How to cull your wardrobe
Steps to culling your wardrobe
Congratulations, once you have had your colour and style session now is the time to cull your wardrobe.
A successful cull is the way to dress for success.
At the moment, your wardrobe is full of the wrong colours and style which make it very difficult to extract the best outfits to wear.
In fact this mismatch is setting you up to fail every day. If your wardrobe is clogged with the things you shouldn’t wear, you will never see what you should wear.
This client thought she had nothing to wear. She wanted to clean out her wardrobe and then go shopping.
Once I removed at least 50% of her wardrobe and worked with what was left, she discovered so many lovely outfits she could wear. There was no need to go shopping after all. "what a transformation", not only of the wardrobe but her as well.
How often have you heard the expression “ a wardrobe full of clothes with nothing to wear?
This will also hinder your fashion creativity, because you fail to work with top class key pieces.
Let the cull begin.
With seasonal swatch in hand begin to remove ALL the items that are not in your colours. If you’re a little confused about how to find the thousands of colours in your swatch, please contact me to find out.
Certain rules apply to find ALL the colours that are in your palette. Don't go darker than or lighter than. Don't go brighter or warmer than are some of the rules you will be given.
Remember your colours are more than the 32 little fabric swatches in your palette. Learning your colours well is the key to your Image Success.
If the thought of parting with these sentimental or expensive items is too painful, I would suggest putting them in another closet away from your core wardrobe for the time being. Work with your colours only from top to toe. Very quickly you'll realize how great you look, just by wearing your colours!
Be ruthless. I have revisited wardrobes years later only to find the same garments that should have been tossed out years ago, are still taking up valuable space.
Get some order in the closet
An ordered wardobe is a fashionable wardrobe.
Sort your wardrobe into warmer and cooler seasonal clothes.
Jackets, cardi’s and coats and heavier fabrics into your Autumn and Winter months wardrobe. This gives you space and clarity. Of course there are many trans seasonal items that can work all year round.
Categorize the garments.
Place all the garments into their category shirts with shirts, jeans with jeans. Jeans with pants for example.
It’s a lot easier to find a particular shirt or pant when all the pants and shirts are together.
You can also grade the garments by size.This helps to locate certain things. That way the skirts don’t get hidden amongst the pants.
Colour code the garments.
Working within your colour palette and colour coding your wardrobe starting from light tops to dark tops, light pants to dark pants, helps you to see exactly what you have.
How often have you deliberately gone out to buy a pink top for example only to find you already had 3 in the cupboard?
It’s a bit like the 3 jars of vegemite in the pantry, hiding behind the flour or salt.
Make an inventory
Time to take stock. Make a list of what you have. 4 pairs of jeans ,5 summer tops ,6 summer pants etc. It helps to locate where you’re at and to identify if you really are a shopaholic and you need help or not. Just joking. But really do you need to buy another pair of shoes when you already have 115 pair?
Make a shopping list
Do you have a grocery list when you go food shopping? This is to save time and money and to only buy WHAT YOU NEED.
If saving money and shopping smarter is a goal, a shopping list will help you to shop more wisely. There is sense of accomplishment when things are in order and we’re not spending money willy nilly.
Now just to let you know, I will be taking all this on board myself
I still have a way to go, but at least I'll have something to aim for.
My goal for 2019 is to shop smarter and stop buying things that are just impulse buys, lacking quality and style
Happy shopping.
If you would like to do a personal shopping trip with Your Colours and style, just follow the link to book.
Or you would like someone else to cull your wardrobe according to colours
Happy Culling.
Your Colours and Style
Five ways to know if you're wearing your Colours.
Getting your Colours right is just so important to your Ultimate Image so read today's blog with 5 ways to tell if you do have them right or not.
How to wear your neutrals
How to wear your neutrals
What is a neutral colour?
I would describe a neutral colour as one that is quite benign. One that's not screaming for attention, and one that's a base for all of your other amazing colours.
