Whole new wardrobe ?!

[666onmyhead]

Ok, so I have a favourite Aunt. She and I are more like mother and daughter.
She's come up with an idea for us both to totally ( yes everything from undies outwards ) replace our wardrobes !!!

She's getting a stylist in to do hers first, then she wants to pay for me to do mine too. ( probably without the stylist ? She's not said !)

I'm in total shock ! I'm going through my wardrobe now to squirrel away things I can't bear to part with . (We are doing summer wear in May )

Anyway my question is, if this happened to you, and you were 5'8" with size 12 jeans and 16 tops ( big boobs ) what would be your must haves ?

I flit between countryside and city, and need some smart casual stuff for work ( 'go to' stuff for work is Uniqlo cigarette trousers, heels or boots and a cashmere jumper ) I'm pretty plain in my taste, not brave enough for bold colours, but do have some bold accessories I may keep .

I'm told I suit Navy, grey, tan and black - so want to try and stick to that colour pallet if possible.

Any help much appreciated! Thank you.

I'd do a colour and/or style consult beforehand to make the most of it. Or if that's too pricey check out blogs and websites about how to do that.
And by all means hide a few things or just refuse. Id not give up some of my faves for an overhaul.

I'm not sure how much advice I can give re. what would suit you as I'm more of a straight up-and-down figure with no boobs, so we probably suit quite different styles! I like the sound of your go-to work stuff though. Do you ever wear wrap dresses? I always think these look lovely, but whenever I try them on I realise my chest is too small for them to look good on me - maybe one of those with some nice boots could suit you really well though?

I've been slowly upgrading my wardrobe over the last few years... I started off by just replacing my too-casual t-shirts with a couple of plain black/grey t-shirts that were more versatile and easier to style. I've found that tucking these into a pair of tapered paperbag trousers or mom jeans really works well for me.

Another idea is to think about textures. I've really been loving cord recently! Fat Face have some lovely cord skirts, jeggings, wide-legged trousers... I also think a monochrome outfit with different textures can look really stylish!

Have you tried looking on Pinterest or Instagram for inspiration? You could also try typing 'capsule wardrobe' or 'how to find your style' into Google or YouTube to get some ideas.

Personally I have a 'Style inspiration' folder on my computer, and whenever I see a picture online of an item of clothing or an outfit that I really like then I save it in there. I can now look in that folder and get a pretty good idea of the styles and colours that I like. For me, that seems to be a lot of neutral basics (black, white, grey, navy, brown, khaki), with some quirky shirts, patterned dresses, and a few colours like burgundy and mustard mixed in.

Don't be pulled into thinking you need all of the 'wardrobe essentials' that people suggest online though. I made that mistake by buying a denim jacket because everyone talked about it being an essential... haven't worn it once! You should think about what really works for you day-to-day.

Here's an idea... why don't you pull all of your clothes out of your wardrobe, decide (Marie Kondo style!) what you love and put that back, put the rest in storage somewhere, then try living with what's left for a few days or even a week. This should help you identify any 'gaps' and then you can work from there.

Here are some 'capsule wardrobe' tips that might also be helpful:
theblissfulmind.com/2015/03/23/creating-a-capsule-wardrobe/

If you already have a simple style and a limited colour palette, why chuck stuff out and replace it? Sounds bizarre.

Oh, I think I misread it, I thought it was going to be a massive upgrade where things are needed, not necessarily replacing everything?

It seems a wee bit odd. I can kind if see the appeal but replacing everything when you don't need to is quite extreme and wasteful? I'd prefer to get a small no. of lovely things that you might need e.g. new coat, boots.