Thursday, June 27, 2013

Weekend Wrap-up: Friday Readings

I'm in New York, joining the other desperate folks trying to navigate the NYC rental market (more on that later!), but here's some reading for your friday fun day.

Garance Dore talks about her five commandments of fashion.   I particularly like numbers 4 and 5.  She talks about realizing that certain clothes don't work for you and how that's ok.  Something I wish someone had told my 15 year old homeschooled self who insisted on buying low-rise, wide-leg jeans.

A post on creating a 40 hanger closet.  I'm not sure that would really work for me.  For one thing, the first thing I thought when I read it was "Does it count as cheating if you just fold your clothes?".  The sentence about having a closet full of clothes you didn't really like hit close to home.  That was whole impetus for this project in the first place.

Also, if you want to listen to me ramble about where I'm at with my own closet editing efforts . . . this week I wrote about realizing that I had gotten a bit side tracked (also you'll learn a new word in tagalog) and needed to re-visit my big picture questions.

Happy Friday everyone!

Checking the Roadmap: Part 2


Back in February, I started out with five big picture questions.  Now, that I'm almost five months into my project, I wanted to revisit them and to see if I am on track.  First off . . .

What do I actually own?

I've made some good progress on this one.  So far, I've logged data on 173 items.  53 of which I've set aside to be donated and I'm getting a pretty good idea of what's in my closet.**

What do I actually wear and what do I love wearing?
(er, what can I get rid of?)

Again, I'm definitely making progress on this one.  Though I am still working my way through my wardrobe to figure out how many of those 173 items I actually wear.

I learned that, in the past, I bought a lot of things that I didn't love.  Consequently those items just sat in my closet.  I also had been holding on to a lot of items that were past their prime.  (When you've convinced yourself that that white blouse was originally beige, you know it's time for it to go. TMI, I know).  But looking at my clothes in terms of how much I love actually wearing them (versus how much I love hoarding them) has helped me to be a lot more objective.    

What do I need to make my wardrobe more functional?

Have you met me? My name is K__ and I apparently own all pants and no shirts.  It's the perfect wardrobe for a part-time nudist, but less functional for a working semi professional.  Joking aside, I've really only answered part of this question.  I think this is where I could really benefit from moving beyond my piecemeal analysis and take a more holistic view of my closet.  For example, does the number of dresses I own negate my need for more tops? And, other scintillating questions like that.

Also, I should probably define what "functional" means for me . . . 

What is my personal style?

AND

Once I have all the basics, 
what should I buy to make my wardrobe more "me"?

I'm lumping these two together because in order to answer the second part, I really need to figure out the personal style issue first.  Also, I'm still not entirely sure that it's something I can determine using my current metrics.  (Or it might just tell me I have a complete lack of style).  One thought I had was to figure out who my fashion icons are (Audrey Hepburn, for starters, obvi) and then determine out how well my current wardrobe matches up with their style.  But, I'm not convinced that's the best way and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Though if I succeed and you see an Filipino Audrey walking around DC, please give her a high five . . . 

Le sigh. I think all of this is going to take some deep soul searching so please excuse me while I go read  Teen Vogue . . .  

**In full disclosure, I haven't finished entering in all the items I decided to consign yet so this number will be a big higher. 

Monday, June 24, 2013

Checking the Roadmap

What do you do when you're lost?  Let me rephrase, what do you do when you're lost and Siri can't help you?

  • If you're Mr. C . . . you walk around until you get a signal and then put Siri to work. 
  • If you're my brother . . . you shrug your shoulders and stop for a pint at the nearest bar (after all, you were probably on your way to one when you got lost)
  • And, if you're me, you put on your best damsel-in-distress face, maybe check to make sure you're showing enough skin, and then go and find the nearest friendly policeman/sales clerk/friendly stranger.

Side bar:  In tagalog, we call this your kawawa face.  You can go check out the english translation, which doesn't really do it justice, but it really looks like this: 

When that inevitably fails, I go pure old school and go find a map.
 . . . Then I go and find Mr. C because I'm terrible at reading maps.

* * *

Back in February, when I first started this project, I laid out a basic roadmap with the big picture questions I wanted to answer and the criteria I would use in building my ideal closet.  Given my current lack of focus, it seems like a good time to revisit those big picture questions and see if I'm making any progress in answering them.   Check back later for my self-assessment!

**It was either that or make kawawa faces at strangers on the internet . . . which is clearly not a good idea. 





Escaping Tunnel Vision

Last week was a week of not writing thinking and reassessing.  Do you ever have those weeks, where you just think a lot? I seem to have a lot of them which might explain why I was such a lonely introverted child

I thought about a lot of things, mostly some big plans we have for the next few months, but I also spent some time reassessing this project and what I'm actually trying to accomplish.  And, of course there was some wine to go along with all this thinking.  Somewhere in between a glass of cab and a bottle of pinot noir (I kid, I kid . . . two bottles of pinot noir),  I came to the realization that I might have gotten a little sidetracked.

