KLM Addition for Effortless and Exciting Style

In an ongoing effort to un-boring-ify wardrobes everywhere, I've created an easy approach that you can use to build an exciting outfit. Did I mention it's easy??

KLM Easy style addition by inaglassforest featuring a wide-leg trousers

*Apply the following steps to separate items.

Step 1. Choose a Color. I highly recommend you choose a flattering color and choose to wear in near your face. Why? A good color can make your face look even better than it already is. Awesome, right? At their very best, neutrals don't detract from your lovely face, but neutrals aren't able to enhance that lovely face. A flattering color near your face could mean a top, or the top of a dress or jumpsuit, or it could mean your outerwear, or a hat, or a statement necklace. 

Step 2. Choose a Print. Ya'll probably think I'm print obsessed. Well, I am. Prints are an easy way to add a lot of interest, and they can be found in every color, every type of garment/accessory, and at every price tier. They're basically amazing. Go big with a print dress, or isolate it to a small clutch or even the trim on a shoe or jacket. If your outfits seem blah, try adding a print somewhere. Ideally choose one that flatters your personal lines and energy, and if you're not sure what suits you, I can help as a stylist.  

Step 3. Choose a Texture or Design Interest. A texture means a noteworthy texture- something that stands out. A few ideas: lace, patent leather, organza, velvet, jacquard, brocade, tweed, angora, satin, mohair, suede, quilted leather, popcorn knits, corduroy, taffeta, netting.  A design interest might be a: wrap, knot, twist, tear, sheer panel, drape, bow, fringe, asymmetrical hem, one shoulder, cold shoulder, tassel, rosette.   

A Breakdown using KLM Style Addition
Outfit #1: purple coat (color) + stained glass shoes (print) + blouse with ribbon ties (design interest) and ripped jeans (design interest)

Outfit #2: green silk blouse (color and texture) + b/w midi skirt (print and design interest) + snake embossed black slip ons (texture)

Outfit #3: blue print jacquard top (color, print, texture, and design interest) + black wrap skirt (design interest) + blue booties (color)

We see a blouse that contains all three steps. The blouse is a wonderful blue, has a print, and has both a texture in the form of jacquard and design interest at the neckline in the form of a knot that creates draping. It's a lot, right? But the effect is far from overwhelming because it's all smoothly in one garment. You could wear a plain black pencil skirt and plain black leather pumps to create the rest of your outfit, but that would get a *yawn* from me. I chose to claim the blouse as a print (step 2) and paired it with a black skirt with a wrap and asymmetrical hem (design interest step 3) and blue booties (color step 1).

If you choose to take the blouse as a color, you could try to find another print that would work with it. I'm having trouble thinking of one that would off the top of my head. As an alternative, you could break the only rule (apply the three steps to separate items) choose to claim the blouse as both your print (step 2) and your color (step 1) and try to add A LOT of design interest (step 3) in your choices of bottoms, shoes, and accessories.

Outfit #4: silk pink blouse (color, design interest, and texture) + pant + leopard purse (print + color + texture) + pump with contrast heel (design interest)

This example flirts with the rule. It would be better if the pant had a little something going for it, but I wanted a tame example to show that you can follow the KLM equation and still put together a classic office look. The KLM equation works for whatever realm of your life you're dressing for. If your work uniform doesn't allow color or print, choose it for your coat and purse, or find (or diy) fun linings to your clothes so that you'll know they're there.

Outfit #5: flamingo dress (print + color) + red purse (color) + red bow sandals (design interest + color)

You can see that many times an item might have 2 or even all 3 steps going for it. When you're building an outfit, you'll have to choose which one of the steps that item will stand for. Don't forget to step back and make sure it's still all working together cohesively :) 

If you decide to try it out, I would LOVE to see what you come up with using my style addition! Please share it in the comments.

Annual Wardrobe Budget and Year-long Shopping Plan with Free PDF Planner

When you've determined your wardrobe's financial budget, space budget, and other considerations for the year, you can divide it up into your wardrobe needs. You could seek them all out at once and be over and done with it if you hate shopping and have the money to spend all in one go, but I'm going to lay it out from the assumption that you like shopping, or have to budget in an evenly distributed way. This approach will work with 10 Item Capsule wardrobes, so that if you don't have a wardrobe you love right now, by this time next year you could.

