Do You Need Help Editing Your Wardrobe?
When cleaning out your closet, would you do better with the help of an objective second opinion? Your Myers Briggs code could provide a clue.
If:
- you are by nature or necessity frugal AND
- maybe you are interested more in things other than visual aesthetics AND
- you really don’t want your closet to resemble a thrift store AND
- the last letter of your Myers Briggs code (I took a free online version, but I can’t remember where) is P
The reason this makes sense: Judging or Perceiving (the fourth trait called out in this personality profiling system) describes one’s preferred “structure” of dealing with the outside world. In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided (J) or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options (P)?
In other words, the perceiving person likes options and likes to keep their options open. (Probably this describes everyone to a degree. In our household, it sometimes looks like not getting rid of something that is worn out because it’s still good enough to wear for painting or gardening. And then forgetting and wearing it to church!)
In my wardrobe, problems are nearly always related to not having something I should have, rather than having too much or holding on to stuff I need to let go. I’m a J. How about you, is your challenge not having what you need or having what you don’t need? And could an image consultant or trusted friend help?
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Breakthrough in Personal Style Profiling
Based on the popular DISC system, here is my first real breakthrough in using an established personality profiling system to suggest style personality.
Essentially what you have here is DISC (the quadrants described by the labels on the axes) overlaid by Tori Hartman’s style personality divisions (the six italicized style designations) from the book Fabulous You with a few modifications by me.
The little pink fleur de lis is me. :) The breakthrough came when I realized that if I flipped the axes on the DISC model and plotted myself that the result would occupy the same position on a graph as my style personality, if there were a tool to test and graph it.
So, my question to you is: can you see yourself in this model?
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Unity and Variety
In studying my daughter’s Art Appreciation text (Prebles’ Artforms (9th Edition) (MyArtKit Series)
They are:
- unity and variety
- balance
- emphasis and subordination
- directional forces
- contrast
- repetition and rhythm
- scale and proportion
And, since this is the crazy way I normally think, I immediately wondered if the artists, or whoever it was, who “discovered” these principles were thinking about them as they relate to the nature of God. For example, in number 3, emphasis and subordination, Christ is, in all of life, both the One emphasized and the One who subordinated Himself to the Father.
But, on to something more practical that we can apply to our wardrobes today: Unity and Variety (or unity and diversity, from which we get our word University), also a description of the Trinity. Wearing a coat the color of your hair can create unity, but without some variety it will not be a pleasing composition. Think little old lady: beige coat, beige skin, beige hair.
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To Dye For
In the “lab” this week, I’m dying. In the sense of permanently changing the color of my clothes.
1) I love the fit of these Levis, but I just don’t wear a medium tone except in the summer. They needed to be dark.
Using one bottle of “denim blue”, I simply followed the directions on the box for dying in the washing machine. The color is a bit bright; if there is a “next time”, I will try a different shade.
Now the creative juices are flowing in all sorts of colors! I think I’ll tea-stain some of my white shirts, try kool-aid on a boring blue cashmere sweater …
Have you ever dyed anything?
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On Falling in Love with the Look of Another
The following just in from the comments on a previous post:
Hello everyone — it’s me again — Sarah. I need help! Having seen a super-stylish woman in Topshop, I find myself wanting to buy the coat she was wearing. “Wanting” is hardly a strong enough word to describe the feeling, actually. On the positive (”good excuse”) side, I have golden blonde hair and have been wanting to find a coat and shoes and boots in my hair color, as suggested by Rebecca, and the woman’s coat was definitely in that spectrum.
But on the negative side –
(1) It is rather thick and furry faux leopard skin (OTOH, thick = warm - good)
(2) Will leopard skin be as OUT next year as it is in this winter?
(3) I think that I look best in slim, or at least waist-cinching attire, but this coat is……. quite a wide swing coat hitting at the upper thigh!!! It is the ultimate triangle shape! How can I possibly want it or think it will look good on me?
(4) The girl I saw was very tall, whereas I am not. She looked good because of her endless legs.
(5) The girl I saw was wearing black flat (yeay!) ankle boots and what looked like either black leggings or thick black tights. No other clothing was visible. It looked good on her, but she had very dark hair and black footwear. Whatever would I myself be able to wear it with? I have been unable to think of other ways to wear it, and that seems terribly limiting.
