears, and she wears it with every single outfit! It is so important to get those accessories right and when you do you really can change your style. Choosing the right pair of trainers so that they add colour to neutral outfits. Pull out the accessories you own, challenge yourself to wear that statement necklace over your grey jumper, wear the leopard print boots you haven’t worn for 2 years with your jeans, I bet there is alot you can do with what you have you just need to experiment with it.

ADDING NEW PIECES TO YOUR WARDROBE

It’s important that from all the work that you have put in that you create a list of what you want and what you need and don’t deviate from this as impulse buying will bring you back to the start once more. Have a think about different retailers that you’ve never shopping in before, look at the concessions in department stores or look on Instagram to see whether you can find new brands that interest you.

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ONE FINAL NOTE…

If you don’t have the budget to start from scratch with a whole new wardrobe it might be about just adding in 3 or 4 really important things that can work with everything else you have in your wardrobe, but be clear with what they are. Think about what your typical day and your lifestyle looks like, everyone’s is different and everyone’s wardrobe is different. Your wardrobe needs to service your life whilst making you feel fabulous at the same time. Lastly think about your body shape, are you buying the right pieces that work to flatter your body shape or is this where you are going wrong? As once you understand what works for you and why, you will find it that much easier to find clothes that look good on you and trust me, when you know your clothes look good on you, you enjoy wearing them a whole lot more!

As ever if you are struggling with getting out of a style rut then I am always on hand to help, just drop me an email or go to the contact page on my website.

2022 Style Resolutions

If you struggle to know what to wear, what suits you, how to pull outfits together, how to stop buying things that don’t look right and just have no confidence when dressing everyday then your first resolution of 2022 should be to contact me. I can help you find your style that suits your lifestyle, it will be individual yet simple, advising you to wear your wardrobe but filling the gaps that make more outfits for you then you could ever think of and avoiding fast fashion trends by focusing on what looks stylish and will never date.

It’s not easy as we are constantly bombarded with social media influencers or celebrities looking gorgeous in something that we would look frumpy in or wouldn’t fit our body shape. If you know your style and are confident in that style then you will see the difference between wanting and needing and be able to decipher what would be useful in your wardrobe and what is something we don’t really need. It takes time to retrain your brain but the results are quick, you will see a change in you after one consultation that you can love your wardrobe, love your style and so will others.

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Here are my top tips to get your 2022 off to a stylish start

HAVE YOUR COLOURS DONE

It’s the first thing you should do, what I often bang on about and what clients say is the most life changing thing they have done. It gives you focus when building your wardrobe and your style. It helps when building a colour palette to work around and means that all your clothes work with each other therefore making dressing easier everyday.

GET YOUR WARDROBE SORTED

You cannot start thinking about your style until you have had a good look and clear out of your wardrobe. You must review, detox and try on what you have to decide what you love, like or get rid of to carve your new year new style path.

FIND OUTFIT INSPIRATION

This can be by following stylists you love on Instagram and getting styling tips from them through their photos. You can go on pinterest and create mood boards to recreate outfits, you can get into a habit of looking at pinterest everyday for dressing everyday. Or if you have outfits you love photograph yourself in them to remember, even I forget some of the outfits I put together and year on year they still look stylish and upto date that I recreate them.

AVOID FAST FASHION TRENDS

Think about longevity, how many times you are likely to wear it, what else can you wear it with in your wardrobe. Making an investment doesn’t have to mean spending lots of money, some of my favourite and oldest things in my wardrobe are from the high street, they just have to suit your style rather than a trend.

DON’T IMPULSE BUY

Make a clear list of gaps you have in your wardrobe that you need to fill to make your wardrobe work better for you and your lifestyle. Make a list at the beginning of each season and tick off as you go along, if something new comes along take something else out. it’s ok to change your mind but writing it down commits it to paper and your mind.

LOVE WHAT YOU WEAR

This creates your own style. Be inspired by Instagram, pinterest or magazines and use the inspiration to look into your own wardrobe. If you love what you own then you will love wearing it too.