Recently I was reading Maddie’s blogs about making bra’s – which I read a lot, trying to build the confidence to jump in (edit: now with added bra’s!) – and she mentioned building a ‘Bra Wardrobe’. I didn’t really know what that meant, and so went searching for the first post she made about it to see where this idea came from. I promptly fell head over heels in awe of the idea of building a wardrobe of clothing you love, and which loves each other.
Maddie’s idea come from Sarai, who published a series of posts in 2014 called ‘The Wardrobe Architect’. They’re absolutely fantastic, although I didn’t follow every step, I’m going to talk you through how I ended up with the smallest, but most well used, rotation of clothes I’ve ever had. I love everything! Everything fits together! I don’t have to think too hard about what I’m going to wear!
A slight caution – I started to talk to Ange about this, and she initially balked at getting rid of items. You don’t have to. I did only because I’m moving countries (12 weeks!!) and will needed to get rid of items to fit everything in a suitcase anyway. You can get rid of items, pack away items, keep items that don’t fit into the end product but that you absolutely love, whatever you want. This process is all about make sure you love your clothes, figuring out what you love about them, and using this information to inform future purchases/projects.
If you do ‘let go’ of clothing, and it’s neat/tidy/office suitable, think about donating it to a Dress for Success. Dress of Success is a charity that works with women to secure jobs and break the poverty cycle. They provide women with interview training, a work appropriate outfit, and often support them through their first weeks back at work with a breakfast club. It’s a charity that I believe makes a lasting positive difference to women’s lives, and one that I support whenever possible.
Back to the actual project! This is split over two posts, just because it got so long! Part two will come in a couple of days, and will be linked at the end of this post.
As I said above, I didn’t use every part of the original steps, and I mashed it up with Into Mind’s Capsule Wardrobe 101. From the Introducing the Wardrobe Architect post, I identified with almost every point on the list of ‘Do these sound familiar?’. Yes! Yes, yes, yes I feel very nearly all those things. Clothing should help us express ourselves, not stress us out. I would highly highly recommend working through the stages/weeks as listed on ColetteHQ (Sarai’s blog), I’m not going to rehash how to do each step – after all, I didn’t write it! I’m just going to explain my choices, and how I came to them using Sarai’s tools.
I have to admit I did not complete the first week. This was all a little too vague for me – although I had already been thinking about my wardrobe and what I wanted it to reflect, so I’m not sure it would have helped me anyway. I work in Stock Control, I like dealing in specifics, I’m not very good at painting broad pictures, it’s just not how my brain works.
After working through the week two worksheet (which was difficult for me, but I did warm to the process) I started putting together images that represented those ideas. As per, I used Pinterest, and and was it fun! The board started off fairly small, but I added to it as I worked through Week’s Three, Four and Seven. I’ve actually added a couple of things since I finished the project too. You can have a look at it here!
I’m considering starting a ‘for future wardrobe’ board, for styles that are summery, or maybe for when I’ve lost a little more weight, or that I’m not sure about (for me) and want to consider. I already have a whole board just for underwear. What do you think, too much?!
OK, this is what I’m here for! This week is a very specific (yay!) worksheet all about the specifics of clothing and what you like. You like skirts – what length? How full? Is that the same as how you like dresses? I absolutely loved working through this spreadsheet, and it has massively helped me define what I like about my current clothing, and what I want to look for in new pieces. I then took the base of the worksheet and turned it into a table of the types of clothing I like (which you can have a look at here)
Part Two Coming 10th March 2016!
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