Is this insanity not another example of my misquidedly being psychologically swayed by current fads? Would I think that girl stylish if she were wearing that some other time, when triangle-shaped swing coats were not in fashion? Somehow I doubt it. But there it is: to me, now, she looked fabulously stylish and I want to copy her look. You can see that I need help, can’t you?
In my defence, I should perhaps mention that I have not actually tried on the coat yet, and this season I have rejected as unflattering to me several trends (fads, I’d say) deemed essential for this season on another excellent blog I read. So it might be that the moment I try on said coat the full horror of the bulky faux fur triangle (possibly 9 months pregnant?) swing coat will hit me, but what I can’t understand is — why hasn’t it hit me already, given that I am fully aware of the tendency to be swayed by current fashions? I know it intellectually but I don’t yet FEEL it, if tyou know what I mean? Eek!
Duchesse responds:
Sarah: You have described a common phenomenon: falling in love with someone else’s look- and trying to copy it. (Which is how I once bought a trench coat that made me look like a sack of potatoes.)
First, the good news: swing coats flatter everyone (if they are not too big and end at the right length for your build.) Leopard is classic, always conveying a slightly eccentric, quirky attitude. Though some season it’s especially in, it’s never really “out”.
Now the bad news: You will not look like her. Even if you too were very tall, had legs for miles and hair the same colour, you will not look like her. But short blondes can wear leopard. You DO have to keep the clothes and shoes simple or risk looking like a bag lady.
So try on your leopard and if you like it, buy it. But make it your own. Perhaps with red gloves.
Finally, make sure you have another winter coat (one from past years is fine). You can tire of wearing an animal print. When I had a leopard swing coat it was such fun to wear, but not every day.
What are your thoughts? Should Sarah buy the leopard swing coat?
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Maternity Business Wear
While I favor separates in my personal wardrobe, and suits would be my choice for business wear, dresses could be a more frugal choice for the expecting business woman.
Which of each pair of dresses would be the better choice for the professional?
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Generational Fashion Fallacies
Is it just me or have you noticed that people of similar age have similar fashion misconceptions? Such as:
- the 60-something who thinks she needs to carry a brown purse because she’s wearing a green outfit
- the 40-something who pairs her bright top with any bottom, as long as it’s black
Here’s the deal, IMHO: if you wear something because you LIKE it - like, say, you really LIKE mules - by all means, wear it. The fact that I actively dislike it doesn’t signify. HOWEVER, if you wear it because you are obeying some outdated rule: FLY, BE FREE!
From what fashion fallacy would you like to set someone free?
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Repeatables
In my personal style idiom, a sweater light enough to be a tee-shirt (or a tee-shirt heavy enough to be a sweater) is somewhat of a staple. As is the color aubergine. Hence, on the rare occasion that I happen to find an aubergine sweater/tee, I snap it up. And typically wear it out before I find another.
Are there pieces in your wardrobe that bear repeating? Btw, what made me think of this was finding one of these for $4 at Goodwill not long ago. 
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Out with the Old (and New) Summer Clothes
Updating my “what I’ve spent on clothes so far this year” page, brought me to the realization that I’m done. I’ve spent this year’s allowance. And then some. From now on, if I need or choose to buy any clothes the money will have to come from somewhere else. Like my “spending money” (which is totally fine, since I mostly shop thrift and spend not much).
Speaking of spending out of my pocket money: when I pulled my shorts out this year, I discovered I had not much that was going to work. Thankfully, this was the year to find lots of “short sleeved pants” for really cheap (which may mean that next year they are going to be officially “out”, but I don’t care). Most of these I bought this year at thrift stores, with my spending money, and I bet I didn’t spend over $30 for all of them together.
Click to view picture big enough to really see
- top row: grey pedal pushers, green/white mini-stripe, tan linen
- front row: light khaki sheeting, khaki twill, green convertible
The better part of my excuse for spending all my clothing money already lies in the fact that this year I bought a bunch of stuff that is expensive and doesn’t have to be replaced often:
- the mother of the bride ensemble
- runners
- swimwear, although I’m still working on filling in some of the subordinate coordinate pieces
From left: what we call “swim underwear”, the real (modest) suit, the necessary one-piece.
So far, I have packed all the swimwear into a cotton bag, which lives on the top shelf of my tiny closet and packed away my camping clothes in a cardboard box, also on the top shelf of the closet. Currently, I am finalizing the process of making sure all my shorts, tank tops, and white short sleeve shirts are clean, prior to putting them away for the season.
But I’d love to hear how the rest of you deal with off season clothes. Suggestions?
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