Back in January, I wrote about my intentions to curate a capsule wardrobe. Well, it’s been three months and… I’m not quite there yet!
I’ll be honest, I’ve been slacking when it’s come to working on it. I hardly buy clothes, and being only six months into being my own boss means budgets are tight. However, I have had chance to keep a style diary, one of the crucial first steps in The Curated Closet, the book I’m using to achieve capsule-wardrobe-enlightenment.
How to Keep A Style Diary
It’s time to become a selfie master! Keeping a style diary is about snapping a photo every day across the period of a week to document what you naturally wear. I think Amelia Diamond shows how best to do this, plus her style is very vintage-chic.
During my week of snaps, I started to notice I basically have a uniform: jeans, jumper, coat and scarf. This is partly to do with the colder weather (come on spring, where are you?!) but also the fact that I have a very monotonous wardrobe. In truth: I like to play it safe.
Over the years, I’ve built up a wardrobe that is very easily mixed-and-matched: sticking to a monochrome palette, the only real items that jump out are my baby pink trench coat, red vintage dress, and my leopard-print shoes I picked up in a charity shop a few months ago.
Benefits of Documenting Your Style
Find out what you truly wear. The point of starting a style diary is to see what you genuinely wear from your wardrobe. It’s all well and good that you like that dress, but when was the last time you wore it? I’ve found I wear less than half of all my garments, and I don’t own many to start with!
Define your ideal silhouette. I’ve also found that I subconsciously hide my figure rather than accentuate it. It actually makes me feel a little nervous to highlight my curves, as I personally prefer a straight-up-and-down silhouette (and I can’t quite work out if it’s from all the fashion magazines I’ve consumed over the years…) I’m now actively looking to find style inspiration from women who embrace their curves a bit more – recommendations are welcome!
Stop impulse shopping. Another nice outcome of the style diary experiment was the ability to see how I can progress my wardrobe without adding in useless pieces. Before I compiled my photos, I purchased a pair of second-hand thigh-high boots and they look awful on me, plus they don’t go with anything! If I’d had my photos to look through, I would have seen that coming…
Create a wish list. The final part, and real reason for the diary, is to see how you can progress your style and create a closet that truly represents you. I’ve been able to highlight the pieces that I like wearing, and also suit me, and they’ll make the basis of my capsule wardrobe. A few examples: my black blazer, my blue jeans, my Chelsea boots, my grey tailored trousers…
