Style Seeking
Recently I found this article entitled 'Building a Wardrobe and Demystifying Those Fashionable Girls'.
Personally I have never been a 'fashionable girl' in any sense. I made my way through several (mostly alternative) fashion style throughout my teenage years before settling on my current look in around 2011. I've never been a big fan of modern fashion - it's a bit too fast-paced and disposable for me, and although there are certain styles which I love on other people, none of the modern fashions have felt like a perfect fit for me. This is what led me to experiment with a variety of other styles and to express an interest in everything from goth to steampunk to lolita and a fair few in between.
[x]
At the moment I am the happiest I have ever been with my wardrobe, but I still don't understand how 'those fashionable girls' manage to put outfits together so well. How to you look so coordinated, so well accessorised, and yet still effortless? So far it's been a bit of a mystery to me, and I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard.
After reading the article I decided to try out the tips for myself. I started by putting together a Pinterest board which I have called 'Styles I love'. I have been pinning any looks that catch my eye enough to make me stop and look. Anything that makes me think 'ooh, that's pretty' or 'I would wear that' goes on the board.
Have a look at the rest of the board to see what else I have pinned!
After some pinning there seems to be a bit of a theme emerging. There's a lot of black and dark blue as well as jewel tones and a fair bit of blush. There are a lot of 40s styles, and fewer items from other decades, though that might change as I add more to the board.
Now comes the difficult part - making this wardrobe into a reality. A lot of my current wardrobe can be pared down, altered or sold on (watch this space), in order to make space and money for new things. There are other things I will be keeping as they already seem to fit the style that I have started to identify for myself. Unsurprisingly, the items I already think of as being my favourites fit into this category. It's interesting how there are certain styles which I thought I really liked but which don't seem to be catching my eye now that I'm really thinking about it.
The main problem with trying to build up this wardrobe for myself is that the kind of styles I am choosing don't come cheap. Normally I can afford, say, £30 for a dress that I would wear for everyday. The prices for most of the items I have been looking at are more like £60 plus, with a majority being closer to the £100 mark or more.
[x]
Of course, any clothes that I buy don't have to be vintage. Reproduction is okay. Modern lookalikes are okay. I'm easygoing as long as I get the overall look that I want. I can also start to sew or knit items (although that's debatable considering my Knit For Victory cardigan).
At least now I am much more focussed, wardrobe-wise. I would love to hear everyone else's tips for building a great wardrobe and whether or not you like the ideas laid out in the article. I know this has been longer than most of my posts so thanks for sticking with me this far, if you've made it all the way to the end.
---------------------
12 comments
I can relate to this entry a lot, I too went through different fashion stages including goth and lolita. I think knowing what overall aesthetic you want to achieve is the main hurdle, and once your over that it can become much easier, as you know what is going to work for you instead of buying blindly. I've never gotten into Pinterest before, but I do like your idea of pinning styles and items you like, I may have to give that a try myself!
ReplyDeleteI must admit the pinning has been really useful so far - it's much easier to choose clothes I really like when I don't have to take price or location of the seller into consideration (I can worry about that later!).
DeleteI'm pretty much at the same stage with my own wardrobe. I've taken out everything that just doesn't get worn or that doesn't fit anymore, and am now trying to work out what kind of clothing I would a) need and b) really like to wear. I'm also in a similar position with money: a poor student cannot spend all her money on clothing.
ReplyDeleteMy strategies in handling this are flea markets and sewing. There's a brilliant flea market near where I live, in a rather posh part of town, where all the old ladies go and sell their old, super high quality clothes (just today I bought a lovely off-white, pure wool sweater there for pennies!) mostly for very affordable prices.
I'm not awesome with the sewing machine, but I can do basic dresses, skirts and blouses, and for this purpose I've been taking apart some of my older clothing which I just don't wear anymore (or never really did) but which are made of fabrics that I really like. Hoping to get some nice new summer clothes out of them...
One day I too hope to be able to do that "effortlessly wonderfully put together" -thing some people are so good at. My problem seems to be accessorizing, I simply cannot figure out how to it well! Oh, some day...
