Oh stylish ones, how on earth do you manage to build your wardrobes...

[teacher1984]

Especially if you have young children/full time jobs/barely any time for yourself?

It seems to me that building a perfect wardrobe is unbelievably time consuming. I have no time to shop and find online shopping pretty unsuccessful. It's exhausting trying to find the various pieces to put together outfits...

But I see plenty of women who do it, so how?

How much time do you spend planning and browsing? Do you shop online or in store? How do you decide what to buy? How do you find what you need?

I desperately need a personal shopper

Get yourself a self styled uniform. I don't deviate so am v boring
I wear black, navy, charcoal grey, khaki and while.
Skinny jeans or trousers, cropped. Merino knits
A handful of silk t shirts
M and s shoes
That is 90 percent of wardrobe.
Patterns are saved for accessories: coloured jewellery.
I now don't spend much time nor money shopping.

You're right, I think a uniform is the way to go. I just wish it was easier to source everything. I'm ok for jeans but need about 20 tops and do not have the time to find them

What sort of tops do you feel good in? If you could take a couple of hours one weekend to yourself, try on tops you already have, discard ones that you don't feel good in and you might see a pattern emerging as to what style /shape/ cut you like. I have become ruthless now; if I don't feel good in it, it goes into the charity bag so everything in my wardrobe is something I love to wear.
I agree with the other poster that plain, high-quality and well-fitting tops are the way to go for someone like you who has no time to shop. Uniqlo have some nice flowy/silk blouses, shell tops and shirts in a range of colours that go with any basic trousers. (I always wear slim fit trousers in navy or charcoal). Pick up a couple of lovely necklaces in Oliver Bonas that will lift your outfit.
The other idea is to go for a personal shopper in Debenhams or John Lewis. Again, a couple of hours one weekend and you'll feel inspired. No obligation to buy either which is s real incentive.

So glad to read this acknowledgement that shopping is work and dressing well is more work! It's great that this women's work has generated paid jobs for some women-e.g.personal shoppers, as so much of women's work is unpaid.

Rathkelter - I'll take a look at unique, thanks for the suggestion. I need to book a John Lewis appointment, it's worth a shot

I totally changed my wardrobe the past few months but took a totally different lazy approach... I searched Pinterest for capsule wardrobe ideas and made a list. Then searched for what I wanted on eBay, saw which brands came up on things I really liked and went to their website and ordered. I only sent one item back. Did this over a few weeks after the kids were asleep so wasn't much effort and now I love everything aside from a big bag earmarked for charity in my wardrobe.

It is pretty uniform but I can pair most things together and dress up or down, coloured accessories and a few coloured bits.

A year or so back I went through my wardrobe piece by piece, so, for example, I took out a skirt, placed it on the bed and put next to it every top/cardigan/jacket/shoes etc that went with it. I then photod the 'outfit' on my iPad.

After doing this, first of all I realised I had far more outfits than I realised. Secondly, I found out which pieces had nothing that matched them so I either gave it to the charity shop or went out to buy something to match it and therefore make it into an outfit. Thirdly, If I'm stuck for what to wear I flick through my iPad pics for inspiration.

Never buy anything that has nothing to go with it, so either buy a full outfit or buy a top that you know has trousers to go it with for eg. Also look into seasonal colour analysis to help choose colours that suit you to avoid buying items that are a lovely colour but never look quite right when you actually wear them.

I look at clothes online most days for maybe 1/2 an hour in the eve and go clothes shopping/browsing every Friday on my day off when kids are at school. I spend the whole week looking forward to / thinking about my Friday shopping trip.