Upgrade your Wardrobe in 30 Minutes a Day: A 2-Week Programme
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- If your wardrobe needs a makeover, but you are having trouble freeing up enough time in your schedule to do it all, this post is for you. For all you busy people out there I decided to write a little programme that you can complete in no more than 30 minutes per day. Daily assignments to help you improve your wardrobe bit by bit. If you work Monday - Friday, I recommend you start the programme on a monday - task 13 might take you a little longer than half an hour, so it's a good idea to save it for the weekend.
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MONDAY - Day 1
The first step to building a refined wardrobe is always to figure out exactly what elements you want it to include, in other words: to define a style concept. As a first order of business, grab a big piece of paper and divide it into four columns: Colour, Fit, Proportions, Details. You will be filling those columns as you go along and find out more and more about your exact likes. Treat it like your own personal style guide. Today's assignment: Go through your closet and pick out every single piece that you are currently wearing on a regular basis and try to pinpoint what exactly it is that you like about them. Is it the pattern, the fit, the colour, the material? Note down your findings on your style guide.
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TUESDAY - Day 2
Nobody likes Tuesdays, so today's task is super easy and fun: Go online and browse through pinterest, your favourite blogs and looksbooks and save every image that speaks to you in some way. Specific items, accessories, materials, or just the overall mood of an outfit. Create a little mood board with all of your findings.
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WEDNESDAY - Day 3
Your assignment for today is to transform the random collection of pictures from yesterday's task into a set of defined elements that you can actively incorporate into your wardrobe. Discard any images that you stopped liking overnight, then sort the remaining pictures into groups of elements, e.g. colours, proportions, etc. Read this post for more info on how to extract specific elements from your mood board. At the end, go through your items and quickly brainstorm how each one of them could be worked into your current wardrobe. Then: add them to your style guide.
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THURSDAY - Day 4
Instead of working with individual elements, today's task is all about finding examples of full outfits that represent your style concept. Go back to your mood board or browse a few more blogs and pick out 5 outfits that you would wear exactly as pictured or with minor changes. This step can be especially helpful if you are having trouble pinpointing proportions, i.e. a certain combination of items for your wardrobe. Once you have found your five images, write a short description of each and add these to your style guide.
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FRIDAY - Day 5
Your ideal wardrobe should not only represent your style concept but also be perfectly tailored to your lifestyle. Ignore your style guide for today and spend a bit of time thinking about what kinds of outfits you need for all the different activities in your life, e.g. work, weekends, lounging, gym, everday, nightlife, etc. Estimate how many outfits per activity you need in a three-week period. Feel free to create a little diagramme, like in this post, to visualize your lifestyle and help you compare it to your wardrobe.
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SATURDAY - Day 6
Next up: Proportions. The easiest way to add structure to your wardrobe is to find a few proportions, i.e. specific combinations of items, that optimally represent your style AND suit your body shape. Go back to your style guide and re-think the fit and proportions column. Which cuts and shapes suit your body and could be turned into a specific proportion? Try on different fits and also experiment with combinations you haven't worn before, i.e. skinny jeans + a fitted shirts + a longline jackets. Check out the Proportions catalogue for more ideas.
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SUNDAY - Day 7
Next up: Your colour scheme. Read this post and create your own colour palette step-by-step, using the elements you collected at the beginning of the week. Aim for an ideal - you can worry about how to implement it later.
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MONDAY - Day 8
My personal favourite: Imagining an 'ideal outfit week'. With all of the information you have collected in the last couple of days - proportions, your lifestyle analysis and your colour scheme - choose a complete outfit for each day and each activity in a typical week of your life. Plan every detail from the main items to jewellery. Don't go by what's currently in your closet, just imagine you had free access to every shop and brand.
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TUESDAY - Day 9
Your wardrobe should be 100% in tune with how you create your outfits: Most of us will follow a couple of different blueprints when getting dressed each morning, subconsciously or not, and e.g. always pair a very bright and colourful top with more casual, muted jeans to balance it out. Becoming aware of your own preferred outfit-building techniques will help you fine-tune your wardrobe's structure and spot both gaps and surplusses. Today, spend a bit of time analyzing your own typical thought process. Read this post for a quick guide on the four most common outfit-building methods, and see if you can recognize yourself in one or several of them.
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WEDNESDAY - Day 10
Today's task is super important: Use everything you have learnt about your own style during the past ten days to create a tentative ideal capsule wardrobe structure. I say tentative and ideal because for now you shouldn't worry about whether you'll have to buy a whole new set of clothes - too much practical thinking tends to ruin creativity. If you could have any wardrobe, what would it look like? Be creative, but remember to tailor it to your body shape, lifestyle, preferred outfit-building methods and colour scheme. Read this post for an in-depth step-by-step guide on creating capsule wardrobes and click here or here for examples.
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THURSDAY - Day 11
Today you are going to turn yesterday's ideal capsule wardrobe into an actionable plan that you can use to improve your current wardrobe. First, go through your closet and find items that fit all or most of the criteria of pieces in your ideal capsule wardrobe. Even if an item is not a perfect match, include it for now and make a note for it to be replaced later. Then, organize all missing items by priority and the role they would be playing in your wardrobe. Which missing items are key pieces, which are basics and which are nice to have but not essential?
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FRIDAY - Day 12
Today's task is an easy one, to give your curating spirit a little rest before the final spurt starts tomorrow. Consider your budget and then write a shopping list that specifies exactly which criteria (fit, material, color) your items need to fulfill. Start from the top of your missing items priority list, i.e. save accent colours for later and focus on key pieces and basics first.
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SATURDAY - Day 13
Ok, so unless you are superhuman this task might take you a little longer than 30 minutes, but at least it's fun: shopping for the most important pieces on your list. Try to browse the online shops of the places you intend to visit first, just so you'll save some time searching the rails. Also: set yourself some basic decision making guidelines, such as "Never compromise on fit and feel". Read 5 Questions to ask yourself before buying an item for suggestions.
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SUNDAY - Day 14
Ah... the final day. Today is all about getting to know your new and improved wardrobe inside-out. Try on a ton of different combinations, make notes, take pictures for reference, write down your favourite outfits, experiment with accessories, etc. Your goal for today is basically to become your own best stylist :)