Financial planner Pete Dunn suggests spending just 5% of your take home pay on your wardrobe. If monthly your take home pay is $3000, that designates $150 per month toward clothing for you.

If your 5% is significantly less, that's ok. You can still have a fabulous wardrobe- it just might take a little bit longer (instead of buying one item each month, maybe you're shopping every other month, or maybe even just one really nice new item a year- it depends on your budget). It's important to buy the highest quality that you can afford, so that you can maximize your pay-per-wear ratio. If something is a good buy now, but falls apart in just a few washings, it will cost you more in the long run. The cruelty of it is that it takes more money to save more money, and not everyone can afford the up-front cost of high quality, long term money saving items. When this is the case, I recommend hand-me-downs and other low/no cost items that serve the function so that you can save more for replacements that serve the function, enhance your beauty, and are made to last. You can find some amazing and cheap items secondhand if you're able to put the time into regularly searching for them.

Once you have your wardrobe's financial budget planned, I task you with diligently sticking to it. You can carry over the budget if you don't spend as much as allotted in a month (i.e. if you have money left over), but never dip into the budgets for months that are yet to come. However great the item is, it's almost certain you'll find something just as good when you have the money for it. You might even find the same item on a better sale by then, so hang in there and be proud of yourself for sticking to your plan. You're reinforcing your willpower to follow through in all areas of your life. 

Because we're shopping to maximize cost-per-wear and hoping to find garments that will last us many years, we're best off shopping sales for high quality items during off-season sale times. Looking for a coat? Try the end of spring when things are warming up. Need sandals? The end of summer is the best time. You may not have the joy of wearing it often and right away, but because you're shopping with a long-term game plan, and because you're shopping to enhance your authentic beauty rather than trends, you're making a very smart investment that will bring you plenty of joy in the future. 

The items listed are for bigger items. You might want to designate a small portion of your monthly budget towards undergarments such as socks, underwear, bras, slips, shapewear, and the like.

Wardrobe Wheel of the Year
January         1. onesie (dress or jumpsuit)
February       2. top
March            3. bottom
April              4. top (sweaters might be on sale)
May               5. onesie
June             *coat, purse, pair of shoes, or piece of jewelry
July               6. top    
August          7. bottom
September    8. top
October        9. onesie
November   10. top
December    *coat, purse, pair of shoes, or piece of jewelry

The numbers (1-10) are to show what is counting toward a 10-item capsule wardrobe. The asterisks are suggested wildcard months for other major items. 

If you find the perfect pair of pants in January, feel free to swap months and try to find a onesie in March instead. 

Please enjoy this free one page PDF planner I made for you to fill in the blanks and create a year long budget and plan for your own fabulous wardrobe. <3

On the Value of Wardrobe Budgeting

While part of the appeal of learning your best style is self-expression, another largely appealing aspect is the potential of saving money. Let's run through a few questions to see if you could have put your clothing budget to better use.

• How much money have you spent on clothing you never wear?
• How much of your wardrobe do you regularly wear?
• Is it a problem of Fantasy vs Reality and you've bough items too far out of your comfort zone hoping to push yourself into style growth? Did you buy something on a whim because it seemed really fun, but it turns out it would look much better on someone else (maybe you even had someone in mind in the back of your head)?
• Did you buy something because it was one sale and seemed like a good deal, but isn't actually something you want to wear for any number of reasons?
• Did you buy something because the cut was amazing on you, but the color wasn't, and so you don't wear it as often as you otherwise would? Or vice versa?

You get the idea. There are probably a few culprits in your closet. Even knowing my best style, colors, and so on, I make an unwise clothing purchase here and there. It can be really difficult to pass up $5 whimsical pants that don't really go with anything else in your wardrobe (or whatever your version of this is). I find that people tend to commit the same fashion budget crime again and again. You may know that you aren't going to wear those little black dresses more than once a year, but you still collect them anyway.

One of the worst culprits for poor budgeting is shoes. How many pair do you have in your closet? How many do you wear and how often? Do you regularly choose your one or two pair of flats over a dozen heels options? A survey found that women generally only wear 1/4 of the shoes that they own, with 64% saying that a reason was the shoes aren't comfortable enough and 55% saying that the shoes were difficult to match with an outfit. 86% admitted to owning at least one pair of shoes that they've never worn. I'm not entirely opposed to buying a pair of shoes that you never wear, because some of them are more akin to art than footwear, but in that instance, please display them somewhere you can regularly enjoy their beauty.

