As I mentioned earlier, Maria of lost in a spotless mind unleashed her fashion consultant skills upon my closet this weekend. I cannot tell you have excited that made me, because how often do you get the chance to have a professional go through all your clothes? And when that person also happens to be one of the nicest girls on the planet, you just know you’re in for a treat.
What we did was basically to set up camp outside my closet for an entire evening. I tried on all my clothing items, one by one – all my jeans, tops, skirts, dresses, shorts and all my outerwear – and Maria sat on a chair commenting on colors and fit and asking probing questions like “what does this piece of clothing make you feel?” and “how long has it been since you last wore this?”. It was like clothing therapy, I swear, and I could feel myself getting defensive over silly things like terrible cotton tops. “But but but.. It might get tropical, you never know!”
As the evening went on she made me reconsider a lot of items that I had previously been unsure of, made me aware of how other things were not as flattering as they should be, and she also showed me how I could combine things in ways that I would never have thought of myself. All in all it was a great success. We did end up two garbage bags worth of clothes to give away to the Salvation Army, but I can honestly say that I won’t miss any of those clothes, and we also ended up with a iron/mend/modify-pile that I need to get control over. Most importantly though, she made me aware of my sartorial strengths and weaknesses:
- I own a lot of basics. This is fine – everyone needs good basics – but one also needs non-basic things to make the basics look more exciting.
- I need to work on my accessories. Since I have a lot of neutral clothes I need a bit more added drama. They also need to be “young”, seeing as a wardrobe that mainly consists of basics looks pretty grown up.
- I apparently need to learn how to fold my jeans properly. I was folding-scolded!
- I buy weird things in sales. Must beware of sales.
- I am good at everyday clothes. However, I did not own a single blouse. I need things that fill the slightly dressier gap between work time and party time.
She also made me move my clothes iron permanently into the same room as my closet, and commanded me to buy a lint remover to get pilling under control. She was tough but fair.
The next day we felt an urgent need to go out and fill the gaps in my wardrobe. Yes, this is a clear violation of my shopping ban, but as it was under the supervision of a professional I feel like it could be excused, and besides – we were not merely shopping, oh no – we were filling sartorial gaps! If that’s not a great reason to break my rules then I just don’t know what is right and wrong anymore.
This is what we found to fill my urgent need for a blouse. When I say “we” I mean Maria, as I would have walked straight past these and not offered them a second glance. I can assure you though that I fell in love as soon as I put them on, and that they will see a lot of wear.
We also found some accessories – I must admit I was very reluctant to shop for jewelry at first because I am such a creature of habit when it comes to these things, but Maria gently pushed me in the right direction, and before I knew it these shiny trinkets had come home with me. I also spotted some cuff-style bracelets that I really liked, but I’m a little afraid to go overboard and think I need to pull back a little bit. These are a great starting point, after all!
So that is what we did this weekend in between the eating, talking and youtube-watching. I can’t believe how nice it was of Maria to do this – we literally spent hours going through all my things – and I had such a great time. This is not the first time I let her push me out of my comfort zone, and it sure won’t be the last time. Infinite brownie-points for Maria.
Awesome!! wish someone could look trough my closet to… my clothes are starting to pile up, and I just can’t get my self together and get rid of some of them… and it would be great to find some new combinations :)
I was just trying to convince Maria how big a market there would be for a service like this. She better listen ;)
You’ve just reminded me how badly my own closet needs a cleanout (or ‘bootcamp’ ;) I wear only 20% of the clothes I own…but that problem was ‘resolved’ when I packed said 20% and trotted off to college ^_^
However, I’m now home for the week, and my guilty sartorial sensibilities are begging me for ‘closet closure’…*sigh* I need the advice of a professional! *totallyjealous*
(Btw, LOVE the LBD!! Where did you get it??)
Looking forward to seeing the sartorial gap-fillers in action! I’ve never rocked a fringe chain necklace before – I’m curious as to the styling possibilities ^_~
We could all need a sartorial bootcamp a few times a year – I´ve got some great inspirational links that I could send you, if you want? :)
I don´t have that exact LBD, but one almost identical one from ASOS (called Ponti fit and flare something something) and a knee length one from H&M :)
Gap-fillers in action, huh? I might need to make a post about that..
Inspirational links? Yes, please! ^o^
Now I just need to go LBD hunting…
Happy hunting! :)
I took your idea and ran with it, so there´s a post coming up tomorrow about my favorite closet-cleaning blog posts ;)
Fine bluser! Så heldig du er som fikk hjelp av en proff, og en som kjenner deg også.. Burde ta en KRAFTIG opprydding i klesskapet mitt selv, det er et kaos uten like… uff^^
Kanskje jeg rett og slett burde blogge en D.I.Y edition for alle som ikke har en egen Maria på lur? :)
Nå håper jeg inderlig du kan dele hvordan man skal brette jeans! Jeg bare.. legger dem der, på en måte!
Hahaha! Hun bretter dem sånn som i buksebutiken (buksebutikken, ja, sånn går det når jeg skal formulere setninger før middag).
http://0.tqn.com/d/diyfashion/1/0/s/L/-/-/how-to_pants_01.jpg
Se, jeg fant et bilde! Også måtte jeg brette den i tre deler etter at jeg hadde gjort det, så det ble en fin stabel og ikke en haug ;)
Neeei, ikke sånn! Med rumpa UT, kjære, husker du ikke det? ;) Det er superviktig. Det er jo der det er mest stoff, og hvis rumpa brettes innover sånn som på linken, så blir stoffet der krøllete og kjipt. Hvem vil ha krøllete rumpe, liksom?
Beste Mariaen^^
Aller beste! <3
Yeee! I love clothing posts!
You have a fashion professional going through every article of clothing you own. Lucky girl. And good for you for donating the clothes!
I might be feeling inspired. *may be thinking up a clothing post*
I always donate my clothes if they are in a good enough shape for it – I´m really slow at it though, so by the time I actually get my butt to the Salvation Army I usually have a big suitcase worth of clothes to donate. Or two suit cases. Or a car trunk.. :P
WOW! Would she ever come to Australia to help out a clothes luddite?
Rxx
I keep telling her she should do this for a living, so maybe one day? ;)
Nydelige bluser og smykkerier! :D
Mange takk Nilenna! :)