The 4 Simple Ways To Create A Wardrobe That Actually Works For You

Your wardrobe should be a functional tool that works for you, not a source of stress. Today I'm taking you through some simple steps to take your wardrobe from overwhelming to functional. I used to have two wardrobes full of pieces that I didn't really like and I hardly ever wore. And then despite having two wardrobes full of clothes I would still reach for the same thing every day. Transitioning from modelling to motherhood, moving countries and cities multiple times, these are all massive lifestyle transitions for me. And during all of these transitions I transformed my style from non-existent to functional style that I love. And it was all with intention. So before I share the four simple ways to create a wardrobe that works for you, you need to first adopt the working wardrobe mindset shift. From this moment forward how you view your closet is going to change. You'll be moving from a collection of individual pieces to a cohesive system designed specifically to serve your actual life. Not my life, not her life, not his life, your life. Every item in your wardrobe will have a purpose. No more of those someday maybe items. You'll choose quality over quantity. You'll balance function with fantasy. So most of your wardrobe will be functional pieces and then around 10 to 20 percent of your wardrobe will be more fantasy items. Just to make sure that you keep things fun and interesting. And you'll also have plenty of go-to outfit combinations that you love for ease of daily dressing. So the first way to create a wardrobe that works for you is doing a lifestyle assessment. Here we are going to align your clothes with your actual daily activities. So what I want you to do is make a list of your common weekly activities like going to work, looking after your children, going out for coffees and then make a list of your less common activities. So maybe things that you do once a month. So this might be something like going on a hike. Also make a list of the common weather conditions where you live. Now I want you to get a separate piece of paper. I want you to go through your list of activities and your weather conditions and ask yourself if you have appropriate clothes for all of these activities. Also what you want to be doing is take note of what activities you do the most. So maybe you're looking after your children the most. So you want to make sure that most of your wardrobe then reflects clothes that you can wear when you're looking after your children. Make sure you take a note of whether you have enough for that particular activity. Another thing I want you to do, especially if you've been through a lifestyle change, is take a note of your less common activities and whether you have too many clothes for those activities. Something that maybe you're not doing so much anymore. So for me, when I transitioned from being a model into a mother, my wardrobe obviously changed quite a bit as well. I was going out a lot less. I wasn't modeling anymore. I didn't need my high heels. I didn't need my little black dress. I didn't need my modeling clothes anymore. I needed more comfortable practical everyday items. But most of my wardrobe didn't reflect that because my previous life I needed the high heels. I needed the So do just recognize if you've had a big change. If you've moved countries as well this can change your style quite a bit too. This is exactly why doing a lifestyle assessment is so important because our style changes over the years and things change. Our needs change as well. So do the lifestyle assessment. Write down your activities. Write down the weather and then figure out whether or not your wardrobe is accommodating all those activities. This will help you find some gaps so you can write down anything that you think might be missing like appropriate shoes for certain weather conditions that you're in quite a lot, appropriate wet weather jackets, appropriate comfortable pull-on trousers if you are up and down with children all day. These types of things can be brought to light when you do a lifestyle assessment. Another tool that I've created which I've shared before is the wheel of style exercise. So you can download this in the description or you can just screenshot what's on the screen now. But basically what you want to do is rate each area of your wardrobe out of 10 depending on how satisfied you are with this area of style. This will give you a really good visual idea of what needs working on in your wardrobe and what to prioritize with your style going forward. So the second way to make your wardrobe work for you is color coherence. This is about finding your personal color palette which makes mixing and matching pieces to make outfits way easier. From this moment forward promise me that you will not just go to the shops and buy random pieces in random colors without thinking about it first. You will now be intentional with your color choices. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the moment that I decided to create a color palette and was more intentional with my color choices, my style completely changed. I have made a few videos about color which I will link up above here in a playlist and I'll also link it in the description for you if you want to watch it after. But for today if you are just starting off with color and really starting to think about what colors you want to have in your wardrobe, I first recommend building the core basics part of your wardrobe first in a range of neutral colors that you really like. And then once you've done that and you're happy with that then start adding some more brighter hues into your wardrobe really intentionally. A lot of the time it's more about the color that we wear close to our face that really makes a big difference as opposed to the colors that we wear at the bottom part of our outfit. So ask yourself what colors you really like to wear around your face and which colors you feel good in and ask your friends and family as well. Get them to hold up some colors in front of your face in front of them and get them to do a little assessment for you. The third way to create a wardrobe that works for you is knowing how you want to define your style. What kind of styles do you like? What styles are you drawn to? So the idea is to choose three to five words to define your style which will help you build the wardrobe that you love and these words will really help guide you in curating that perfect wardrobe. To ensure that your wardrobe continues to be functional make sure you choose words that are functional words as well as one or two words that also evoke some sort of emotion in you that get you really like excited when you hear that word or when you wear that item it makes you feel a certain way. These words can also reflect your fantasy self as well but the idea is that your fantasy items aren't overtaking your whole wardrobe. When the balance in your style leans more towards your fantasy self as opposed to functional you'll find that you just don't have a wardrobe that works for you and your lifestyle. So as an example my functional words are classic and minimal then my word that evokes some sort of emotion inside me is effortless and then my fantasy style words are french girl and 70s. Then going forward as you curate your wardrobe to match your lifestyle have a cohesive color palette and to also match your style definition you'll then want a way of tracking what you're wearing and what you're not wearing. So this is the fourth thing to implement to create a wardrobe that works for you. You want some sort of tracking system. Some people do this by using apps or spreadsheets but I haven't done either of those yet however I hope to in the future but at the moment I just use the backwards hanger trick. So I hang all my items backwards on a hanger and then when I use them I hang them forwards and that can keep track of which items I am wearing and which items I haven't worn. So this helps me to question those items that have been hanging backwards for a while. I can ask myself do they match my lifestyle? Are they in the right or the wrong color? And do they match my style definition? Remember your wardrobe is an entire system. Drop the mindset of looking at individual pieces. You are now curating a collection just like a runway collection. This is how to build a functional wardrobe that works for you. If you want to dive deeper into this concept of curating your wardrobe I will link my closet curation series on the screen for you now. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one. Bye! your wardrobe should be a functional source that walks your wardrobe should be a functional soil well can't talk today your wardrobe should be a functional am i gonna get it out of my mouth your wardrobe should be a functional short