Creating your Personal Wardrobe Portfolio

Claudia Croft wrote a fabulous article in The Times Style Spring issue (4th March) discussing how “these days, it’s not how much you spend on your clothes, but what you buy and how you mix it up that really counts”.

In recent years, mixing lower end price tags with quality pieces has pretty much become a trend in itself. It is largely a result of leaner times. Fashion can dictate styles but it also responds to universal moods. Economic belt-tightening (pardon the style related pun) means people have to be more resourceful. This can actually be more fun, and more importantly, it forces us to take a step back and think more carefully about the clothing we buy: do we really need it, does it really suit us and will we get much wear out of it?
This is the approach we should always take with our clothes in order to create a successful wardrobe, and a successful wardrobe is one that works for YOU. Your wardrobe ‘portfolio’ should have styles and fabrics that work with your body shape, colours that flatter you and the overall looks should reflect your personality. You should be able to combine pieces easily and enjoy wearing each piece you have in it. Of course, you might have one or two quirky items or unique pieces that won’t go with everything (especially if you are creative or dramatic type) but you shouldn’t have lots of pieces that only go with one other thing. What a wardrobe shouldn’t be is bursting at the seams with all the latest styles and great labels which you find yourself gazing at endlessly wondering what to wear.

Looking good isn’t a luxury, it is something we all deserve and can achieve without having to spend a fortune. For many people, clothes shopping and dressing well, whether on a daily basis or for an occasion, can be a chore because they simply don’t know what suits them. They may have a few pieces they enjoy wearing and feel good in, but because they don’t understand why they look good in those pieces, they can’t easily replicate it. You have to understand what styles work for your figure and for your personality (as well as your budget and lifestyle of course) and do some research to find out the best places to shop for them.

The great thing about the current mood in fashion is that it is all about your personal style, and even if the universal mood changes when economies bounce back, it should still be about your personal style. Claudia Croft rounds off by saying “Now it’s about savvy spending, insider knowledge of the best shops and brands, and knowing how to style yourself”. We couldn’t agree more.