Yes, it's been helpful to look at how many tops I own to figure out which ones I like and which ones I can get rid of.  And, it would be easy to keep on with this path, looking at pants and skirts next, then dresses and so on, and so on.  But, doing that only gives me a piecemeal analysis, only letting me look at one part of my closet at a time, instead of taking a more holistic approach.  (Not to mention that it's a little bit of a snooze fest)

Sooooo, with that said, I'm going to dedicate the next few weeks to getting back on track, looking at the bigger picture, and probably enjoying a few glasses of wine.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Weekend Wrap-Up -- The Derecho that Wasn't

So . . . about that big storm that was supposed to hit DC this week . . . I don't pretend to be the weather gods (at least not publicly) but somehow instead of epic thunderstorms, we got 80 degrees and almost no humidity.  I don't know what happened, but it's fabulous.  I'm hoping this weather lasts all weekend, since Mr. C and I have some fun plans, including attending at wedding in St. Michaels.  I've never been there and am pretty excited to check it out.  And, possibly enjoy many a few classic cocktails while overlooking the Chesapeake.

Not that I need an excuse, but I will be celebrating the fact that I somehow managed 4 posts this week, which is a first for me.  (I'm not entirely sure where that productivity came from, but please don't expect it in the future).  In case you missed them . . .

This week I:
Happy weekend!!!!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Summer (Top) Lovin'

. . . had me a blast.  Summer loving, happened so fast . . .Anyone else feeling in the mood for some Grease? No?

Looking at my clothes by color yesterday was surprisingly helpful.  Looking at my closet, I've always assumed that most of my work bottoms fell into the black/gray/beige spectrum.  So, when I'd look for tops, I tried to find items that worked with those colors.  While it maybe true that my wardrobe, as a whole, my summer skirts and pants have a lot more color than I originally thought.  Given that I only have 11 summer bottoms, I'm a little embarrassed that it took making a color wheel for me to figure this out.  

This probably also explains why I sometimes have trouble putting my clothes together into outfits . . . it's a lot easier when you try to buy things that actually go together.  Excuse me while I go teach myself some basic logic . . . 

Moving on . . . I started looking around to see if I could find some tops that were a better fit for my summer wardrobe.  And, having those colors (blues, greens, pinks) in the back of my mind made narrowing down my options much easier.  Also, I don't know if the manufacturing gods heard my rant against polyester, but suddenly I'm seeing a few more cotton options than I was before.  Here are a few of the items I'm considering:

Summer Tops

Summer Tops by kpcullen 

See! A lot more color.  Though it seems that with the exception of that green peplum, I'm gravitating toward one shape: boxy.  At least those items are easy to belt, right? Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll end up buying all some of these items but at least I have some more options and a better idea of what I'm looking for.  Though, by the time I decide on something and actually buy it . . . it will probably be fall.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Color Wheel

After yesterday's post, I figured I should take a page out of my own play book and try looking at this situation from a different perspective.  Maybe getting a better idea of what types of tops I'm looking for will help me in focus my efforts a little more.


Let's start with what I know . . .
I know I'm looking for versatile, easy pieces that are easy to dress-up or down.  From my tops breakdown, I know that the one summer top  I like is a grey, sleeveless blouse that I can throw a blazer or cardigan over wear into the Fall or even late Spring.

           Ok . . . that's kind of helpful, but I've sort of already been applying this without much luck.  But maybe I've been looking at this the wrong way.  I've been focusing on versatility in terms of style and season, but I haven't really thought about what items will fit with my current wardrobe. I decided to try and look at my work wardrobe in terms of color and see if I could learn anything.


Ok, so I own a lot of black.  Perhaps I should consider a career as a funeral director (or start hanging out with Chazz Reinhold).

Based on this data alone, my best bet would be to only buy items that go with black.  But, things change a little when I narrow my focus.  I decided to only look at the colors of my pants and skirts (since these are the items I need to match my tops too) and also filter out anything that I can't wear in the spring or summer--since that's the season that's the biggest priority for me right now:
There's a lot more room for color here.  There's still a good amount of black but those tend to parts of suits, which I (thankfully) don't have to wear every day.  While I do break up my suits, I would say that I tend to steer away from black in the summer (DC summer survival 101), unless it's an unusually cool day.   So, maybe my best bet would be to focus on items that can go with the other colors in my closet.

Not sure if this will help break my shoppers block, but it's at least a starting point to help me refine my shopping efforts a little more!





Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Shoppers Block

You know that feeling when you're staring at a blank page and you can't think of anything to write? This always seems to happen when you're under a deadline . . . that's how I've felt about shopping lately.  I know that I need work tops, especially summer work tops, but every shopping attempt has been a complete bust.  I can't seem to get excited about anything I'm seeing in the stores or on-line and I feel like I shouldn't be buying other items until I figure out this whole top situation.

