Building a Basic, Meaningful Wardrobe

By having a wardrobe you 100% love, you feel more free with what you’re wearing and buying.

You don’t need a lot to be chic.

In the fashion world, we see a lot of phrases like “maximalist” or “minimalist” being thrown around these days. As someone who studied fashion business at the top fashion school in the world, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: you don’t need to own a lot of clothes in order to be considered fashionable. In fact, one of the very first things I learned in Intro to Fashion Industry was the difference between fashionable and stylish. Stylish often referred to those who wore trendy attire, while fashionable is something that is more rooted in personal aesthetic.

A lot of what goes into fashion marketing is usurping this deep fear within people, one where an advertisement or carefully constructed Instagram post makes them feel like they are not enough as they are. They want you to keep feeling like you don’t have enough or look good enough, so the psychological impact of these advertisements are to make you feel like you need to purchase new clothes or accessories.

My top recommendation is to do a bit of soul-searching before you go out and invest in new clothes. If you don’t know what you really want to dress in, how do you expect the clothes you buy now to fit your needs in, say three months? Since the focus of this post is basics, once you figure out a basic color palette or style you’re shooting for, you can they only buy within that palette.

I recommend thrift stores for basics, but even if you’re looking for a specific style, it’s bound to show up at the thrift store eventually. I really wanted a pair of pastel trousers, and so I waited and kept looking through the local thrift stores. Eventually, I found very expensive, but brand new, designer trousers in pastel pink for $40. It was completely worth waiting, because the trousers I got were high quality and were what I wanted.

Another key tip I have is to completely ignore trends, and wait five months before deciding on it. You might think you want that garment now, but five months later you’ll probably end up throwing it out. That’s not sustainable and is quite wasteful, so it’s good to ponder your purchases. If you remember and yearn for it five months later, that’s a good sign.

That’s all for today! Hope this has been helpful for everyone out there :)