Evolution

To be honest, you’ve really done the hard bit.

In the first 5 parts of the series you established what suits you, what styles you are drawn to, how to incorporate that into your every day life and built up a small capsule basic wardrobe of outfits and accessories that you love and can be interchanged to build new outfits.

Personal style will never be a fixed point, it is fluid and evolving. You’ll find what you are drawn to changes with the seasons, current trends, what’s on TV and what you had for dinner. This doesn’t matter. If you have a clear idea of who you are and what is in your current wardrobe then you can layer these new passions and purchases on top of what you already have.

To make sure your style stays fresh and you don’t end up back in a style rut it’s important to make sure you keep evolving. Here’s a few tips to help you on your way.

Trends

Following trends doesn’t have to mean being a slave to fashion and discarding anything from last season.

Keeping an eye on the new seasons trends can be as simple as taking a look at the Vogue trends once every season. Flick through and ask your self which of the trends you like and would fit into your current look and idea of your style. Is there a new shoulder shape for a jacket or a new print you could use for a scarf.

I, for example, am unlikely to be wearing much in the way of ruffles and fringing. Pinstripes, nude tones, white and trench coats are all far more likely to be a great way of updating my wardrobe a bit.

Style Icons

Just because your current style crush is Pixie Lott doesn’t mean she still will be in a year, or 2 years. Keep yourself aware of what other women are wearing, register what appeals to you and what doesn’t and build that into your style blueprint.

This doesn’t mean copying head to toe outfits. It could mean a slight change in skirt length, a different way of layering tops, tying a scarf or carrying a bag.

You can see some of my style icons over the last year (Santa was a joke, kind of)

Shop Blind

Technically this might go against everything you’ve already done, but the point is that if you’ve built up a good idea of your style you can feel free to wander round the shops without any plan and use the windows and displays as inspiration.

You don’t even have to buy what you see. Just be inspired by what the professional stylists have done to the mannequins as inspiration for your current wardrobe, or use it as a mental map when you hit the charity shops.

Experiment

Now you’re comfortable with your style it’s time to experiment a little with other elements to stop it getting too samey.

Back in your lookbook maybe you had just the one picture with a rock chick element. Try it. Add a studded belt to that floral frock. Maybe you’re look was all gothic blacks and purples but you feel a tiny pull towards that shocking pink hair bow. Try it.

Mixing up the elements like this will make sure you don’t get bored with your wardrobe and stop you feeling too constrained. The occasional element might gradually become a bigger, more permanent part of your wardrobe.

Of course. If you ever do feel you’ve hit a brick wall and you’re not happy with your look you can always go back to step one, start all over again, ditch the girly ruffles and reinvent yourself as a killer dominatrix rock chick.

If Madonna can do it why can’t you?

image by Pink Sherbet Photography

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What Do You Need?

In Part Four we looked at your existing wardrobe to try and create a small capsule wardrobe of items you like and suit your shape and your style.

The next step from there is to look at the items you need to lay your sticky paws on to be able to build a decent wardrobe.

Identifying What You Need

To start with you need to look at the 3 or 4 outfits (or more if you had more!) that you came up with in Part Four and ask yourself 2 questions

• What can I replace on this outfit to make a new outfit?
• What can I add to this outfit to make it better?

It’s often best to think about replacing the most striking element of an outfit, as those are the elements that people will remember. If you wear the same black pencil skirt for a week hardly anyone will notice (unless you spill your dinner down it) if you wear the same bright pink jacket or studded belt for a week then someone is going to twig. You might just think the outfit would look better with different shoes. Or maybe something you still feel is quite plain could be improved by adding a lace collar or scarf.

It’s also worth going back to your lists of “basics” and identifying if there is anything that needs replacing because you don’t feel your current version suits your style.

Research these items online before committing to a purchase so that you know the kinds of styles and shapes that are available.

Write this list down! You will forget!

Getting What You Need?

