Part 1 of this series is here, if you didn’t read it yet. Go ahead. We’ll wait.

Part 2 is the more fun part, to be sure. It’s the Planning & Purchasing phase.

So I’m going to assume you’ve completed Part 1, and your wardrobe now contains only things you love to wear, and the accompanying items to make complete outfits with the things you love to wear. Remember…and this is important…you want a wardrobe full of things you love to wear. Having a closet full of clothes you love, but never want to wear, is not the goal.

Now you get to make The List. And you’re going to save it in your phone or memo pad or whatever you carry around with you, so wherever you might be, if you see something you like, you can check to see if it’s on The List. If it’s not on The List, whooaaa nelly. If it’s not on the list and you’re feeling like you want to take it home with you…maybe try and just take a beat. Maybe even sleep on it. Look through your wardrobe and really consider what purpose that thing will serve. Does it go with anything? You might come to realize that it doesn’t really help your wardrobe at all. Or at least, not enough to warrant the money/closet space/mental energy of having more clothing to deal with.

Okay, back to making the list. There’s several parts to this.

PART 1

Go into your closet. Your wonderfully roomy closet that houses only the things you love to wear…and their friends. Go item by item and ask yourself: do I have all the pieces I need to make this into a complete outfit that I will love to wear. Hopefully each item you have kept from phase one of creating your wardrobe goes into multiple outfits, so you will ask yourself that same question for each outfit. I try to only buy new things that will go with at least three different outfits, no One Hit Wonders…but sometimes that just doesn’t work out. But it’s still always the goal. 

For example – you have a lightweight knit sweater with a deep v-neck that looks great with your black skinny jeans and black loafers…but the sweater is not comfortable to wear because of the deep-v. So you need a cami or a pretty bralette. That goes on The List. Bonus points if once you’ve identified a specific item you need (cami), you realize it will also go with other items and outfits as well. Bam.

By the time you get to the end of the clothing rack you’ll have yourself a nice list of things your wardrobe actually needs to be complete – to allow you to wear everything you already own. There’s nothing more annoying than dying to wear a particular item but you can’t until you have a ___ to go with it!

Part 2

Sometimes, particularly at the start of a new season, or job, or school year, whatever, you’ll notice there’s some type of clothing that would really be useful right now, but that you don’t have…or you don’t have enough of. Or you’ll remember that last year you’d wished you’d had ____, you’d have been so much happier/more comfortable/efficient/whatever, with that kind of item in your wardrobe.

This time of year, for me, when the weather is a little iffy – is it cool? is it warm? – and I think a tee-shirt, even a long-sleeved one, won’t be warm enough…but one of my bulkier sweaters is too much…I start craving some lightweight knit sweaters. They offer a little more warmth than a woven blouse, but they’re light enough that you’ll still be okay if the sun comes out and the afternoon turns warm. So I will just put “lightweight knits in natural fabrics” on my list. It’s a more general item than the things on the list from Part 1, because there you need a specific thing to go with a specific other thing. This is much more wide open. I’m not looking for a specific color (though I do know what my general palette tends to be and I’ll keep that in mind) or style.

Or maybe there’s just a type of clothing you don’t have and would like to try. Put one on your list and test it out. There might be a reason you don’t own it already. For me, this item is a skirt. Remember I had the black floral pleated skirt that I returned because it was too long and because I didn’t have the right shape of top for me to wear with a skirt. I think I need something cropped length so it won’t look (okay, you ready for this word?) unbalancedly long when worn untucked, but will also be full/boxy enough to skim over my upper body shape.

PART 3

Upgrades. These are things you bought cuz it was the closest thing you could find/afford/fit into to the thing you needed. I always have upgrades on my list, season after season, year after year. And sometimes you think you’ve found it and you buy it…only to discover after wearing it a handful of times that it wasn’t as perfect as you’d hoped…so back that item goes on the list.

PART 4

The Wild Card. I always allow myself one or two “wild cards” each season. Something that’s not on The List, it may be outside my normal style or color palette, but… LISTS BE DAMNED – I LOVE IT and HAVE TO HAVE IT.  But…try to keep this down to just a couple items. Shopping without a plan is what gets a closet to the point where you look in it every day and moan BUT I’VE GOT NOTHING TO WEAR!!! 

So, I have my lists for this spring/summer…although I’m holding back a bit due to the situation. There are clothing items I would like for working at the office this time of year, that I just won’t need if I continue to work from home all summer. So it’s sort of a weird list. Just like every other thing in 2020.

THINGS I NEED to complete outfits i already have

  • Something in the golden yellow/mustard family to tie over the blue batik Old Navy dress
  • White or barely blush lightweight hip-length knit cardigan to go over light-colored summer dresses if it’s cool
  • Khaki (or other neutral color, not black) linen pants (an endless search), if not linen, then some other lightweight, breathable, drapey fabric, wide-ish legged pant for the heat of summer. This won’t complete a specific outfit, but once it gets too hot for jeans, I’m gonna need something
  • Summer black flats for both dresses and skinny or cropped jeans
  • Better white sneakers to wear with dresses – something  that doesn’t come up so high in the front

THINGS I THINK WOULD BE A GOOD ADDITION TO MY WARDROBE

  • Lightweight knit pullover top – 2?
  • Short-sleeve woven top – 2?
  • Linen dress, baggy style (ditto)
  • Elastic waist, full or pleated skirt
  • Cropped, boxy tops to go over skirt – if they’re also either a lightweight knit pullover or a short-sleeve woven top, I win!
  • Some sort of neutral, open, comfortable shoe/sandal for not at work (I’ve been considering trying Birkenstocks)
  • A chestnut/mahogany, maybe woven leather, type of flat/slide/mule for summer

UPGRADES

  • Perfect white tee
  • Thinner, lighter-colored, more lightweight,  denim jacket
  • New actual athletic sneakers to replace my 5-year-old Adidas (this is almost a need more than an upgrade. When they literally fall apart, I will put them on the other list)

WILD CARDs

Usually a wild card would be more of an impulse item – you saw something while just out there minding your own business and BAM you were deep deep in love. But I have a wild card LIST. Because I’m an advanced lister.

  • Red flats: I have been DYING for a pair of red (red red, not brick, red) d’orsay flats. They’re not on any legit list. I don’t NEED them. I just think they’re SO striking! But…really…I only have 2-3 summer items that red shoes would even go with – and I already have other shoes that go with those items. So. That could be a wild card item if I ever found The Perfect Pair. But I’m really trying to just…pass.
  • Torrid showed a lacy tiered cream maxi dress in their spring lookbook, but it has yet to appear on their website – but I am in love with this dress. I know, I know, I have the white maxi dress, yeah yeah yeah…it’s fine. I guess. But this cream dress. Be still my heart. And where would I be wearing such a dress? To a coronavirus epidemic, that’s where!

This may seem like a lot of things, but I know from experience I will never find all these things in one season. Some of the “good additions” and “upgrades” have been on The List for years.

In terms of prioritizing where you spend your money, the “needs” should come first…but sometimes you find other things on your list first. You know how you need to budget, so…

And that’s it! Once you’ve done it a couple times (and ideally, I do this at the start of each new “temperature season”) it will be a breeze because you’ll be very aware of everything in your closet, and where the “holes” are. But really use The List. It will help you!

The End