We heard that a good basic wardrobe is such a thing when you always have something to wear on any occasion and mood. There is not much clothes, but it really suits you, goes well with each other, creates a lot of looks, which you don't get tired of. It's comfortable, beautiful, without wasting money — it's a magic wand.
There is so much material in the network about a wardrobe, but somehow, all these articles do not help us to put information on the shelves and create this wardrobe. "10 must-haves for your wardrobe", "Basic wardrobe of summer 2018", tips that say you must have a white shirt and a beige coat in your wardrobe. The trouble is that they are all specific recommendations with no consideration of foundation of the system, they do not take into account the context of a specific individual. So I'll start with a different thing which doesn't seem to have any connection with a basic wardrobe, but it's an essential thing.
You should start with the following questions: why do you need a basic wardrobe, what will you use it for, what tasks should it solve?
To answer those questions you can use a simple exercise from psychology. You must draw the so-called "wheel of life". A question arises, how is it connected with psychology? This approach may seem strange, but, in my opinion, it gives a guaranteed good result. We don't want to spend a lot of time and money on stylists, clothes, shopping to get a result which does not suit us.
So, take a sheet of paper and draw an eight-pointed axis, where each axis is some direction of life, which is especially important for you. It's unique for every person, but you can take a standard layout. Family, friends, health, hobbies, money, leisure, personal development, job/business. When I first took the test, we were told to name the scales on the basis of the important areas of your life. So, I got two different scales: "family" and "love." They were really different areas for me then, I had different successes, different plans and I behaved very differently. So, you should make up the breakdown by yourself to get a more accurate result. On each axis you need to draw scale marks from zero to ten.
Then begins this exercise. You need to sit down and honestly ask yourself which direction in life is more important to you, which has more priority, what do you I spend the most of your time on, in which area do you have the greatest success? Rate yourself on a ten points scale.
I think the test results will make you think not only about basic wardrobe. It is always interesting and useful to look inside ourselves, distracting from the bustle of everyday life. As for our problems with the wardrobe, this test helps to understand why, for whom/what a person lives and therefore dresses.
When I worked as a stylist, I often saw such a problem. A client comes and tells that she would like to be more feminine and attractive for her husband. It seems that it is necessary to understand which style is closest to her husband and go and buy such dresses, but ithis approach is wrong. When she draws the circle, it turns out that her whole life is a business with her husband, where she acts as a representative, providing the company with orders. During the conversation it becomes clear that her main problem is that "big" uncles do not take her seriously enough, it is difficult to quote a price for their services, and so on. That is not what she stated in the beginning of the meeting. If we dressed her to delight the eyes of her husband, this could make a wrong and unexpected effect on customers. But work is a super-important part of her life, where she puts the most time and reaches certain heights.
You can say that her request of a wardrobe "for her husband" meant somenthing. Family and love is not of the highest importance in her life, but she probably wants to change it. There is another test for solving this problem which I will discuss in the next article. This task opens our eyes to how things are in our lives now, what spheres of life are priorities, what problems we should solve with a wardrobe in the first place.
Even if you think that you can answer the question about your life's priorities without any questions, do not be too lazy to spend 5 minutes on this simple task. A clean sheet of paper often reveals surprising corners of the soul, and systematization of thoughts allows us to look at ordinary things from a completely different side.
So, we figured out what areas of life are our priority. We will begin with them choosing your basic wardrobe. Basic wardrobe of a housewife, a manager of the company or of a student will vary greatly. One wants to please her husband and impress friends. The other wants to produce a confident effect with her look which says that the job will be done efficiently and on time. The other one wants to gain recognition of fellow students and respect of her teachers. These three looks will be completely different.
Here is a small example from my life. Work has always been my top priority. I work in a creative field, it's important to me that people looking at me see the confirmation of what I declare in my activity. They must have no doubt that my clothing is of high quality, natural materials and it is stylish after looking at my shop and meeting me in person. I also need to have a "modest charm", since it is the philosophy of my brand. Thus, ripped jeans and a leather jacket can also be of high-quality, natural and stylish. But this look won't help me in my work.
I wanted to give examples with photos, but realized that there are no suitable pictures. So I took girls from the Internet. Both dressed in a romantic style. Romance in these two photos is obviously very different, the girls, living circumstances and lifestyle are different.
It is useful to do this test once in a year or in a year and a half. Priorities change, and on this basis you can draw conclusions and make adjustments. I will give the example of myself again. Lately, my priorities included frienship, not only work. I want to find new contacts among those people with whom I work. Therefore, I want my appearance to be unique but understandable to a wider range of people. If it is enough for work to look like an expert and broadcast the value of my brand, it's not enough for friendship. You need to be stylish and fashionable in a broadest sense, while retaining your individuality. A friendly format of communication also means a more relaxed look. Using the appearance I want to broadcast that it is easy and pleasant to spend time with me.
Two girls in shirts. It is immediately clear, which one could come to a fashionable crowd, and with which it would be nice to have a few words in a queue for ice cream.
So,
better twice measured than once wrong! Sit down and thoroughly think before you go and make impulse purchases for your closet where they will hang like a dead load or will be worn without pleasure, not helping to solve your life problems. See you in the next post about a basic wardrobe. I will gradually layer this strange foundation with more specific pieces of advice, down to what color and style of shirt you will need to buy this season. I think that after the story about all the practices and techniques I will write a separate post about how to use them on a specific example of a life story. Everyone will be able gradually to apply this information to the analysis of oneself and to the selection of a basic wardrobe.
I appreciate your questions and comments! I'd like to know if you like this topic. Do you want to wear clothes which helps you to solve your problems or it is enough if it will be comfortable and practical? Would you like to read the next article? Are you afraid of complicated multi-step answers or you simply want a short recipe?