This has been compounded by the fact that we are starting to enter summer time in DC.  If you're not familiar with DC weather, summer here is basically like living on top of a swamp.  I love myself some maxi dresses and summer casual wear, but between June and August (let's not lie to ourselves, September), I hate dressing for work.  Other thing I hate in the summer time? Riding public transportation.  Being on the petite side means you're at most people's armpit level . . . suddenly you know waaay too much about other people's personal hygiene.  I'm glaring at you mister business man who decided he didn't need deodorant today. 


But back to shopping . . . honestly it's a pretty strange sensation.  I've never had any problem spending other people's my own money before, especially when it comes to clothes.  But, there's something about focusing on what you need that takes some of the sexiness out of shopping.  (Isn't the whole point, other than not going naked, to blow off steam after the long workday?!?!?!).  

The other thing I've run into is that a lot of the tops I'm seeing right now are made of synthetic fabrics  (which doesn't seem to make them cheaper, btw).  I don't have anything against synthetic fabrics, per se, but the only thing that makes summer in DC even less tolerable is being trapped in a polyester tent of your own sweat.  I've learned that the best approach (other than avoiding the outdoors) is to wear natural, breathable fabrics.  

I'm trying to stick with my goals and buy things that I would enjoy wearing (and would probably mean I'd wear them more often) and that are versatile.  But, once you take out things that are 100 percent polyester, it has been increasingly difficult to find things that I really love (at a price that I'm willing to pay).  

Sooo, any suggestions for getting over shoppers block?

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Consigning

Let's talk about consigning . . . Current only accepts items that are in season, which meant that I had to put my winter/fall items aside for a few months.  Also, they ask you to go through your items and weed out anything that is damaged or stained (which makes complete sense).  Once I'd done that, I was left with 47 pieces that I thought were consignable.  I thought it would be useful to take a closer look and see if I could learn anything by taking a closer look at those items.  First, I wanted to sort them by purpose:

As you can see, work items and casual items were the biggest categories.  It's telling that only 7 were dual-purpose items (those I could wear to both work and on the weekend).  I think I'm learning that those are the pieces that I tend to like more (at least when it comes to tops).  

When I broke it down a little further and looked at my list by item type, this is what it looked like:

It shouldn't be at all surprising that Work Blouses was a big category.  Considering how much I discovered I don't love my work tops (understatement of the year), I'm happy to report that I got rid of 11 tops that were either work or work/weekend.  Not surprisingly, three of them were collared button ups ;)   The other big category was Casual Dresses.  That could be a whole post in and of itself, but let's just say my inner California Girl is to blame for the number of summer dresses I own.  

One of the more painful parts of this was going through and listing each items price (one of the things Current asked for).  Don't worry, I'm not going to share those numbers with you.  That's my deep, dark secret.  Doing this really drove home how many mistaken/impulse purchases I've made.  Like the time I thought I could pull off cropped cargo pants and NOT look like a soccer mom.  Or that whole "vest" category up there.  Why I thought vests were a good work look for me, I still don't understand.  (not to mention I bought a vest and matching cropped pants).  It's underscored even more, the need to really think through my purchases and carefully consider what I need before I buy it. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Hello World!

Hey world!  No, I haven't disappeared under a pile of boxes and clothes, though that almost happen.  Somehow I thought that moving + working + unpacking + social life (all while Mr C was on work trips) = lots of time to write blog posts (obvi!) . . . Yeah, not so much. Throw in an epic battle with a daddy long legs in our new apartment and any hope of typing of blog posts went out the window.

But . . . the mound of boxes has slowly disappeared, the scary daddy long legs was vanquished and I can finally breathe again.  Not much has happened in terms of analyzing my closet (although it took a lot to not indulge in some retail therapy after said daddy long legs battle).  BUT, my life hasn't been a complete black hole lately . . . for one thing, consigning happened!!!!

I decided to go through Current Boutique in DC.  First Partly, because it is only a few minutes from our old apartment (and our new one actually).  And, let's not kid ourselves my upper body strength is non-existent not sufficient to carry all my stuff more than a couple of blocks.  More importantly, I really like that they donate clothes that don't sell within 90 days to charity.  They also donate any items you bring in that they decide not  to accept.  So, either way your clothes are going to a good cause. 

To be honest, I was a little nervous about consigning.  What if my clothes weren't cool enough? What if they laughed at the fact that I had three of the same shirt, just in different colors?  But, once I got over myself this, it was surprisingly easy.

All you had to do was fill out their form with information on each item and drop your items off.  That's it.  No judgement (at least not to your face).  And you don't even have to stay while they go through your clothes.  Then, in 90 days you can check in to see what sold and they'll send you a check.  It was a little time consuming to fill out the form--mostly because I had 47 items to drop off--but thankfully all of the information they asked for was data I was already collecting for this project.  My one complaint was that their form can't be filled out electronically.  Given that my handwriting has been described as "worse than a doctors" or a "childish scrawl", this wasn't going to work for me.  Soooooo, I just created my own form, using their fields (nerd alert!) . . . I'm pretty sure they laughed at me a little when I brought that in, but I probably deserved it.

Next post will talk about what those 47 items I consigned looked like.  I'd say to check back later in the week, but with my track record of late, I don't want to make any promises . . .