It's really good to know what you are and aren't wearing and why. One of the ways to evaluate how well a purchase was made, is to calculate the cost per wear of the item. If you spend $600 on a coat, but wear it 200 days a year for 5 years ($600 / 1000 days), you're looking at 60 cents per wear. On the other hand, if you buy a $60 coat and only wear it twice, you're looking at $30 per wear. I had a coat given to me for free that was not particularly flattering, but served a very specific function and was worn many times and very much worth the space it took up.

Cost Per Wear:
Cost of the item divided by the number of times you've worn it

Space in your home is another cost that isn't often considered. There is a square foot value for your dwelling whether you rent a single room in a shared house or own your own mansion. The more stuff you have, the more space you pay for to simply house your stuff. If you have possessions that you aren't using, you're essentially paying a storage fee for them, because you could otherwise live in a small space. There is a limit to this of course, because even if you own nothing, you require more than 25 square feet to live in., but we're talking about space beyond need. What if you already own your dwelling, you ask? Ah, my friend, but you don't own the land. Property tax is rent you pay to the government for the pleasure of living on their land. The more things you have, the more space you need, and the amount of space you own is a factor in the calculation of taxes. Space is also involved in the calculation of the value of your home. If you have few items, but live in a big house, you could rent or sell the big home in favor of one that is a better fit for the amount of stuff that you have, and then you'll have more money for a really high quality pair of practical yet stylish boots (wonderfully low cost per wear).   

Other important consideration of the value of purchasing choices are environmental and labor concerns. There is a cost to the environment (materials grown/harvested to make the garment, dyes/machinery/pollution to create the garment, planes and trucks to transport the garment, etc) and a cost of labor (humans involved in the production and transportation of the garment- Were they treated and compensated well for their labor?) to consider when you aren't buying secondhand. There are many interesting considerations bundled up in this (class, social currency, green capitalism, etc), that deserve their own articles. For the extent of this article, I'll say that it's a good value to maximize savings (cost per wear) in terms of environmental and labor concerns as well. 

The point of this discussion is evaluative. I'm not interested in making rules or encouraging guilt- I'm interested in increasing beauty and making choices feel easy. If we know how much we want to spend (yearly budget, cost per wear, space for items, global considerations, time shopping, time creating outfits, time diggings through closets), then we are in a very good position for evaluating our purchasing tendencies and knowing how to budget. If we can figure out where there is room to improve our wardrobes, we can make our budgets and our lives that much better.

Stay tuned for a post on how best to budget for a wardrobe over a year.

How to get away with never wearing heels again Pt. 4 Maxi Dresses

Maxi Dresses and Flats by inaglassforest featuring silver metallic oxfords

Ah, the maxi- my favorite length! 

1. Top Left: Soft, boho, and ornate. Echoing this in a sandal makes a perfect outfit. A buttery soft boot or bootie could also work. Valkyrie, Maenad, Nymph, DP.

2. Bottom Left: funky stripes knit is striking and high energy. A shoe to match that is color, shiny, and pointy. A boot or booty could work here as well. I like the idea of a boot that is a bit witchy or Victorian. Jelly sandals could be fun. If you can pull off a dress this funky, you probably have a lot of room to play in your shoe choice- just avoid anything too classy.

3. Top Right: A kimono feeling with a 3/4 wide sleeve, V-neck, and vertical draping. I love the idea of a velvet loafer in red, or metallic sandals with a bit of sparkle. Nymph, Fae, Maenad.

4. Bottom Right: Green mermaid gown with an off-center shallow v and a bit of pleating detail. It really calls for only the most dressy of flats. Metallic, ornate, and pointed toe is a good choice. Maybe a metallic sandal with a bit of detailing. Maybe a pointed toe slip on or slingback if it's lush enough- soft and embroidered with metallic thread. Nymph, Seer.

5. Center: A solid heathered grey with a bit of asymmetry in the neck and hemline. Any shoe that is funky/unexpected or sporty will work. Ballet flats with an interesting print could work. A truly dressy flat would look odd, but otherwise the options are open. What types do you see possible here?

The post series on How To Get Away With Never Wearing Heels Again has concluded and you can find it all here:

Part One: Mini Dresses

Part Two: Mini Skirts

Part Three: Midi Dresses

Part Four: Maxi Dresses

Part Five: Pants

Part Six: Jeans

Summary and Type Specifics