Not everyone feels good in a pink and green outfit for example but they may enjoy wearing perhaps a green top with a neutral like grey.
It's good to start your wardrobe with your neutrals then add your colour in next.
But are all neutrals created equal? Definitely not. Many stylists are firm about having a base of dark cool neutrals like black, pure white, greys and navy’s with a splash of brown thrown in. But those neutrals are only found in the Winter Palette. Black doesn't go with everything, as we've been led to believe. And Winter neutrals don't go with Summer, Spring or Autumn neutrals.
As a colour consultant of 20 years, I have found these ideas to be quiet damaging as a whole to the fashion industry. Using black as a style staple is not useful to your Image picture.
Here's an example of working with a warm Autumn neutral and Black a cool dominant neutral to create a mismatched look.
YOU NEED TO FIND YOUR COLOURS AND THEN WORK WITH THE NEUTRALS IN YOUR PALETTE ONLY
For a stylish, complete, co-ordinated wardrobe that suits you down to the ground, you need to work with YOUR neutrals only.
The reason being, neutrals from another palette will not look good on you, and also will not go with the other shades or neutrals in your palette.
THE NEUTRAL COLOUR PALETTES.
Some stylists categorize people as neutrals. But I like to call only colours neutral not people.
Every colour is either a Cool Deep or dominant colour,(Winter) a cool muted colour,(Summer) a deep warm colour (Autumn) or a warm bright colour (Spring)
That's it. Every colour on the planet will slot into one of four palettes only. And you will be one of the four palettes as well. No sub colours or flow people in my opinion. Some colours "flow"but not people.
THE COLOUR SWATCH BOOKS FOR THE FOUR SEASONS
Get your colours right. There is Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. What season are you and there is no need for any sub seasons.
You will have thousands of colours to choose from that will all look amazing on you.
So what are the four types of neutrals I’m speaking of?
Warm Deep or Autumn neutrals are lovely deep olive greens, rich creams, clays, golden browns, deep apricots, muddied burgundies and pumpkins to name a few as well as rich warm khakis and golds.
The bright Spring neutrals on the other hand are still warm but much lighter than their deep counterparts, so colours like light soft caramels, light creams, warm light browns, tans, peaches and apricots are part of the Spring neutrals.
Moving into the cooler palettes we have the boldness and clarity of the deep Winter colours, black, pure white, all greys, silvers, dark navys and deep deep browns.
Forget burgundy as some may include in the Winter palette. I reserve that for the muted cool neutrals of Summer. The denim which is a winter denim is dark navy blue.
Summer neutrals are cool and soft and muted. Ones like off whites, soft grey, cool taupes, cool beiges, light cool khakis, burgundy and maroons create a nice base and don’t forget your dusty navy’s. Please don’t forget light denim teams best with these colours.
With all this in mind you can see there is a plethora of colours, considered to be neutral.
So once you know your colours, you can stick to the neutrals within your season for best results. Ask your consultant how to incorporate these into your wardrobe.
It’s always best to get professional advice about your colours and be sure the colours actually “fit”with you.
If your not happy with your results after a colour analysis, my advice would be to get a 2nd and sometimes even a 3rd opinion until you get your colours right.
I have had so many clients over the years who have had their colours done incorrectly.
There is a mindfield of systems now so I hope you find a solution that’s right for you.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT COLOURS?
Here are a few checkpoints.
You'll look younger and more attractive in your colours
Your hair colour will compliment your colours
3. Your make up will blend into your skin and not sit on top
4. You will have 100’s and 100’s of colours to choose from
5. You will feel at peace in your colours
6. All the clothes in your wardrobe will coordinate
7. You will have heaps of outfits even if you have a small wardrobe (capsule)
8. You’ll always get compliments about what your wearing
9. You'll find it easier to accessorize and mix and match
You’ll look very stylish all the time.
For more information contact Your Colours and Style Sydney