The Curated Closet: Style Statement

Defining your personal style is super scary.  When I first read "The Curated Closet," she mentioned writing a style statement, and my first thought was, "well, I am not doing that."  But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to have a written statement to refer to, particularly in times of weakness, when you are confronted with something cheap, or trendy, or whatever.

I have often been the culprit of a sale item that I liked in the store, but never got worn, because it didn't fit with anything else in my closet, or I just bought it because it was a good deal (except that it wasn't, because I almost never wore it).  So, I have defined what my personal style looks like right now, and if it changes over time, that is cool, too!  I am okay with that, but for now, I can stick to the kinds of things that will fit well in my existing closet.

Style Statement:   

I am calling my "Classic Casual."

- "Classic Casual" is all about being stylish and comfortable as a mom, every day of the year.  Pieces are not fussy, and can be easily played in and cooked in.

- Main staples include long sleeve button-down shirts, high-waisted skinny denim, tee-shirts with fun details, and lots of stripes.

- Fabrics include lots of natural fabrics like 100% cotton, linen, wool and denim. I also like a good amount of lace.

- Style is usually loose on top, fitted on bottom, or vise versa.

- Pants include a high waisted skinny jean, skinny chino style, and flared jeans.  Skirts are typically a stretchy pencil skirt, or a flared/pleated skirt.

- Shirts are typically a casual button-down, v-neck or scoop neck tee, or something with a lacey element.

- I am loving slouchy sweaters over a button down, or tee.

- Colors include shades of blue, black and grey, white, sage and emerald green, rust, tan, bright pink and red.

- My ideal outfit, is a chambray button down with grey skinnies, and booties.

Also, here is my color palette, so you can get an idea of colors that I have in my closet.  ANuschka Rees has a bunch of sample color palettes here, if you are interested in figuring out your own. 

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The Curated Closet: Beginning Steps

Last spring, I had a pocketful of ThredUp credit, and a desire for summer simplicity, so I decided to do a capsule wardrobe for the months we were in Utah.

I was extremely careful about my picks, and put each new item through a rigorous love test to see if I would actually enjoy wearing it.  I returned a lot of stuff and really tried to be smart about my decisions.  I had high hopes for my careful capsule.

Five months later, I was sick and tired of most of my picks, and felt like I had chosen all the wrong clothes.  I was frustrated and unhappy with my clothing situation, and the whole experiment felt like a total failure (see more about that here).  There were a few shirts that I hardly ever wore, and some that I had initially loved, but didn't really work for me.

Despite originally thinking a capsule wardrobe would be just the thing, I decided capsule wardrobes weren't for me, and moved on.

Then, a few months ago, pictures of this book called "The Curated Closet" began popping up on my Instagram feed, and within just a few days, I had seen it, or heard about it about 5 times.  And conveniently it was on the new non-fiction shelf at my library just a few weeks later, and I knew I needed to check it out.

Once I read the first chapter, I knew it was going to help me fix my unhappy closet problem.

The author, Anushka Rees, walks you through an incredibly detailed description of how to make the closet of your dreams, with shopping guides, helpful examples and beautiful photos to keep you going when you don't think you can ever get there.  It isn't about capsules (although, there is a section about that in her book), but it talks about having a smallish wardrobe filled with the things you love, which sounds dreamy to me!

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to walk you through my experience using this book, and how it is has helped me gain a greater vision of what I want my closet to look like, and how I am going to make that happen.

Finding your style is a somewhat lengthy process, but the rewards are great.  Effortless daily style, clothes that make you feel great, pieces that really fit you, and a wardrobe that can last for many years.

This journey begins by collecting a series of outfit images that appeal to you.  Styles that you like, combinations that appeal to you, maybe a particular piece that you love wearing.

I made a Pinterest board, but then, per Rees' suggestion, I combined it all onto one Photoshop page.  For this post, though, I actually broke it down into some specific pieces/looks that I like, so you can more easily see some patterns.

After I assembled a bunch of photos, I started going through and looking for trends and patterns in what I had pinned.  It was quickly obvious that I definitely had some preferences, and quite a specific style, despite my not feeling like that in my closet.

Here are a few of the patterns that I found in my board.

Patterns:  

- Individual items - striped shirts (particularly tee shirts that are white with black or blue stripes) and button down blousy types (especially loose fitting); scarves; oversized sweaters and shirts (never boxy); Anorak jackets; medium brown ankle boots; high neck or turtleneck.

- Colors - black, white, tan (not for shirts), navy, light blue, burnt orange (or orangy red), grey, and olive green.

- Silhouettes - Fitted on bottom, loose on top, or loose on bottom (skirts only) and fitted on top.  

- Materials - Denim, wool, light cottons, linen, a little lace, leather.

- Styling - high waisted skinnies with a button down and a sweater, plus booties; oversized sweaters with jeans; loose tees with jeans or black pants.

Patterns in the pictures (you can find all the sources on my Pinterest page):

Chambray. All the chambray!

So many stripes! 

Orange.  I really like orange, and it makes me look tanner than I am.  

Brown leather accents.  I need more of these.  I totally love them, and have very few currently. I love these accents with olive, too. 

White button down shirts.  I just invested in a new one, and it was such a good feeling! Also, can you tell I love them with tan?  

Thanks for making it all the way through this insanely long post!  More to come on this soon, I promise!  These posts have been WEEKS in the making, so they will be coming over the next few weeks as I tell you more about my experience reading and working through this book.  I would love to hear about your experience if you have gotten and followed the directions in this book, too!

