HELP!!! I've just thrown away all my clothes...

[Mmox1985]

Hi All

It's been creeping up on me for a while (but I've been hiding in a mum bubble for 5 years) and I've suddenly realised I'm falling into the frumpy category!

I'm a thirty something with 2 boys under 5 and seem to were jeans and jumpers or really boring dresses and cardigans at work.

I went through my wardrobe today and decided to clear out everything that doesn't fit or that I wouldn't buy if I saw it in a shop today and literally have nothing left!

I've spent the afternoon trawling the internet trying to find new clothes but don't know where to start and am terrified I'm going to have to do the school run in my pyjamas on Monday!

Please can you help me with suggestions for staple chic items to help me create a modern capsule wardrobe???

Thank you Mumsnet!

Following

Sorry, also following!

Also following #helpful

Have you got pots of money to spend?

What size are you and what’s your budget?

Go to Debenhams or John Lewis and have a personal shopper session? You tell them about your style and colours you like, and in my experience they bring you some of the things you wanted, and some that you would never have picked up but is a bit out of left field.

Well done, I have done this before too, the freedom of knowing everything in there suits you and fits you is amazing!
Good luck!

What looks do you like? Any celebs you like? Go on pintrest?

Try classyyettrendy. US blogger but has some good capsule wardrobe ideas

Thanks for the responses - especially the John Lewis personal shopper, for some reason this hadn't even crossed my mind but if I'm going to start from scratch maybe this is a good place to start!?!

For those that asked I'm size 12 and although I don't have lots of free cash floating around to spend on myself right before Christmas - I would rather invest in good quality staples and realise this generally comes at a cost.

I would avoid panic buying!
Have a look through some magazines to see what you like or book a personal stylist session as others suggest.
Pinterest can be useful to pull ideas together.
Think about what sort of things you need to wear to work, what you like to wear at the weekends and what you like to wear out. Buy for the lifestyle you have.
I recently had a big clear out - In my 40s now, gone up a dress size after sorting out some food issues got a new job.
I went to actual shops rather than doing online shopping and tried on loads of stuff.

Buy the basics. Comfy underwear and vests/socks/tights. Buy jeans or trousers you like, a couple of pairs and in different colours. Enjoy choosing shoes/scarves/a bag/earings and choose a few easy to wear tops and jumpers (my budget is limited so I'd go to H&M)

Good series of blog posts on buying a capsule wardrobe, starting with shoes:

onthespike.com/2017/07/03/capsule-wardrobe-1-shoes/

That is amazing!! I'd LOVE to do that!!

Agree with the above poster about buying the staples. I know you want good quality, but I've found some of the cheaper shops are great, for example:

• good quality long vests from matalan or next (I've had mine for years and still going strong)
• jeans - I've had some great ones from next and Sainsbury's

Good luck!