Help me start my whole wardrobe again?

[hentheeighth]

Hi wise style gods, I am in dire need of your help.

I am so so uninspired and unhappy with my wardrobe. Long story short but I have a busy job, small child and have put on a fair bit of weight recently. Things either don't fit, are torn/stained, horribly outdated or loungewear. And nothing goes with anything!

I am going into a small bonus at the end of this month, and I want to use it as an opportunity to completely clear out and refresh my wardrobe, so in my dream scenario I can wake up each morning and have a handful of smart, put together outfit options without too much thinking.

The brief

• Been a while since I did one of the colour quizzes but would say I am autumn - dark hair, light skin but warm undertones.
• About size 16 at the moment. I am hoping to get back down to 12ish but am tired of waiting to lose weight before I bother with nice clothes!
• Work in a professional office job, in the office semi regularly, would love to look effortlessly smart and confident rather than hiding in huge jumpers
• The rest of the time either WFH or looking after DC. But still would like to look presentable rather than in trackies and a rubbish t-shirt!
• Not huge budget, but would be happy to spend £££ on a couple of nice quality pieces and build out with more affordable ones.

Where do I start?! How many of what things would I need to build a whole wardrobe? If like me, you need an excuse to procastinate on the internet, please send me links, brands, designers...

I am planning a shopping spree after payday and will happily come back and update.

I always do a twice year mega sort out , when changing winter wardrobe to spring/summer and vice versa. The winter jumpers, long sleeve stuff get chucked in the loft, and the summer dresses, T-shirts etc come down (some clothes last all year round). It’s a good opportunity to have a clear out, and clothes which you thought looked okay last season can look old and shabby when you get it down.

@Riverlee I am also an autumn pear, although starting to veer more towards apple. I’m 47 & really struggle to know where to shop to find clothes that suit my colouring & shape. I don’t find autumn colours that easy to find. Could you tell me where you find clothes to suit please?

i buy my clothes from all the usual places - Next, Marks, Sainsbury etc.I choose clothes in navy, berry, teal, ochre etc.

in ochre

dress

dress

jumper

The Style Stories Podcast - Lisa Gillbe

as a complete ‘style’ newbie, I found this series useful

Another vote for John Lewis and getting measured and a proper fitting for your bra.

Any notions about shapewear? (neutral question)

Shapewear - Skims gets a lot of good reviews. I’m going to investigate

Has anyone bought from Hush?

I do regularly! I really like them!

Their sizing can be abit hit & miss!

There are lots of posts on here complaining about the quality but I've never had any issues!

When developing a Capsule wardrobe I found it helpful to have some very simple, easy guidelines, or it just became overwhelming. Here's what worked for me...

Winter capsule wardrobe:
Choose just 1 neutral colour - black, brown, stone/taupe, or grey,

Workwear in neutral colour:
3 bottoms (skirts or trousers) 1 top and 1 piece of knitwear or jacket. 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of boots, one handbag, 1 smart coat.
Loungewear in neutral colour: 2 bottoms (I ditched jeans - never really felt comfortable in them). 1 top, casual shoes.
Evening/smart work /interview: 1 dress in the neutral colour.

Choose just two accent colours - those that will often crop up in winter that suit you and will go with the neutral. - eg: white or cream, red, purple, pinks coral, deep or bright blues. Try to pick 2 colours that will work together.

Workwear in accents: 4 tops - long or short sleeved. Stick to plain or an unobtrusive pattern as it is less likely to look dated over time. Jewellery, scarves if you wear them and they suit you.
Lounge wear: 2 tops in accent colours. Jewellery/scarves, hat, gloves, perhaps an extra informal bag in accent colour. Informal coat in accent colour.

All of these will items will work together and are sufficient for a varied wardrobe for each week.

Once winter is done - pack up all the clothes and accessories in plastic storage containers and switch to a summer capsule wardrobe.

Summer capsule wardrobe:
Choose just 1 neutral for summer - navy, camel, olive, stone/taupe, or silver-grey, These colours tend to reappear every spring/summer in some form.

Again choose just 2 accent colours (different to your winter ones) - such as green, turquoise, cream/white, pink/peach, yellow.

Follow the same principles as the winter wardrobe, but substitute items as needed - sandals instead of boots, summer dress instead of smart neutral one etc.

Each season check your capsule wardrobe for items that need replacing. You'll be shopping for just 3 colours - 1 neutral and 2 accents; and every item will work with the rest of the season's wardrobe. Take your time and choose items carefully over several seasons to build it.

I have previously lost a lot of weight and had to restart a wardrobe from scratch.

I had a session with a couple of different stylists for help.

A lot of the things I was told I've since forgotten, but the ones that have stuck with me have been invaluable.

The single best tip I was given was to not buy anything with a pattern or print on it because I tended to be more attracted to items in shops/on ebay because they were visually interesting in the way a plain navy t shirt or plain wool jumper was not.....so I was buying lots of patterns which was making life more difficult. Its a lot easier to put outfits together if everything goes with everything else.

Other tips that helped me were: choose black or navy and don't do both.

Find a silhouette that suits you and then look to replicate it. eg a little bit of a puffy shoulder on jumpers/shirts really suits me, so I look for tops like that. Similarly skinny trousers are hideous on me, so I just ignore them in shops

Come join us on this thread!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4867327-this-time-im-really-going-to-do-it

im working my way through the In Pursuit of Elegance thread too, it’s excellent

I like Libby London for higher end workwear and bulk it out with cheaper pieces from Sosander, Phase Eight and Whistles.

My go to items for work are a couple of pairs of wide leg trouser, one in navy and one in black, a leather skirt, some slim
leg black trousers and one ankle length pair of cigarette pants from J Crew. I’ve got some nice dresses from Libby and a couple of skirts and tops from there too to ring the changes.

For casual, I’ve got some nice jeans, some casual dresses from Sosander. I can also wear the wide legs dressed down with more casual tops and as I like a Pilates class of a weekend some athleisure stuff.