Is your closet built around events or your lifestyle?

Got the vacation planned, so we go shopping.  The invite arrives in the inbox for the school gala, so we go shopping.  The first work conference of the year is next month, so we buy a new trouser pant.  Oh that cute outfit shows up as we scroll Insta, so we add to cart.  Notice the pattern here?  Every time there is an event, the first thought is to shop to wear something for that event.  And what becomes of those pieces after?  They sit in our closet, unworn after.

Why?  Because we are filling a need in the moment for a specific event.  This is how we start to build up a closet based on events in our life.  And when we do that, over time, these pieces don't get worn as much or we start to feel disconnected from our closets.     When we travel, when we are on vacation, when we are scrolling, we are living the aspirational versions of ourselves, not the everyday versions of ourselves.   And the result is that we have a “closet filled with things we don't wear."  Sound familiar?  You're not alone.

So how do we begin to reverse this pattern?  We have to start examining our day to day life,  how we're living and what we're wearing and be brutally honest with ourselves.  Do we live in athleisure most of the time because our lives call for that?  Or are we desiring something more a few days of the week?  Great!  What are those moments, during the week, when we want to “elevate” your outfit but don't know how?  Or where we start to begin to put something together but then get stuck and default to athleisure?  

Where are we going when that happens?  WRITE THAT DOWN.   

Example:  I'm dropping my kiddos off for camp, heading to the gym, then meeting my friends for lunch.  Okay?  I've got the athleisure part down, but I don't know what to wear after the gym.  So, I've got to nail the “meeting my friends for lunch” outfit.  Is it that I grab a pair of pull on pants and swap those out after the gym.  Maybe.  But the idea here is that we're starting to notice these moments where we get stuck in our day to day.  

AND THAT'S when we go shopping. 

This is how we start to develop a closet built around our lifestyle and not our “event” based extracurriculars.  (You can listen to how I break it down here). Because when we have pieces that work for our everyday life, we can turn to those when we're packing for vacation, heading to a work conference, or out on date night.  And we can start to build outfits around those first (so we're not off at the last minute panic buying God knows what…).  

So for now, I would make a plan that looks like this:

Heading on vacation?  Don't think about going shopping.  

Heading to a conference/work event?  Don't think about going shopping.

Instead: 

Heading to meet up with friends for lunch?  Figure out what we want to wear by looking through our closet and asking, “What am I missing here?” Write it down.

Going to work?  Ask, “what would I like to add to this to elevate, change, or make this outfit better?” Write it down.

Then:

Experiment with ideas, create a moodboard (in no particular order) and then shop for those pieces we just wrote down.  It's not spontaneous, it's intentional.  It's not hurried, it's built slowly over time.  Sound good?  It does to me.

I created an outfit formula guide with a layout for how to identify some gaps starting here.  And if you want to dive deeper (because you've been nodding your head and connecting with what I said above) I'd click the link below and start some deeper learning about yourself and your style.