Posts

,

How To Master A Seasonal Capsule Wardrobe That Actually Works

Are you tired of every piece of advice about a capsule wardrobe including a prescriptive list of “essentials” like a crisp white shirt, despite the fact that you’d never actually wear one? Personally, they remind me far too much of my days as a waitress, so I’d never reach for one now.

Image of woman organising her clothes for a seasonal capsule wardrobe.
Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash

The “classic, timeless” narrative of a rigid shopping list just doesn’t work for most women. Whether you are a stay-at-home mum or a busy professional, your wardrobe needs to be functional, not just aesthetic. I also think most of you actually want more fun and colour in your outfits, but you’re hesitant because the current trend is to push a minimalist, beige wardrobe onto everyone.

We all have a unique Style Personality and body shape, so why would one capsule wardrobe work for all of us? Whether you lean towards a soft feminine look or a modern edgy type, your capsule should reflect you.

The 3×3 Seasonal Capsule Method

As a personal stylist, I prefer to build a personalised 9-piece capsule wardrobe for my clients every season. This is generally 3 tops, 3 bottoms, and 3 layering pieces (like cardigans, blazers, or jackets) that all mix and match to create a month’s worth of different outfits. Think of it like an outfit sudoku.

If you’ve had a professional colour analysis, even better! You don’t have to stick to “safe” neutrals. You can rock plenty of colour, confident that every piece works together because the tones are harmonised for your specific palette.

Here is my step-by-step guide to doing it yourself:

Example of how a 3x3 9 piece soduku capsule wardrobe works.
3×3 Capsule Wardrobe

1. Start With What You Actually Wear

Pull out every item you want to wear this season and the pieces you already reach for daily. Ideally, you won’t need to buy a whole new wardrobe every season if you begin with what you own. Your capsule needs to work for what you do 80% of the time.

Don’t spend your entire budget on “going out clothes” if you spend most of your time chasing a toddler around or on Zoom calls. Invest in your daily life so you feel great every single morning.


2. Create a Style Mood Board

Save plenty of inspiration for how you want to look over the coming months. Don’t overthink what’s “on trend”, just save images that speak to you and make you smile.

Look for patterns:

Are there lots of casual outfits with jeans, even though you always wear leggings?

Do you keep saving dresses because you wish you dressed more ‘feminine’?

Are you drawn to certain textures, colours, patterns, silhouettes?

These clues will help you decide what your 9 core pieces should be.


3. Identify the Gaps (What to Buy)

Maybe you have two great pairs of trousers but need to upgrade your third. Perhaps you have plenty of basics but want to add a “personality piece” to reflect your style archetype.

You should only start shopping (whether buying new or secondhand) once you’ve narrowed down your ideal 9 pieces for your seasonal capsule wardrobe. While there will always be extras, like accessories, shoes, or a specific dress, these 9 pieces are the core.


4. The Mix and Match Test

Ensure the collection truly works together – the colours, the silhouettes, and the vibes. Each pair of trousers should work with each top and every layering piece. This 3×3 formula actually gives you around 27 different outfit options! I have plenty of Instagram posts showing how this works in practice, which you can see here.


Why This Works

This approach ensures your capsule wardrobe works for your real lifestyle and preferences, rather than a generic list from an influencer trying to sell you sponsored links. It makes getting dressed so much easier; instead of staring at an overstuffed wardrobe and picking the same old thing, you’ll have a curated selection that gives you instant confidence.

The capsule wardrobe concept doesn’t work for everyone, but if you’re an over-buyer who feels overwhelmed, I’d encourage you to try it. It’s the best way to stop panic buying a tonne of new items every season.

Top Tip: This also works perfectly for holiday packing! It gives you more than enough options for two weeks away without the heavy suitcase.

If you need help building your seasonal capsule, or you’re stuck on knowing which style identity suits you in the first place, I’d love to help. Get in touch here to book a consultation.

/0 Comments/by

IS NEGATIVE BODY IMAGE AFFECTING YOUR PERSONAL STYLE?

It can be difficult to find your personal style, if you’re stuck in a negative mindset about the way you look. It’s all very well for me, other Personal Stylists and whoever else to give you tips & tricks to try and boost your confidence. But true self-esteem comes from within.

It’s something I think about a lot. The small ways in which we are negatively impacting our own self-confidence, then wondering why we don’t feel good about ourselves.

I’m on a mission to reject diet culture because it thrives on us feeling negatively about our bodies. Now I’m not here to preach that you should all do the same, but toxic diet culture affects my clients in many ways. They feel they shouldn’t wear certain things, they try to hide their bodies, they don’t allow themselves to buy clothes until they shrink their bodies, and so on.

Self-compassion doesn’t just mean you have to immediately start loving yourself because it’s not that easy. It’s about not punishing your body and living your life free from the constant thoughts about how to change it. You also don’t need anybody else to approve of the way you look. Focus on feeling healthy and happy in your skin. Don’t place your self-worth in the hands of others.

Personal Style

It is possible to learn to love the way you look through your style, without needing to change your body. Many find that learning about their body shape helps enormously, because they’re no longer dressing to hide, but to accentuate. Your body shape tends to stay the same no matter what size you are, so why not learn how to dress it?

