Friday Night Fashion: Reinventing Your Wardrobe

Is your wardrobe lacking a bit? If so, don’t worry because I am going to help you bring your wardrobe to its full potential.  You will never have a bad wardrobe day again. When updating your wardrobe always consider your lifestyle.  Your wardrobe should not only represent your vision of style but it should also be tailored to your lifestyle. Determine how many times you work out a week, and keep that in mind when purchasing workout clothes.  Determine how often you go on a date night in a month and keep that in mind when shopping for a cute dress, you get the idea.

6 Steps to Reinventing Your Wardrobe

1. In the first step, you are going to empty your closet by taking out every single item in your closet.  You can’t go shopping without taking the inventory.  If you do you may end up spending a lot of money on items you may already own. It is always a good idea to strip your closet about twice a year and you can use the seasons to serve as a reminder to do so.  Each year you can clean out your closet at the beginning of summer and winter. 
2. Step two is where you will sort all of your items and get rid of anything that you haven’t worn it in a year, and anything that makes you feel badly about yourself.  If you have a few maybe items, put them in a separate bag inside your closet.  If you haven’t gone back to the bag in 3 to 4 months, it’s safe to say you probably won’t miss it.  Be sure you sort everything in your closet, not just the clothes. The key to updating your wardrobe is knowing what is in style and what is out of style. Once you know this you can get rid of anything that is out of style.  Remember that you do not need to throw out every article of clothing in order to update your look.  Some items never go out of style like cardigans and blouses, or fitted tees.
3. Step three; invest in some plastic storage bins. Use these bins to organize your wardrobe according to the seasons.  If it’s the start of summer, then store away all of your winter clothes.
4. Step four, take all of the items from step two and organize them within your closet.  For example, you can hang all your slacks, skirts, or blouses together. During this stage you should assess your current wardrobe and make a list of all the key items that would complete it. There are a few staples no woman’s closet should be missing. These items are an LBD  (little black dress), white blouse, neutral cardigan, knee-length skirt, black dress pants, a fitted pair of jeans, a solid tee and turtleneck,  a nice jacket, some knee high boots, a pair of flats, an everyday purse and a dress purse. 
5. Step 5, swap or give away all the items you no longer wish to keep. If you just can’t bear to give it away but know you will most likely never wear it again, remember that you can always give an old item a little facelift.  Get creative with it.  Use a sewing machine to add new buttons to a shirt, turn pants into shorts, hem an old skirt to give it a new length, add some beading or embroidery. You can reinvent your jewels too.  Take a few necklaces and tie the end in a bow for a cute, layered, statement necklace.  Once you have recreated what you can from your give away pile, think about having a girl’s night where everyone brings their unwanted clothing items and hopefully everyone will find something they like.  After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Always know that it is never easy for any of us to toss out older clothing items, but it is somewhat cathartic.  I always feel straggly liberated when I get rid of old items I know I do not need. 
6. Step 6 is the fun part.  It is time to reward yourself for all that hard work you have just done. Start by grabbing your list from step 4 and choosing a few items you are going to buy. Now, a few things to keep in mind before you venture out on your shopping extravaganza.  Think about purchasing a pair of flashy heels. Hot pink, bright blue or leopard will put a punch into any outfit.  Buy a few statement necklaces and other costume jewelry to take your look to the next level. Buy a few purses with bold prints, textures, and colors.  This will update any look. Pointy flats will give your normal flats flare and they can make you look taller. Remember that stripes add sophistication and pastels will make you feel warm and cozy.  Pantones color of the year is radiant orchid, a beautiful pinkish purple hue that goes well with everything. Try purchasing just one item in radiant orchid in order to add a pop of color to liven up any drab outfit. This doesn’t even have to be clothing or an accessory, it can be nail polish or lipstick too.  Next, head out to your favorite department store.  I prefer and would suggest Nordstrom’s.  Grab a few items for each article of clothing you have decided to purchase and head to the dressing room.  Once you have decided which pieces you would like to purchase, take a picture of the tag and be sure to write down the size and color of every item.  Be sure you capture the CPU number as well. For the tech savvy, you can install  Quick Scan - Barcode Scanner by iHandy Inc. on your smartphone which will automatically scan the bar codes for you. This application not only verifies the item you want to buy, it also aggregates nearby vendors who are selling this specific item both online or in stores.  They also list the sales price accordingly.  This is great because you may not always find the item you want at the cheapest price, but with this application you can find it at the 2^nd cheapest price. You work hard for your money, why should big box stores take that money away from you? Now they don’t have too.  Retail is exploding on the internet medium.  Now you fashionistas can find the same outfit you would buy at a department store for a significant discount online.  This is important because now you can buy the dress and get the shoes with the extra money with the extra money you saved going through an online vendor. It takes patience, willpower, and shopping ingenuity but in the end you’ll not only smile at the size of your wardrobe without dreading that future monthly credit card statement.

Shop Smart Not Hard and Always Remember, Never Pay Retail.”