Elsie, from A Beautiful Mess has also been working in this book lately, and while her style is vastly different than mine, it has been fun to see her posting about it!
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Recap on my Summer Capsule Wardrobe

If you regularly visit my blog, you will know that I did a capsule wardrobe over the summer. I wanted to do a little recap about my experience, because I think I learned a few things about my dressing habits that I hadn't known.

1.  I wear the same shoes all the time, and never get tired of them.  I like having a lot of pairs of shoes, but I tend to go back to the same ones over and over again.  I could probably own 6 pairs of shoes for the rest of my life and never look back.  I don't think I ever missed a pair of shoes that I left in storage.

2.  A good pair of jeans goes a long way.  In preparation for my capsule, I bought 2 pairs of Madewell jeans from ThredUp.  I don't know if they are the most amazing pair of jeans I have ever own, but I really like them.  They fit well, they are comfortable, and the high waisted pair is great for mom life.

3.  Although I like to wear the same few shirts over and over again, I like having a decent variety to choose from, because I do step outside the box pretty often.  I was surprised at how often I wished I had more shirt choices.  I did have a few shirts that I was always thrilled to wear, but some of them I wore a lot because I didn't have any other options.

As a subpoint to this one, layering is key to making a capsule wardrobe interesting enough.  I think I would have done better had I done a fall or winter capsule instead of a summer one.  I ended up just wearing a lot of cute light tops, so I didn't get too hot.

4.  I also wished I had brought more skirts and dresses.  I brought two skirts and two dresses, and that really wasn't enough.  I do wear a skirt to church every week though, so if your lifestyle doesn't involve a weekly reason to dress up, you probably don't need more than two of each.

5.  I like pattern.  I had picked a lot of neutrals and a few solid colors, and I was surprised at how much I missed layering, and patterns.  If I did another capsule, I would pick more textured items, and more patterns.

Overall, I am glad I did one.  It was a good experience, and this summer was the perfect opportunity to try it out.  That being said, I don't know that I will do one again.  I will probably keep my clothing options smallish, and continue to rotate my clothing out with the season changes (I get to do that in a few weeks when the weather changes, and I can't wait!!!).

I am a little disappointed that I didn't like it more (I guess I feel like I should have loved it), and wonder if I should try it again now that it will start cooling off in the next month.  But, knowing me, I probably won't.

Did you do a capsule wardrobe this year?  Have you considered doing one?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Capsule Wardrobe In Action

This summer has been amazing and insane.  We spent 4 weeks with my in-laws, then moved to Provo while Adam worked for summer term, now we are going back to stay with my in-laws for a few more weeks until we move back to Texas for an undetermined amount of time (probably close to a year).  

During our summer here, we have been hiking, been to Bear Lake, had probably 2 dozen people over for dinner, had dinner with family eight or so times, have been overnight guests, have had overnights guests, been on walks, visited museums, the zoo, libraries, and restaurants.  It has been a fabulous summer.  Really.  One of the best! But so very busy!

One of the things I have been super grateful for is how carefully I packed for this trip/move.  When we began planning to come out here, we made extensive lists of what we would bring to make sure we were only bringing the minimum, while still maintaining a semi-normal life.

This has simplified my life no end!  In my wardrobe, particularly, I feel like I am on auto-pilot, but in a good way!  I just don't have to worry about choosing an outfit because my summer capsule wardrobe has made it very easy.

I am looking forward to pulling out some fall stuff in a few weeks (or months, because Texas is crazy hot still), and changing things up, but I have been remarkably happy with my capsule.  Have any of you done a capsule this summer?  What did you think?  Did it help tone down your busy lives?

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Raiding My Sister's Closest: Momiform in Las Vegas

As you may know, I put together a summer capsule wardrobe for this summer.  We are in Utah for the summer, and I wanted to bring a small amount of clothes, and to only bring items that are incredibly cohesive, and would fit with our lifestyle for the summer.  

Last summer, we spent seven weeks in France,  and I took a very limited amount of clothing (you can see what I brought here).  In the end, there were a few shirts that I never wore, and a couple that I didn't really love, so I wanted to be sure that every piece that I brought to Utah was a favorite.  

I implemented my capsule right before we left for my brother's mission homecoming in Las Vegas, so I used the pieces from it for our 'momiform post'.  Last year, I realized that I have very specific needs for a momiform (my capsule is 95% momiform friendly pieces).  

Basically my criteria includes: 

1.  Comfortable shirts:  This means non-sheer (I don't love wearing lots of layers in the summer), not too low or short (awkward/inappropriate with all the bending over with a baby), and shirts that make me feel pretty.

2.  Great pants:  Well-fitting, good wash, a variety of styles, and lengths.  I don't like shorts much, so I almost never wear them.  

3.  Stylish, but walkable shoes:  I quickly realized that carrying a baby in stilettos is dangerous.  Now I stick to wedges or booties.  My life is much happier and Fox is much safer.  

4.  Great earrings or necklace to finish the outfit.  I don't do really big jewelry much anymore, because Fox is like a magpie and with just try to pull it off, but a tasteful set of earrings do wonders to make an outfit look great.  

shirt: j crew (similar + similar) via ThredUp ($10 off your first purchase with this link)// pants: j crew via ThredUp// bag: made by me (similar)// earrings: Kendra Scott

Check out the details on Janssen and Merrick's momiforms below!  They are super cute!  

     

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