Colour Analysis helps to find the most flattering colours for you, to help you glow on the days you’re not feeling your most sparkly self. Also, a personal stylist can help you identify your style personality so you’re dressing in a way that makes you feel good.

But all these things may need to be done alongside some mindset work.

Mindset

One major influence on how a lot of us feel, is to do with the content we consume every day. If you’re seeing idealised lives and bodies and wardrobes on your social media, is that making you feel good? Unfollow any account that makes you feel bad about yourself or jealous. Stop looking at ‘before and after’ photos. Be honest with yourself about whether that motivates you or upsets you.

Look for diverse accounts or influencers with a similar body type to you (Mys Tyler is great for this.) It’s important that you’re seeing how clothes could realistically look on you, not only on models or potentially photoshopped pictures. Research has shown that the more body positive and diverse content you see (rather than ‘inspirational’ content), the more positive you feel about yourself.

I’m always talking about intentional purchases. Now I’m asking you to stop mindlessly scrolling and start intentionally scrolling. Make sure you’re very carefully curating what you see.

Yes, what I do is about ‘appearance’ – but it’s more than skin deep. It’s about confidence and happiness. I have two children now, and I refuse to allow them to hear any talk of diets, body sizes, etc because there’s more to life. I know that you know that. Start living as though there is. Your size truly is the least interesting thing about you. And I mean that in the kindest possible way.

Life is too short to put your life on hold because of negative body image. Are you living the life you want? Are you dressing the way you’d like to? Are you being as kind to yourself as you are to your friends?

Comment below or contact me for a chat about how I can help.

/0 Comments/by

5 WAYS WORKING WITH A PERSONAL STYLIST CAN SAVE YOU MONEY

There’s often a misconception that Personal Stylists will just encourage you to spend money, and that it’s an extravagant treat only celebrities can afford.

In fact, working with a Personal Stylist is an investment that can help you save money.

Keep reading to discover the main ways working with a Personal Stylist can help you save money, while making you feel fabulous at the same time!

1. Avoid buying into trends that don’t suit you

A Personal Stylist can perform a Colour Analysis to show you what colour clothing suits you best.

They can help women and men understand what clothes flatter their body shape, so they can dress with confidence.

A good Stylist will also explain how to dress for your personal style, so you’re bringing these aspects together to suit your lifestyle and personality.

Once you’ve had a Personal Style Assessment, you can appreciate those new fashion trends whilst avoiding wasting money on the ones that don’t suit YOUR style.

Dressing for your body type

2. Less time traipsing around the shops or trawling online stores

When you invest in a Personal Shopping experience with a Stylist, we pre-select items before our shopping trip that we think will look amazing on you. On the day, we work with you to choose the perfect outfits so you go home with clothes that will work hard in your wardrobe.

If you’re the type of person who dreads clothes shopping or finds it stressful, then it’s a real treat to get some expert assistance in the fitting rooms.

For an Online Shop, we can create a shoppable mood board for you to select items from.

This way you’ll know that they will all suit you and you won’t have to spend time looking through lots of websites as we’ve done the hard work for you.

The success rate for these is high, so it should save you time and money on returning bad online purchases.

3. You’ll learn to wear what’s already in your wardrobe

A common misconception about Wardrobe Edits is that we’ll make you get rid of most of your clothes!

Unless that’s what you’d like us to help with, it’s not the case.

We can show you how to wear everything in your wardrobe, rather than just a small portion of it.

The fun part about the edit is creating new outfits from what you already have, and we’ll keep a list of any gaps that are worth filling so you get the most from your collection.

Once you have a clearer idea of what you own, you won’t waste so much money buying new all the time.

We can also help you sell anything that’s of value during the decluttering process.

4. Personal Stylists give you an unbiased, expert opinion that you can trust

Ever gone shopping with your family or friends and they just shrug when you try things on, or tell you everything looks great?

Or used a personal shopper in a department store who didn’t seem to “get” you?

An independent Personal Stylist is trained to help you find items that are perfect for you, because you are the client – not the store.

We work with you to ensure you don’t waste money on clothes you’ll leave in your wardrobe unworn, or you don’t feel fantastic in.

We’ll also teach you our stylist tips, so you’re learning along the way how to dress your best!

5. You won’t be influenced to buy things you don’t need

We’ve all been there. Something looks great on your friend or that person on Instagram, so you buy it on impulse. 

Or there’s a Sale on, so you snap up some bargains without thinking them through.

However, once a Personal Stylist has helped you rediscover your own style you can avoid these mistakes.

Some stylists, like myself, even have a Style Subscription for personalised monthly inspiration.

Being confident in your personal style will take away that feeling of panic buying and uncertainty.

We can show you how to look like an improved version of yourself, rather than a copy of somebody else.

So, as you can see, working with a Personal Stylist is not only a fantastic treat for yourself and a confidence boost but it can save you money, time, and stress in the long term.

Contact me today if you’d like a chat about any of my styling services and see my testimonials to see what people are saying about their experience.

/1 Comment/by