I wish we had a flea market or similar! We have a few charity shops nearby but they are mostly expensive and full of rubbish.
DeleteI'm the same with accessorizing too, I hardly bother most of the time.
Though some of my tastes (within the vintage spectrum) have changed here and there over the years, for the most part I've loved many of the same things for ages now, so for me it's been a matter of continually working to build a well rounded wardrobe (aka, not just cute dresses! :)). I really put the emphasis on doing this in 2012, in no small part because we were, at the time, moving across the country from Ontario in the east to my home province of British Columbia on the west coast and I knew that with the move would a considerably busier social life (and I didn't want it to look like I only had a few outfits).
ReplyDeleteI made a thorough inventory of what I had, what key pieces were missing, and a few "wish list" wants, and set off (over the course of many months, don't get me wrong) to fill in as many of gaps as possible. With luck, patience, and some solid investing (with funds largely raised from selling off some other non-fashion items I could live without), I filled in most of those gaps and have found that as a result getting dressed has, by and large, been substantially easier (not that it was hard per se before, but having more of my wardrobe basics covered made it even more of a breeze) and more enjoyable ever since. It sounds like you're on the same kind of path to reach that end goal, too, honey, and I wish you all the luck in the world with it!
♥ Jessica
Taking an inventory isn't something I've done yet (though I have a reasonable idea of what's in my wardrobe and where the gaps are). Now that you've mentioned it though I think that might be my next step!
DeleteI can really relate to this too, although I occasionally like modern fashions, I never feel right wearing them. Since i've been wearing vintage clothing, mostly 40s style, I have felt so much more comfortable and myself. As much as I would love to wear genuine vintage items my budget just doesn't allow so I have to resort to reproduction! There are some bargains about though if you persevere, I recently bought two beautiful 40s style summer dresses for £11 and £12, so keep looking and i'm sure your wardrobe will come together!
ReplyDeleteWhere did you manage to find 40s dresses at that price?? Nothing like that exists where I live, in all the time I've been dressing in vintage clothing I've never managed to find genuine 40s items for that price. I don't mind paying more to get higher quality things or things I like better (and I have had some great bargains from the 1960s-80s) but so far no luck with anything any older than that.
DeleteUnfortunately they aren't genuine 40s, they are reproduction, but they are beautiful dresses and true to 40s style. Luckily I live near to Shrewsbury where there is a few vintage shops selling lovely clothes but I can't always afford them.
DeleteFirst I haven't looking for my style a long time... when I was a teenage girl I weared a lot of clothes that my friends didn't want like leopard derby shoes...But I remember that Black was the ultimate color !!! Finally the accessories were my colors's touch.
ReplyDeleteToday my style is inked in my heart and it's a rainbow in my wardrobe with most red, yellow and teal things and 50's... But here, in France to find vintage clothes or reproduction is very difficult, maybe if you live in Paris, you have more chance... Here only 70's and 80's are represented an it's not my way.
So one day I've decided to sew (another reason is my "pearbody"... no way to find something in this world with skinny or slim clothes... and my size too). So now I found my happiness in Colette's pattern, sometimes Burda, Vintage Butterick or Vogue.... and I knit too (my Knit for victory is one of my "subjets"). And thank you Internet to permit me to buy my shoes in England....
Like you I look at the pinterest wardrobe and yes sometimes I find marvellous things but too expensive. My problem with Fashion in general is that people are copy and when you sew too because if it's "great" to wear the last pattern... ok with not the same fabrics or colors...but sometimes it's same, like twins... because in Fabric "land" you have fashion too...
I'm really sorry if my language is difficult to understand but I'm french and I've returned to school since january...
There's a lot of 70s/80s/90s things available here as well, which mostly isn't my style although I find I can pick and choose from later decades to find things that fit in with a mostly 40s/50s wardrobe.
DeleteI haven't really started sewing my own clothes yet though I'm working on it. I don't think there are really fashions of patterns here, so I think I'd be unlikely to run into someone who was wearing a dress they'd sewn from the same pattern as myself. There isn't really any kind of vintage or retro community where I live though, so maybe that's the reason.
Don't worry about your English - it's much better than my French!
thanks you for your answer.
Delete