Yesterday’s game… the ten capsule wardrobe… was a tough one…

I failed miserably… missing out on many of the practicals as well as the pleasures.

The truth is I don’t think I could live permanently with ten items of clothing… well of course I would if it were necessary…

But I don’t think I want to.

I learned that about myself and from your comments I think you feel the same…

We women, in varying degrees, love our fashion.

We enjoy dressing up and mixing it up…

 

Am I too bold to suggest that the capsule might take a back seat.

That the minimal wardrobe is best left for weekends and business trips…

After thinking about the minimum… I am now luxuriating in the maximum.

The… you-can-never-have-too-many-of…

Extravagances, indulgences… female whims and passions…

 

Immediately to mind came…

Bags and shoes… jewellery and scarves…

When was one ever enough?

Coats and jackets… I’m forever tempted by a new shape, a different fabric…

Glasses, both sun and eye… oh that I could stop at one.

Jeans… Would one pair really do me? That would be torture…

 

The summer could eat up my ‘ten’ with caftans, sun hats and swimming costumes… How could we choose?

What would I do without the crazy caftans that I have collected from my travels?

They are like memorabilia to me… every one tells a tale… refreshes my memory…

 

and the ‘little black dress’…

Do we really ever stop at one? Aren’t they all that little bit different?

How many times have you told yourself, “no more black”… only to come home with yet another little piece of noir.

I am all for streamlining the wardrobe, shopping our closets and travelling light… but I don’t think the female in me can resist a few extravagances…

And if you can… you have my utmost admiration… xv

 

p.s

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Sometimes I forget that the very best store is right under my nose…  my own closet.

I take my wardrobe for granted… guilty as charged… I neglect it, walk right past all the hours of thought and the legwork that I have put into collecting favourite pieces.

I am so often tempted by what is ‘new’, forgetting that what is ‘old’ can be exactly the same… and dare I say it… better…

Sorting out the wardrobe and streamlining the best pieces is probably an art that is not practiced very often.

I don’t know about you, but I find that I am very habitual when it comes to dressing.

If  ’this goes with that and that goes with this’ I repeat the pattern and wear what is easy and what I know works well together. I get lazy… and so does the clothing in the back of the wardrobe or at the bottom of the drawer…

I love accessories… yet I stick with the same couple of scarves and trot the same handbag out day after day… it’s not that I don’t have choices at home…  It’s the same with the shoes… the same pair get worn over and over again…

I won’t rummage in the closet for a new look… I blame the fact that I don’t have time or that I am too busy… yet I will spend hours looking online or browsing in the stores for that perfect new piece.

Creatively it is so much easier to start afresh than revisit what is outmoded… in our minds at least.

How do we ‘shop’ our own closets?

Become re-acquainted with your clothing… Know what is in the wardrobe. It is surprising what we forget…

Take everything out… cupboard by cupboard, rack by rack and drawer by drawer… Re-arrange the sweaters, the tees, the blouses… the belts, bags and shoes…

Try it on… even the pants that haven’t been worn for years… or the blouse that you were never sure about. We change and our tastes change… maybe those items are now back in fashion… or perhaps we look differently at them… and in them….

Mix up colour combinations. Start seeing the brights with the all black… or if colour is your ‘go to’… try an all black ensemble…. or search out your neutrals…

Swap the prime positions in the closet… so that what was on the back burner… for ‘another day’… becomes front of house… Those shoes that were being saved for a special occasion… make today that day… (I am so guilty of that one… )

Check out favourite fashion magazines and online sites… find the look… and then shop your own closet… I tried that the other day when I was writing about pencil skirts… I found one that was entirely neglected… totally forgotten… and just what I was looking for…

 

Most of us love a good shop… we just need to remember where to look… xv

 

images via les dressings on Pinterest

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Happy Sunday… See you next week… and as always, thank you for being here… xv

 

p.s

i think you all know by now that google reader is finishing at the beginning of july… if you prefer to read french essence by reader i suggest you join bloglovin or feedly… they seem to be the most popular at the moment..

If you prefer you can receive my posts by email… Subscribe here…