Personal Style

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Lessons from My Outfit Journal – Re-Working a Problematic Look

As longtime readers of this blog know, I have been maintaining an outfit journal since summer 2014.  In this journal, I write down what I wore, where I wore it, my feelings about the outfit, and what I could change in order to improve the look.  I also rate all of my outfits on a scale of 1-10, and I’ve noticed that my percentage of “9” and “10” ensembles have steadily increased over the months that I’ve been keeping my journal.  It only takes a few moments each day, but the benefits have been well worth the effort.

Style journal

Keeping an outfit journal has helped me improve my style.

The notes about what I would improve upon in future outfit iterations have proved to be the most beneficial part of the process.  Sometimes just switching out one piece can add a point or two to an outfit’s rating and have me feeling much more confident in what I’m wearing.   These changes generally happen rather organically, as I tend to remember what went wrong in a look without having to go back and refer to my journal.   The simple act of writing down my feelings has led me to make subtle shifts in how I dress that have added up to increased satisfaction over time.

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“Love It, Wear It” Challenge Debrief & Year-End Inventory: Shoes and Accessories

In my last post, I began debriefing my “Love it, Wear It” Challenge (LIWI), which I took on throughout all of last year.  Part one covered my clothes and today’s post will look at my shoes and accessories in terms of how the challenge impacted those categories of my wardrobe, as well as my style. I will also share an inventory of my shoes and accessories.

A Reminder of What LIWI Is…

But before I dive into part two of this debrief, here’s a quick reminder of what LIWI is about (read more here).  The objectives for the “Love It, Wear It” challenge are to wear what we love and to have the right types of clothing, shoes, and accessories for our lives… the lives that we are actually living in the here and now – not imagined, wished for, or previous lifestyles.

The objective of LIWI is to create a “working closet” by moving all worn items into a specific area of your closet space (or jewelry box).   As much as possible (uniforms and dress codes aside…), you should only wear what you really want to wear.  Anything that is uncomfortable, fussy, or no longer in line with your personal style should be passed on for donation or consignment.

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“Love It, Wear It” Challenge Debrief & Year-End Inventory: The Clothes

I am continuing with my year-end wrap-up posts for 2015.  Today is part one in a two-part series debriefing my “Love it, Wear It” Challenge (LIWI), which I took on throughout all of last year.  Part one will cover my clothes and part two, which I will publish early next week, will look at my shoes and accessories.  In addition to writing about how the challenge impacted my wardrobe and style, I will also share an inventory of my wardrobe in these two posts.

Love It, Wear It Challenge

An Overview of LIWI

But before I dive into my debrief, here’s a quick reminder of what LIWI was about (read more here).  The objectives for the “Love It, Wear It” challenge, which some readers also took on, are to wear what we love and to have the right types of clothing, shoes, and accessories for our lives… our real lives.  By this, I mean the lives that we are actually living in the here and now – not imagined, wished for, or previous lifestyles.

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A Pragmatic, Multi-Phased Approach to a Workable Wardrobe

The following is a guest post from Barb, who agreed to share her “story of recovery” with all of you.  Barb is an active member of my private Facebook group, where she shared her story about downsizing her wardrobe and upping her style quotient via a multi-phase system over the past two-plus years.  I thought Barb’s pragmatic approach would be both educational and inspiring for readers of “Recovering Shopaholic,” so I asked if she would be willing to share her story and some of her lovely outfit photos with us.

If you would like to be profiled in the “Stories of Recovery” series (you can be anonymous if desired), or if you have an idea for another type of guest post on “Recovering Shopaholic,” please connect with me to share your thoughts.

A 65% Wardrobe Reduction in 2.5 Years!

I’m so flattered that Debbie asked me to share my story of recovering.  I say “recovering” because although I’ve made great progress, I feel as though I’m not finished yet.  The crux of my story is that I went from 478 clothing items in mid-2013 to just 164 at the end of 2015.  I feel it’s important for me to mention a few things at the outset. This significant closet downsizing didn’t happen overnight; I started paring down in 2013.  In addition, an integral part of the process was defining my style and shopping strategy.  This post describes how I handled reducing my clothing.  Shoes are a different story altogether…  Finally, I don’t have clothes in multiple sizes to address.  I have worn the same size since 2011.

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My Style Evolution: 2000 – 2015

As we close out 2015 and the third year of “Recovering Shopaholic,” I thought it would be fun to reflect on how my personal style has evolved over the past decade plus.   This is a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while after I had seen another blogger do it, but now seems like a good time since I feel I’ve made a lot of positive changes to my style this past year.

This will be a very photo-heavy post with not as much writing as usual.  There is an old saying, “A picture speaks a thousand words.” Well, that is definitely true when it comes to what we wear, but I will also add some commentary throughout to shed some light on what you’re seeing.  Some of my older photos are a bit embarrassing for me to post, but I’m sure many of you aren’t exactly thrilled with your outfits from days gone by.  It’s all part of the journey, right?   It’s important to note that I liked a lot of these outfits while I was wearing them, but there were definitely times when I felt insecure and uncomfortable in my ensembles.   Again, that’s probably something most of us could say.

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