Building Your Fall Wardrobe

I am always quite jealous of those vloggers on youtube who have their capsule wardrobes well settled before we are knee deep in fall foliage.

How wonderful it would be to have a perfectly color coordinated closet with perfectly fitting clothes for all occasions, easily accessible on pretty hangers and brilliant white shelves...

My closet (in our rented house) is big but super ugly.  It's made of cheap poo brown veneer which I should have changed right before we moved in, but I didn't, and now I feel it'll be too disruptive to change it.

I am also beginning to think size is not always an advantage. I'll never be a capsule wardrobe person, but some limits are helpful for a well edited closet.  Like most people, I don't buy a whole new wardrobe every season, instead I add things that will cheer up old favorites, and I buy other things just because I love them and I love change in fashion.  

Unfortunately, they then often disappear behind one of those twelve doors and it is easy to lose track of what you have already bought. 

I have had all this space for nine years now, and typically I've organized the clothes by tops, bottoms, jackets, sweaters, dresses, shoes/handbags.  But this season I am taking on a tip from Amanda Brooks* to hang all my brand new things front and center.  New coats, jackets, jeans, jumpers, shoes, you name it, are now all mixed together on one rack so that I can actually see, wear, and combine the new things with older but still loved items in my wardrobe.

I considered everything I bought since June to be new, as Hong is still warm, and my newish summer clothes can still get a lot of wear.  It's immediately become my favorite spot in my wardrobe, and I can easily see myself losing interest in what is behind the other ten doors. 

This system may become very useful for wardrobe editing in the future.  If you pick all your favorites and put them in one place and you find yourself forgetting about the other stuff,  it may be time for a trip to the charity shop.

My fall 2017:

A few big jumpers

An interesting pair of jeans

A big faux shearling coat

Some ruffled tops

Two silk skirts

An oversized blazer and a dressy blazer

Suede boots, some slip-ons, and a cross-body bag

* from Amanda Brooks' book Always Pack A Party Dress