shopping your closet can create a wardrobe you love
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that a few times a year we do a Shop Your Closet Challenge, and we just wrapped this year’s fall challenge! This challenge means that we all shop our closets for inspiration outfits that I choose and then we all come up with our own version of it by using what we have, no buying anything new.
Today I want to talk about what we get out of these challenges, because it’s easy to get wrapped up in the inspiration and fun – which is all the yeses! But we get something deeper out of it, and sometimes pausing to reflect and acknowledge that can give us even more lasting benefits in your closet and your life. More than ever, shopping your closet can be a great way to create a wardrobe you love, and I’m sharing ten reasons why you’ll see huge benefits from it. We’ll start with five tips in part one, so stay tuned for part two!
I talk a lot about shopping your closet, and with the Classic Wardrobe Guides, one of the very first Style Steps covers how to shop your closet. I intentionally create the Guides around classic items you likely already have, and then add a few special items to refresh your wardrobe and make it feel new. Sometimes just one or two new things in your seasonal wardrobe makes everything feel fresh.
The Fall Classic Wardrobe Guide is available now! You’ve been waiting all season, and the doors to the Society are only open for a week each season, and you don’t want to miss it! And let me tell you, the Society members are in love with this new guide. I’ll be honest, it’s my favorite one ever too.
Let’s talk about the things you can get out of the Shop Your Closet Challenge, and the experience we have throughout the season in the Society. Read part 2 of this series here.
This article and the video below are taken from the Stunning Style Weekly Style Snack! Join us Wednesdays at 1pm ET on the Stunning Style Facebook page or the FREE Capsule Wardrobes for Classic Style Facebook Group.
Develop an Abundance Mindset
If this sounds a little woo woo to you, stick with me. When everything fell apart a couple years ago, the news was full of scenes of people fighting in the aisles over toilet paper, hoarding masks, and empty store shelves. The world was huddled in fear and our minds were focused on scarcity. “There’s not enough,” was repeated over and over again.
That’s not where those thoughts started. That mindset was already adopted by many. Our grandparents lived through that during the great Depression, and it stayed with them for the rest of their lives. They held onto everything, whether they wanted it or not, and wasted nothing, even if it was waste. The world would be a better place if we were all smarter with our resources, but when we approach it from a scarcity mindset, it’s based on fear, and we don’t necessarily make better choices.
When you shop your closet you will be reminded that you have plenty. There may be things you would like to add, but you aren’t going without. You won’t be naked and destitute. It keeps you in that abundance mentality, which keeps more abundance coming to you. When you are content and coming from a place of safety, you’ll feel more satisfaction with what you have. The benefits of that go way beyond your closet.
This is a topic we talk about every season in the Society, because it is not about going out and buying a whole new wardrobe every season. It’s about shopping your closet first, taking the guide and collection, and seeing what you already have that works. I promise you, it’s more than you think it is.
Save Money
Instead of scouring the internet or the store racks for something new, look in your closet to see if you already have something you love and forgot about. Let the creativity flow as you consider new combinations. Maybe you already have what you need and can save yourself a whole lot of time along with that money.
One of the stunners was sharing with me last night that she found this fabulous pair of corduroys in a second closet that she had forgotten about. They’re going to work great with the fall wardrobe collection, and it was like finding free money.
Unless you’ve had a major life change or weight change, I bet you have more great things in your closet than you realize, and you can save yourself hours and hours by starting with what you already have before you hit the stores. If you still need to shop for something, you’ll know exactly what you are looking for, because the Guide gives you a cohesive list of what to wear this season. You can be much more efficient.
Right now everyone wants to save money, repurpose, reuse. Shopping your closet accomplishes all these goals!
Save Time
How many times have you come home with a new top to realize you have three others just like it you’d forgotten about? Do you keep buying more things trying to make your wardrobe work together because you don’t really know what you do…and don’t…have to create a functional wardrobe? Do the styles in your closet vary so much it looks like ten women share it? Is your closet a graveyard haunted by the ghosts of shopping mistakes past and their fluttering tags whispering of your failures? Can you even see what’s in your closet?
Shopping your closet saves money as you uncover what you have. You’ll know you have three black v-neck tees and don’t need to buy another, you’ll see what you actually have and be able to identify any gaps you may want to fill. Your style will become more cohesive as you weed out items you don’t love, and your shopping mistakes will become fewer.
The abundance mindset also saves money because you don’t buy ANYTHING that comes along just to have SOMETHING. You become far more selective, and that is the key.
Rediscover Favorites
Have you ever dug into your closet to find something and discovered some hidden gems? I have, and it’s always a happy discovery! Now that my wardrobe is so much smaller and more curated, this doesn’t happen anymore, and all of my gems get time in the sun because everything in my closet is my favorite.
It’s fun to bring new items into your wardrobe, but I’ve found just as much satisfaction in rediscovering a forgotten favorite! It’s kind of like finding money in the pocket of a jacket you wear for the first time this year. It’s actually your money, but it feels like a windfall.
When you forage in the forest of your closet and find old friends, a happy reunion follows, and it’s like getting something new!
Cultivate a Working Wardrobe
If you had to write down an inventory of your entire wardrobe right now, how complete would your list be? Do you even remember what’s in there? Shopping your racks instead of the store racks allows you to see what you ACTUALLY have.
When you know what’s in there, you can see if you have your basic pieces that are the foundation of your wardrobe. Basics are necessities for every outfit and they allow you to wear all those fun, special items.
What isn’t working in your wardrobe? Is there anything you need that would allow you to make even more outfits with what you already have? As you shop your closet it’s easier to identify the gaps in your closet so you can have a working wardrobe. Because you can have a packed closet, but if those bridge pieces are missing, you will still struggle to create outfits.
That is why it’s so important to have your wardrobe basics in place, and I’ve taken care of it for you with the wardrobe guides. The guide comes with a collection page, a shopping list, and a page for planning out what you may be substituting this season. You can easily figure out how to wear the 100 outfit templates that will feel perfectly you. We shop our closets the whole season, so if you had fun during this challenge you will love the Society!
I would love to have you join us in the Society. This guide is so good, I was doing mental cartwheels and I am so excited to share it with you. If you love classic style and you wear a winter color palette, this is for you. Do you know how hard it is to find jewel tones for a winter color palette? I found them for this guide and these are colors that cycle and haven’t been out there for quite some time. I am dying to wear them! The doors are only open for one week, so don’t wait because it would be so sad if we missed out on having you there.