Ok, lets get the easy one out of the way first. Go shopping. Either online or in the real life shops and charity shops. Don’t forget to browse eBay, if you know what you’re looking for it can still be a great source of bargains.

If you’re short of cash there are still ways of building up your wardrobe.

Throw your own swishing party. Call all your friends and get them to bring all the clothes, shoes and accessories that don’t fit into their wardrobe, are too big, too small, or they just don’t like. Open a couple of bottles of wine and trawl through it all till you find something you do!

If you don’t have a big enough group of friends near you it doesn’t mean you can’t update your wardrobe for free. Check out The Big Swish for an event coming to a city near you or try swapping clothes online through Whats Mine is Yours or The Big Wardrobe.

The key thing at this point, whether you are shopping or swishing, is to remain focused. Think about your list of things you need and the idea you have created of how you want your style. You don’t want to come out of this process with a whole new pile of clothes you never wear and don’t go with anything. Be honest about whether the things you try on suit you and if they don’t, no matter how lovely, leave them where they are.

Now, hopefully, you will end up with a “capsule wardrobe” that suits YOU, not someone elses ideas of what should be in a capsule wardrobe.

The next step, in the 6th and final part, is to look at evolving and updating your style as time goes on.

Photos by shannnnnonlowe.

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What Do You Have?

Parts two and three should have left you with a rough mental picture, and possibly a more specific list, of the kind of style you would like to have and how to make that style practical for you. That’s useless, of course, without a wardrobe of clothing to make it a reality.

Before you go anywhere near a shop you need to find out what you already own. Many women have closets and drawers full of clothes they never wear because they don’t suit them or they have nothing to wear them with.

Don’t be scared to get rid of things if it doesn’t fit into your style blueprint. Even if it’s something you wear at the moment.

There are basics that it’s useful to have in your wardrobe. I’ve written about some general basics, and specific summer basics before. If you have these, but they don’t fit into your style then I suggest not getting rid of them until you’ve replaced them, but everything else should be fair game.

I’ve also got some great general advice on cleaning out your wardrobe.

Once you’ve finished clearing out you should have a small core of clothes that you feel really suit you and your style.

The next step is to spend some time trying things on in different combinations. Get out all your accessories, belts and scarves and spend a good hour or so playing around.

Try and put together 2 or 3 outfits from your existing wardrobe that you really like. Go back to Part 3 and think about what your outfits are for. If you have a couple of work outfits and 1 or 2 outfits for your out of work activities then you have the basis of a good wardrobe. Try putting the outfits with different accessories to create a slightly different look and get more wear out of it.

Sticking with my “girly frills” example here the same suit (and an extra pair of trousers) makes 3 outfits with different accessories for work and a skirt, top and cardigan is accessorised for day.

If you get to the end of this process and find you have absolutely nothing that you like then you have 2 options.

One is to go back to the drawing board. If you have never in your life bought a single piece of clothing that fits into your new clearer idea of your style then it’s possible that you don’t actually like it in reality and it’s just the pictures you are drawn to. Make sure you’ve looked properly at your own old photos as well as your lookbook and that you’ve really been realistic.

The other option is to acknowledge that your style up to now just hasn’t been you and that a major shopping trip is necessary. Building a wardrobe that’s really you is going to take time, you can’t walk to the shops and immediately come home with a whole new look. You could try, but it will look forced and unnatural.

If you find you have no outfits that you like try putting together a look you DO using Looklet or Polyvore and keeping that in mind on your next shopping trip. Buying one outfit that you really love and then slowly adding other pieces to it is a great way to start a new wardrobe from scratch.

The next step, in PART FIVE, will be to look at what you now need….

Photo by gail m tang

All the content in this post belongs to Retro Chick. If you are seeing this post and it is not in your Feed Reader, then it has probably been stolen by some unscrupulous person.

If you would like to repost my content, please contact me via my website and I'll be happy to dicuss it, really!