A personal shopper and your capsule wardrobe

We could all do with a wardrobe update or overhaul from time to time and that’s just what I had recently when I won a free 2hr session with a personal stylist. I hardly ever win anything so I was extremely thrilled.

Coast Tiger Short Dress

The question is what did I want my personal stylist to do for me? We could go shopping for that must needed wedding outfit I need for my friend’s spring wedding or she could go through my wardrobe and give me outfit ideas and suggestions on a capsule wardrobe. I liked the idea of help with a capsule wardrobe so I opted for this as the first step in identifying your capsule wardrobe is identifying what clothes you already have that works for you.

Kaliko Two In One Jumper Dress

I had to make sure I cleaned my bedroom, applied my freshest and most stylist linen to the bed. Plus I really was not looking forward to undressing in front of a stranger while she defined my shape and helped me try on outfits but really you get over that very quickly. Beth did not grab and grope me like Trinni and Susannah nor was it an exercise in how to look good naked so I relaxed quite quickly.


Hobbs Clerkenwell Mac

I was quite embarrassed to open my wardrobe though as it was quite a mess and crammed with clothes since I had not bothered to pack away my spring/summer clothing. Anyway Beth went through my wardrobe with me and came up with a pile for charity, a pile for storage and finally my winter capsule wardrobe. After she thinned out my wardrobe, I thought to myself, “do you really expect me to wear these few pieces for the rest of the winter. It was not exactly 24 pieces as suggested by Gok Wan but I had about 30 pieces in my winter capsule wardrobe and this included about four pairs of jeans, skirts, ladies knitwear etc.

Jersey Cardigan

Beth identified gaps in my wardrobe which included long sleeved knitwear tops, a crisp white shirt as my current white shirt was not looking so crisp, a strapless bra and a suggestion for a high waisted bootleg jeans in dark denim as well as more camisoles.

East Linen Blend Long Line Cardigan

I am still operating on these few pieces and mixing and matching, interchanging to get new looks and it is working. Which just proves that you really do not need too much clothes just a well coordinated wardrobe of quality pieces and an idea of how to interchange them.

Plus we found two tops that I bought and had never worn lurking in the bottom of the wardrobe in a shopping bag as well as a partly sequined black dress that is just ideal for christmas party wear.