Making Room for Changes
It is the Friday night that you have been waiting for. Your girlfriends have made plans for a wicked night in town and everyone was looking forward to catch up with one another. You come home early from work to give yourself ample time to prep up; the last time you met your girlfriends everyone looked a million bucks. You certainly need to look equally, if not more, fabulous this time around.
But you peel your wardrobe door open and a sudden panic rush attacks. Hung carelessly on the wooden hangers are dresses from last decade, off-season tops you grabbed at a warehouse clearance,skirts and jeans which have gone past their expiry date and ridiculously dangerous pieces like leather minis and skin tight pants which may actually look good if you were thirty pounds lighter. Stacked on the top shelf are boxes of even more ridiculously dangerous heels and boots, each having seen daylight on an average of twice. By the time you finish assessing your accessories and handbags, you have speed-dialled your best girlfriend, screaming "Help!I've got absolutely nothing to wear!"
This is a classic, all-too familiar scenario for many women. We may have hundreds of dresses taking up too much space in our already bulging wardrobe, yet putting together an outfit is often an agonizing experience. The problem stems not from lack of choice, but rather, from a mismatched collection of bad choices. What we need then, is not an emergency shopping trip but rather, a weekend of a major wardrobe overhaul.
The secret to a successful wardrobe makeover lies in knowing what to horde and what to part with. Have you already got too many white shirts? Have you got twenty three pieces of similarly-designed logo tees? When was the last time you wore that pink dress with the plunging neckline? (In the first place, have you actually worn it?)
Sort the items into two sections; those which you are willing to part with and those which you would rather tear your hair off than to give away. The rule is simple; anything that you have not worn in the last twelve months (okay, maybe six, if you have THAT many clothes) should go into the "Give Away" bin. Same goes for items which, how should I put it, have "miraculously shrunk", (therefore seem a little tight around the waist and a little small around the bottom). Remember, even if you lose those inces in the future, you are more likely to buy new clothes than to go back to that old Levi's you bought when you were eighteen.
Sienna Miller may have elevated the status of vintage dressing, but we all know that very few of us can pull off the vintage queen look without being mistaken for a fashion victim lost in time. Think that floral dress would be a sought-after vintage piece in another twenty years? Think again. Most vintage-inspired pieces have a modern twist to it, designers do not merely recreate trends of yesteryears but combine them with the trends of the present day.
Designer goods, however, are worth keeping. A Channel suit bought in the early 80s hold as much value, if not more, as a Channel suit bought last winter. Unlike average labels, the value of authentic designer creations tend to increase with time, especially when you have people like Ms Miller donning vintage oversized sunnies and carrying vintage LV purses. In the trend-conscious and trend-competitive world of Hollywood where everyone HAS to get that Birkin bag by hook or by crook, many are more than willing to pay big money for a vintage designer item that has been certified as a 'must have' by Vogue. It is important however, to have a proper storage plan for these items. Unless you want to risk smelling of mothballs, keep your designer dresses in individual bags and send them for dry cleaning at least once in a year. Needless to say, collecting designer goods is not exactly the hobby for those who cannot even bring themselves to doing their laundry on a weekly basis.
Having cleared your wardrobe clean of past retail mistakes and wrong impulse purchases, you are now ready to move on to the next step; the more fun and more challenging side of wardrobe makeover: shopping. But bear in mind that a fabulous wardrobe (think Carrie Bradshaw and her sorority sisters) is seldom created overnight. Slowly and carefully sift through magazines to find the style that you would want to create. Try to stay away from impulse purchases. Invest instead in pieces that would go well with what you already have in your wardrobe. The whole process should some take time so have plenty of patience handy!
But you peel your wardrobe door open and a sudden panic rush attacks. Hung carelessly on the wooden hangers are dresses from last decade, off-season tops you grabbed at a warehouse clearance,skirts and jeans which have gone past their expiry date and ridiculously dangerous pieces like leather minis and skin tight pants which may actually look good if you were thirty pounds lighter. Stacked on the top shelf are boxes of even more ridiculously dangerous heels and boots, each having seen daylight on an average of twice. By the time you finish assessing your accessories and handbags, you have speed-dialled your best girlfriend, screaming "Help!I've got absolutely nothing to wear!"
This is a classic, all-too familiar scenario for many women. We may have hundreds of dresses taking up too much space in our already bulging wardrobe, yet putting together an outfit is often an agonizing experience. The problem stems not from lack of choice, but rather, from a mismatched collection of bad choices. What we need then, is not an emergency shopping trip but rather, a weekend of a major wardrobe overhaul.
The secret to a successful wardrobe makeover lies in knowing what to horde and what to part with. Have you already got too many white shirts? Have you got twenty three pieces of similarly-designed logo tees? When was the last time you wore that pink dress with the plunging neckline? (In the first place, have you actually worn it?)
Sort the items into two sections; those which you are willing to part with and those which you would rather tear your hair off than to give away. The rule is simple; anything that you have not worn in the last twelve months (okay, maybe six, if you have THAT many clothes) should go into the "Give Away" bin. Same goes for items which, how should I put it, have "miraculously shrunk", (therefore seem a little tight around the waist and a little small around the bottom). Remember, even if you lose those inces in the future, you are more likely to buy new clothes than to go back to that old Levi's you bought when you were eighteen.
Sienna Miller may have elevated the status of vintage dressing, but we all know that very few of us can pull off the vintage queen look without being mistaken for a fashion victim lost in time. Think that floral dress would be a sought-after vintage piece in another twenty years? Think again. Most vintage-inspired pieces have a modern twist to it, designers do not merely recreate trends of yesteryears but combine them with the trends of the present day.
Designer goods, however, are worth keeping. A Channel suit bought in the early 80s hold as much value, if not more, as a Channel suit bought last winter. Unlike average labels, the value of authentic designer creations tend to increase with time, especially when you have people like Ms Miller donning vintage oversized sunnies and carrying vintage LV purses. In the trend-conscious and trend-competitive world of Hollywood where everyone HAS to get that Birkin bag by hook or by crook, many are more than willing to pay big money for a vintage designer item that has been certified as a 'must have' by Vogue. It is important however, to have a proper storage plan for these items. Unless you want to risk smelling of mothballs, keep your designer dresses in individual bags and send them for dry cleaning at least once in a year. Needless to say, collecting designer goods is not exactly the hobby for those who cannot even bring themselves to doing their laundry on a weekly basis.
Having cleared your wardrobe clean of past retail mistakes and wrong impulse purchases, you are now ready to move on to the next step; the more fun and more challenging side of wardrobe makeover: shopping. But bear in mind that a fabulous wardrobe (think Carrie Bradshaw and her sorority sisters) is seldom created overnight. Slowly and carefully sift through magazines to find the style that you would want to create. Try to stay away from impulse purchases. Invest instead in pieces that would go well with what you already have in your wardrobe. The whole process should some take time so have plenty of patience handy!
posted by Trishomachine. at 6:21 AM
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