Tuesday 11 March 2014

Building a Wardrobe: How to define the pieces needed to make your closet functional

Last post I discussed how to narrow in on your personal style and define your 'look.'  I outlined my colors, prints, and proportions as a starting point for creating a functional closet. Today I'm going to talk about how to decide what pieces you need to make your closet fully functional!

I've been reading several awesome blogs on curating a thoughtful closet. You may be interested in checking out the following:

Before delving further into my post, please take a second to read this post from Into Mind: Does your wardrobe fit your lifestyle?  This well-written post explains how to determine the types and amounts of clothing you need to dedicate to specific activities in your life.

Now let's apply these concepts to my wardrobe. If you asked me what my life looks like in a pie chart, it would be something like this:
As you can see, I split my time pretty equally between work and hanging out at the house/sleeping. I spend the rest of my time working out/being physically active and, being somewhat of a homebody, spend the least amount of time getting dressed up for a night on the town. So how does that break down in terms of clothing needed?

Work (5 days per week): Items needed include business casual wear for all week. I wear pretty simple things at work--pants or skirts with shirts and cardigans/jackets, or a dress and a cardigan/jacket, and very basic jewelry. Therefore, a reasonable number of work-related items includes:
  • 3 pairs of pants
  • 4 skirts
  • 4 dresses
  • 5 tops
  • 5 cardigans or jackets

Working out (6-7 days per week): I'm a pretty active person and I love wearing leggings to work out. A reasonable number of workout-related items includes:
  • 5 leggings
  • 5 tanks
  • 3 long-sleeve workout tops
  • 3 hoodies
  • 4 shorts
  • 4 bras

Lounge/everyday (7 days per week): To be honest, I 'lounge' and sleep in workout gear more often than not--I love wearing yoga leggings and a t-shirt to bed. So a reasonable number of lounge clothing would be the above-listed workout gear, plus:
  • 2 pairs long loose pajama/lounge pants
  • 3 comfortable t-shirts

Going out (1-2 days per week): I don't go out very often, and when I do the culture of my city doesn't require me to get very glammed up. I do like to wear funkier clothing when I go out, though, so a few unique pieces are required for this part of my wardrobe:
  • 2 shorter skirts
  • 2 fun, tighter-fitting tops
  • 1 pair denim skinny jeans
  • 1 pair black skinny jeans
  • 1 fancier dress for weddings, etc
Now that I know how many of each type of clothing I need, tune in soon to learn about how to pick exactly which items fill that role the best!

No comments:

Post a Comment