dressing to reflect your life no.2

the how to guides

Photo credit. Margit Bantowsky Unsplash

what does your life look like now?

Can you think about how you spend your day, your week, and your month. What do you spend most of your time doing? I have a simple check list on the website so you can see if you have any surprises. Many of us have wardrobes full of lovely clothes but we no longer have the occasion to wear them. Knowing how you spend your time gives you clarity. With clarity you can make a plan.

We all think we know what we do with our time, in the same way we all think we remember what we have eaten during the day. However, writing it down and having accountability can really change your perspective. This concept is an aide memoire, not a quiz, so there is no right or wrong answer. The idea is to show that if you spend four days a week in your tracksuit, two days in a work uniform of some sort, and one day in a dress, you probably need more casual wear in your wardrobe and fewer smart and occasion items.

If you were a busy mum but now spend the majority of your days at work, then you I’m sure you have found that the clothes that worked for playing in the park and messy mealtimes, probably won’t cut it in a business environment. I know this is obvious and you already know this, however, is your wardrobe still full of the clothes you needed in that child-centric period of your life?

I have often seen clients who have had successful careers and perhaps have now given up the 9-5 to become self-employed entrepreneurs. The sharp suits, high heels, and formal dresses of their previous job might feel and look out of place in their current profession. They know this, so we work to find a smart casual recipe using some of the clothes that they have, worn in different ways to create looks that they can replicate easily. This clarity isn’t just so that you can easily find something great to wear, it’s bringing your awareness to your cupboards that are full of clothes and accessories that are unlikely to be worn again.

using your imagination

Being honest with yourself about your lifestyle as it is now, means that you can have fewer things, but will actually have more choice. This is largely because everything you will have, actually works for the life that you do have, not one that you had. While this seems to be a very cut and dried exercise in theory, when it comes face to face with the real world, things are always a bit more complicated.

When you are assessing your current lifestyle, don’t become too proscriptive about removing everything that isn’t perfect for now. Whatever your life looks like today, can you think back, or imagine a point in the future where things were or will be different?

Examples of what I mean might include a situation where you are currently working, but you are going to cut back on your time in the near future, and have more chance to pursue other interests? Your everyday ‘recipe’ will change dramatically and you will no longer need a cupboard full of suits, or whatever was your daily dress code.

Photo credit. Amanda Vick Unsplash

Or maybe you are a busy mum, are you planning to return to work? It is in this sort of scenario that the business clothes, at the moment languishing at the back of your closet, will suddenly become your staple wardrobe again..

Be realistic about your life. You are the best person to evaluate your needs in the future. Look back a year, or 5 years and think about what you were wearing then. Will you ever return to that lifestyle or is it a closed chapter in your story?

Perhaps the best solution is to focus on your requirements as they appear today, but keep a couple of outfits from a previous life, or a couple for a scenario you hope will arrive. For example, if you have worked in a high pressure business environment, but have now retired from that role, you never know when you might get the call to act as an occasional consultant. You really don’t want to have to go and buy something suitable just for the odd wear.

Continues in No.3…

All rights reserved. Milly Churchill asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work.