As I scramble to assemble an artistic wardrobe that fits my greater understanding of my personal idiom – on a “bottom of the fashion food chain” budget – I am considering trying the popular 10 item wardrobe.
When I lived on the wet side of Washington, spring/summer and fall/winter were all I needed. Short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts sleeve jeans, longsleeved T-shirts and longsleeved jeans. I owned one sweater! Here in Eastern Washington, you can chart our seasons by the calendar. Four seasons equals four wardrobes.
Summer is typically as little as you can get away with, with a sweater in your purse. Winter can be very cold and snowy; I own lots of sweaters now! Spring, well, “April showers bring May flowers”; in other words, I need full shoes. And fall is short.
To keep from having to spend the money for an entire wardrobe for the short fall season, my strategy has typically been to combine a summer top with a winter layer. In theory, at least, employing the spring base (shoes and pants or skirt) seems to make the most sense.
fall outfit = spring base + winter layer + summer top
Balancing ones length proportions is trickier than most of the fashion media would lead us to believe. An inch can make a difference; therefore, it makes sense to have the shoes and pants together be the basis for the outfit, and adapt the length of the top to suit. In other words, I don’t think an outfit would be equally artistic worn with either heels or flats, something else would have to change. Another argument for planning outfits in bulk.
I was thinking about this just this morning, as we’re in a weird between-season weather. It’s still warm, but very fall-like feeling, and not really summer-clothes warm. But too warm to wear long sleeves and long pants. So I’ve been combining one summer item with one cool weather item. Today it’s a flannel shirt with shorts.
Also why I have been working towards not burying any of my off-season clothes. The whole seasonal rotation thing is too complicated for the amount of time it can be left in place. Right now, I am working with having everything I plan to wear hanging in sets in my closet and off-season stuff in my dresser. When the seasons are this distinct AND they come on gradually, a big switch-out works only in theory. 🙂