September 2, 2020

So You Want a Mature Wardrobe…

Let’s just start off this blog post under a mutual understanding: I don’t really know what I am doing. Although I like to believe I have a style of some sort and that I am able to dress myself, I am in no way am an expert. Example A. This very cute picture of me in my stylin’ Abercrombie outfit from 4th grade.

What I do have is experience in that awkward phase between high school and into college where you are trying to figure out what your “mature style” is. I mean that time where you are moving between a wardrobe filled with graphic tees and light washed denim into something with a little more thought behind it.

It is really difficult to find your mature style. When I studied abroad I found myself mostly dressing in sweaters and jeans due to the climate but once I found myself back to my usual surroundings I started to play around with styles. I fell into a “blue striped collard shirt button down” phase of life and slowly transitioned into my “jumpsuit” phase of existence. Now we’re in what I like to call “a neutral bliss”.

Around when I started this blog I decided I wanted a total flip in my wardrobe. I was now Page Nine Co and Page Nine Co wouldn’t wear black or colors and only enjoyed a neutral. This wasn’t some alter ego – I just found that lighter colors suited me and that wearing a lot of black didn’t make me feel very ME. Here are some tips that I have found have helped me:

Make the clothes you have look appealing. This is pretty specific but I found that it was really helpful to have my clothes out on display. It forced me to realize the things I liked/wanted on display vs things that weren’t entirely my style…but that I still owned.
Commit to only buying what you will actually wear. This seems like an obvious one but how many times have you picked something up in the store and been like “WOW this is SO cute! I saw Bella Hadid wearing it…” but you never take a moment to realize that you have never in your life worn a mini puffed sleeve neon pink dress. No matter how cute it is, if you will never reach for it there is no sense in buying it.
There is no use buying singular pieces of clothing. When I think about adding a piece into my wardrobe I need a mental guarantee that I have something at home that it will go with. For me this also means that it needs to make sense within my wardrobe which leads us into our next point…
Have a wardrobe of pieces that could all go together. This makes getting dressed A LOT easier because if your bottoms go with 80% of your tops and vice versa then you don’t have to overthink about getting dressed.
- Another thing that helped me was nailing down 3-4 colors that I wanted to have. This was white, cream, beige, (a little) black and (a little) burnt orange.
- It also helps if you can understand what you keep reaching for and ask yourself “Do I have anything similar”. If the answer is that no, I only like this white t-shirt and I only own one white t-shirt, there is an opportunity for improvement!
Understand your body type and your preferences for showcasing it. This might seem odd but lets be real: we don’t love our bodies in EVERYTHING even if we are confident in our bodies. For me I find that I don’t love how I look in v-necks, I’d prefer to not show my legs, and I’m not a fan of fitted clothing but I like almost all arm lengths. So that means I’m not buying v-necks of any sorts or mini dresses!
Don’t sweat the trends. This was something that as I was working on my new lifestyle wardrobe that I was always thinking about. I wanted pieces that I could wear over and over and have a more classic look to them. Anything that was a trend had a big red X on it for me in the beginning. But then I began to realize it’s important to have some pieces you don’t plan on wearing for years and years to come. For me that thing is any puff sleeve tops I own. They are very trendy right now but there is also a good chance that because I have them in a color that fits within my pallet that I will wear them at least one more season.

This blog post is already pretty long but I didn’t even start to touch on the $$$ cost $$$ of turning into a mature wardrobe. No more $5 t-shirts at Khol’s! Would you be interested in what my advice is when it comes to saves and splurging in your wardrobe? Let me know on my Instagram!