No matter what your budget is, you can create a winter wardrobe you'll love
Is It Over Yet?
Have you ever been caught in a riptide? Getting drug under the water, rolled, and pummeled? In many ways that is what 2020 has felt like. It’s been a year of ups and downs, rights and lefts, and several 180 degree turns.
Am I the only one who isn’t sure which way is up anymore? Are we swimming toward the surface or the bottom? 2020 has been the year we are all anxious to say goodbye to. The only thing that feels certain is that nothing is certain!
For many of us that means we are watching our budgets more carefully, but we still want to look and feel our best. It helps us feel normal, human, and sane.
Choose Wisely
It’s coming, and some stores are even starting earlier than ever. BLACK FRIDAY, the day on which we hunt and gather for all the best deals, and honestly get a little carried away with all the bargains.
If you’re anything like I used to be, passing up Black Friday bargains feels wrong. I mean, they are supposed to be the best deals of the year! But here’s the thing, it’s only a bargain if you love it, will wear it, and it goes with your wardrobe and lifestyle. Otherwise, no matter how great the savings, it’s still a waste of your money if it will just hang in your closet unworn.
With the ticking clock, the sizes selling out, and the frenzy of getting the best deals, it’s easy to buy anything, everything as you get caught up in the excitement and, let’s be honest, competition, of it all. When it’s all over, will you have gotten what you really wanted and needed? Or spent your budget on things that won’t work?
SHOPPING WITH A PLAN
How do you take advantage of the best deals AND only get what you want, love, and need? You start by making a plan.
Before you shop, you need to know what you want your winter style and wardrobe to look like. What does it look like right now? This is the year you can take advantage of the best deals on exactly what will make your wardrobe sing because I created the shopping plan for you.
When you shop without a plan, you buy a lot of great (or not so great) things, but not necessarily what you need, which means you end up spending even more money to fill that hole in your wardrobe that is still empty.
Is your wardrobe cohesive? Does it look like you? Do your items mix and match easily? Or is it full of wild card items you can’t pair? Do you have your staples covered? Do you know what you have and what you need?
The Stunning Style Winter Classic Wardrobe Guide is a curated wardrobe plan. I’ve already done all the shopping and chose 40 pieces to create a cozy and chic mix and matchable wardrobe that has all the right basics to make your wardrobe functional, and just enough special items to make it fun.
The items are comfortable for the casual, stay-at-home winter many of us will have, but still chic and put together so you can look and feel great whether you’re having a quiet day or on back-to-back Zoom calls.
I’ve had some ask why I didn’t do a leisure-wear Guide this year, and that’s because it’s not just about this year. These aren’t one-hit wonders. The goal is to build a winter wardrobe you’ll love and wear for years to come.
Members save money because they have a plan, a goal to aim for, and they know how it will work with everything else and how to wear it. I have wanted leopard patterned pants FOREVER, but I know myself well enough to know I don’t feel comfortable in patterns on my lower half. But this black on black pattern? Perfect! I can check that off my list! These pants are featured in the current Winter Wardrobe Guide and are as comfy as joggers but chic enough for Audrey Hepburn!
SHOP YOUR CLOSET FIRST
Once you have a plan, and before you buy a single thing, shop your closet FIRST for items you already have that match your style and the winter wardrobe plan you’ve created. Pull out everything you really love and feel great in, that suits your coloring, and fits your lifestyle.
Take an inventory of what you have, starting with basics first, then see what special pieces you have. I guarantee there are lost gems hidden in the racks of your closet, dying to come out and be loved!
How do these pieces work together? Can you mix and match them? Can you make outfits you love? Put them at the front of the closet so you can get to them easily (don’t spiral and get caught up in a closet purge that will overwhelm you). That can come later.
The very first thing we do in the Stunning Style Society is SHOP OUR CLOSETS. Nothing saves you money like using what you already have! I create the Wardrobe Guides around classic, basic, foundational pieces that most of us have in our closets already, and then add a few special pieces to make your winter wardrobe feel fresh and new.
This isn’t about buying a whole new wardrobe. It’s about taking what you already have, pulling it together to make it wearable, and giving it new life. The 100 outfit templates give you new ideas of how to wear old favorites.
Nothing thrills me more than when a Stunner says she was able to shop her closet for most of or all of the items in the Guide! It doesn’t mean they have the exact item, but as we’ve learned during this Shop Your Closet Challenge, they look for things that work for their style, lifestyle, and preferences.
I featured this buffalo check sweater in the Guide, and I’m shopping my closet for this sweater instead. I shop my closet for most of the items.
FIND THE GAPS
Now that you know what you have, what’s still missing? Do you really want it? Would you wear it often? Would it really fill a hole in your wardrobe, or is it just something you like and would wear occasionally?
Would it expand your outfit options or provide some much-needed variety? Is there something that would tie together several other pieces and create several more outfits? Do you have your basics?
In the Classic Wardrobe Guide members get a shopping list to help them shop their closets and a wardrobe inventory to identify the gaps in their wardrobes. Gaps in my wardrobe are few, but I know what they are.
SHOP FROM A LIST
Now that you know what you are missing, make a list so you can shop with intention and come up with a workable wardrobe you’ll love, rather than a mishmash of items you can’t make outfits from.
How many years have you gone Black Friday shopping, grabbing the doorbusters and too-good-to-miss deals, whether they’re just “fine” or even make you go all heart-eyes, and still have nothing to wear because it’s not what you actually need, and none of it goes together?
Impulse shopping is at its highest on Black Friday, and without a list you can spend a lot of money and still end up with a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. Aimless shopping is the fastest way to have too many clothes, nothing to wear, and blow your budget. It’s so much easier to say no to the deals when you know it’s not on your list.
Instead of combining all the websites to find what they want, buying the deal of the hour, and wasting money on items that won’t work for them, members of the Society get the added benefit of a curated shopping portal with the 40 items I’ve selected for the Guide, plus 5-10 alternates per item so they can get just what they want.
Whether it’s an item in their Classic Style Twist, a different neckline, something warmer or lighter to suit their climate, petite and plus size, there are options for everyone. I’ve shopped so many stores to find all the best things, and they are narrowed down for you in one easy-to-shop spot.
Members know that the items in the portal go with the plan I’ve created for them, and spend their money only on what will work in their wardrobes.
You can mark your favorites and share them with your spouse or anyone who wants gift ideas and get exactly what you want for Christmas this year! And they get to be a hero!
These burgundy cords and this incredible coat have been staples in my wardrobe for years, and they are also featured in the Wardrobe Guide this season.
Maximize Your Budget This Winter
No matter what your budget is, the Stunning Style Classic Wardrobe Guides make it as easy as possible to build your winter wardrobe and stick to it. We never, never, ever go in debt over clothes.
The Guide provides us with a plan. We start with free by shopping our closets, then we take an inventory and make a list so we know what we are looking for. The clarity and focus of what we actually want and need means our budgets go toward items that complete our wardrobes instead of collect dust.
Many of our members use the Guides as inspiration to thrift what they want, use the portal to watch for sales, or even make some of their clothes. We have budgets of every size in the Society, and we cheer each other on as we work together to create our personalized winter wardrobes.
Join us today! The doors close on Tuesday, November 24, but you can get started today in time to take advantage of the Black Friday sales, some of which have started early!
