Shopping my wardrobe in 2026

[CortieTat]

I have committed to a buying break (no clothes in 2026) and feel miserable already 🤦‍♀️.
I’m starting this thread to cheer myself up and rediscover the clothes I already own. I have been tracking CPW for all my clothes for several years but recently it has become automatic and boring.

I would like to rediscover the joy of putting outfits together, instead of buying new things first and then figuring out how they fit together! Also being more mindful about what I wear and how I feel about it.

I use an app called Stylebook to organise my clothes, it helps but I don’t think it’s necessary. If anyone wants to join me, great 😊.

This is what I wore today:

I’ve been stalking (and resisting) skirts in that style on Vinted @CortieTat, I do have a wool pleated kilt but it’s plain black, might see what I can put it together with.

i was also in office today, but had the opposite problem, inside was roasting hot 🥵 it’s supposed to be ‘intelligent climate control’ but that just seems to = the colder it is outside the hotter it is inside and vice versa!

Was going for a hoody+ blazer vibe but I had to strip down to my base layer (not pictured), which I wasn’t planning on revealing at work!

coat was a not very stylish but waterproof/windproof navy craghoppers parka, necessary today!

Beautiful watch @FirstDayonthePlanet and I love the blazer & hoody combo.

@Whowhatwerewolf the light cardigan with a darker shirt looks great, this is something that would never occur to me :-D This thread is great for inspiration.
I have an Eribé jumper, it's full fair isle (stripes all over) and the shape is quite unusual. It has very narrow shoulders, the crew neck sits very high on the back of the neck too. It's also made in Poland, not in Scotland - the small print on the website says that some of their knitwear is made in Poland.
I am petite, my shoulders are definitely not broad and still the Eribé sweater sits quite tight on my shoulders. I wear it from time to time but it's not my favourite. Not sure if that helps you make the decision? I prefer Harley of Scotland for fair isle cardigans. The shape is more classic, IMO, the standard length is around 63 cm in size S. They also have several models with lots of colourful neps and this works like a magnet for me.

That helps a lot, thank you @CortieTat Given the lovely outfits you've posted I trust your opinion on knitwear completely.

I was actually thinking of starting a separate thread that people could use to be deinfluenced. So basically if you're thinking of buying something post it and someone else comes along and tells you why it's a bad idea. I feel that I'm very easily influenced by advertising etc but luckily I'm also very deinfluenced by people saying something isn't that great or I don't need it. Does anyone else think that would be helpful?

Being totally and slightly uncomfortably honest here, I think my desire for new clothes comes from a lack of confidence and a concern about how other people perceive me. I think deep down I believe if I have the right clothes I'll automatically be seen as important and worthy. But I know I need to find that confidence within myself so that I don't care so much what acquaintances and random strangers think of me and I'm just wearing things that make me happy!

Please can I join? I love clothes but my new job does not support more clothes buying. So I’ll try and put together new things from what I’ve got already. Here’s what I’m wearing today.

Just catching up on this thread. So far I've managed not to shop vinted, though I have had to catch and stop myself from scrolling - I have a lot on there so I do need to check it once or twice a day. So far so good.

Oddly though, on a different note, I have a winter sale return, it arrived last week delayed by the weather. I tried the 2 items on and didn't immediately take to them. That's one of my measures of whether to keep something. I'm meant to go to the PO today to send them back, but I find myself considering keeping them. I'm going to try them on again, but I suspect this is just a hoarding kind of mentality! I don't know if anyone can relate to that?

I used to get attached to clothes but worked on developing a ruthless culling mentality 😅. If something is not 100% yes I either don’t buy it in the first place or return. There’s such an overproduction of clothes that I still end up with way too many even though I buy maybe every 10th thing from everything that I actually want.

Do you know Bless? It’s an app that helps take control of buying habits. It used to be free, now there’s a paid version but the free one still works and I’m using it. There are many features that help to delay/rethink purchases and one of them is a list of questions. It helps to decide whether something is a keeper. I also have my very own list in use. I noticed that I get much more joy and actual use from purchases that were really slow and considerate, as opposed to “I saw that on a celebrity”, “it’s Friday night”, “it’s on sale”, “yolo” etc.

