For a long time I've been a follower of the 4-5 piece French wardrobe thread on the fashion spot, which advocates adding only a few key pieces to your wardrobe each season. Despite my best intentions I nearly always end up buying more than I really need and there are usually a few things that I regret purchasing (this summer has been a case in point but more on that later). This time I am determined to make this the season where I actually follow the 4/5 pieces principle, which in theory should be reasonably easy as there isn't too much that I need for the coming months. Because I knew money would be tighter this year, I invested a bit more last winter - I replaced my winter coat for a dark grey wool/cashmere peacoat from Hobbs, and I also bought a couple of sweaters from John Smedley, and 2 cardigans from Paul and Joe Sister. My boots were falling apart after 4 years so I replaced these with some dark grey ones from Aldo, I also splurged on a beautiful Mulberry handbag in grey suede.
What I've added to my wardrobe so far this season has been a short sleeved tunic sweater from Vanessa Bruno Athe, which admittedly was a complete impusle buy (not off to a great start so far!). I've also added a day dress, which there was definitely a gap in my wardrobe for as I only have one casual dress. I bought some dark denim skinny ankle length jeans by James Jeans, although not 100% what I was looking for, they fit perfectly and I've already worn them lots. I find buying jeans really stressful, of all the things that I'm likely to make a mistake with its jeans and I have bought countless pairs only to find they bag out after 1 wear. I also ventured slightly out of my comfort zone (grey, navy and white) and bought some dark purple patent shoes, and a printed wool scarf as I wanted something to add a bit of interest to my grey outfits. I may be cheating slightly here as I've chosen not to count the scarf (its not technically clothes!) so I reckon this leaves room for one more, which is going to either be a dark grey wool skirt or pair of trousers.
I do hate it hate it when skinny jeans "bag" - I've been lucky so far, only struck out once out of 5 pairs. Although jeans seem shrink back every time you wash them, they only stretch even more after that when you start wearing them, so if you can bear it, don't wash them all that often. They'd hold the shape better. Dark, untreated denim also bags less, or something with a tiny bit of lycra.
ReplyDeleteIf I told anyone how often I washed my jeans, no one would want to sit next to me...
oh all nice...
ReplyDeleteLin, I think your right about not washing them, it always seems to be the case that as soon as they're washed they end up really baggy. I'm trying to hold off on washing my new ones for as long as possible!
ReplyDeleteJane - thanks!
Please blog again!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading the 4-5 piece French wardrobe thread on TFS... it's a faciniating read. I'm currently building a basis so I can implement this method in my shopping.