@stnvcfo welcome! Lovely outfit, I really like the skirt and the shoes are the cherry on top. If the shoes are the brand that I think they are, I’m a big fan.

@Whowhatwerewolf I would definitely like a deinfluencing thread. I spent about an hour today before work trying to discourage myself from buying a scarf. I think I’m good but it was hard work to be honest. It’s much easier when something is just a fleeting want, I had that scarf firmly on my to buy list since November.

Ok @CortieTat I've started the thread. I actually don't have anything I need to be de-influenced from at the moment (as I have bought something today that shall remain nameless 🫣 but at least I paid with my Vinted earnings) so hopefully others will jump in to keep the thread going.

No outfit to post today or tomorrow either as I'm still home sick and tomorrow if I'm better I'm only going to yoga and you don't need to see my workout wear.

I get the feeling there are far fewer posters on Mumsnet than there ever used to be.

@Whowhatwerewolf hope you get better soon!

Doing the clean scandi look today. It doesn’t feel like me but I like the t-shirt.

In-office day today, I dug out that black kilt and working on getting the cost per wear of that silk shirt down!!

off to check out the de-influencing thread, might need help with my current mild hyper focus on pleated wool skirts on Vinted!!

OMG the de-influencing thread has really taken off - amazing work!

@FirstDayonthePlanet love your outfit today! The kilt is great with the tank.
The de-influencing thread has taken off and it works 💪 I asked for help and promptly received it.

I had an important work-related thing today so I wore the scarf I bought when my youngest was born. It’s my lucky charm.

At home today with my little one, it’s snowing and we had a walk by the lake. No earrings this time.

That's a beautiful fair isle cardigan @CortieTat❤️
Wore the clothes attached for lunch at a barbeque place & a drizzly walk with the dog & 2 adult children. I'm finding it difficult to wear any other coat than a down puffer at the moment, as it's rained non-stop for weeks. I can't even wear my wide leg jeans, as they will get wet. So it's been a choice of straight or barrel leg only. Dd1 turned up also wearing a green cashmere jumper & jeans, plus Ds1 was also wearing Green. We appear to be team green at the moment - it must be the part Irish heritage....

You are so stylish @Cantonet, these accessories look great together.
I would love a lot of rain to be honest. Here’s cold and windy, minimal snow. Everything is extremely dry, I feel so sorry for the wildlife, not sure how they survive with no snow and everything frozen solid. I even feel for the bloody roe deers that ate my rhododendron last summer.

At home today, wearing thick wool socks.

Here's my outfit from yesterday. I'm feeling a lot better so went out to see a film and then dinner with a friend. We saw Hamnet. I quite liked the first 2/3 of it but my friend didn't enjoy it much at all. Luckily dinner (Thai food) was fab.
Having seen both Hamnet and H is for Hawk recently I would now like to buy....a Goshawk! Don't worry I'm not going to, and if the craving gets worse I will post on my de-influencing thread. Should be an easy one!

And here's today's for book club

So cold today, I had a sweater and a cardigan over it instead of the coat.

Some fab outfits on here, I’ve been trying to move away from my default beige, while of course shopping my wardrobe. The weekends’ offerings + today’s WFH fit.

I had an important presentation today so took one of my lucky scarves. I’m very pleased to report that I managed to match the scarf with my socks (from the bargain bin at the local supermarket).

The skirt is vintage and it came to me with a few small moth holes, I darned them with the matching wool thread and I can’t find them anymore.

Wfh today and walking with the baby in the afternoon. It’s cold, windy and extremely dry. I like the challenge of matching socks with the rest even if nobody sees the socks.

My tank is vintage Benetton, made in Italy. I love it, it reminds me of the hideous Aspen ski outfits from Dumb and Dumber ⛷️

Working today and then going out for dinner. I was too tired and lazy today to change into a skirt.

I have to say the app looks like too much work for me, but I'm loving all these outfit photos!

Today for me:
fine knit teal hooded sweater
slim boyfriend cut jeans - brand Duer, love them

rose pink hooded bomber jacket
burgundy blundstones and burgundy camera bag from Lululemon

It windy and cold today. Going back to my red skirt, it’s thick corduroy so keeps me warm with leggings underneath.