Surviving the "Nothing to Wear" syndrome

 
After reading the "Nothing to Wear" book that I reviewed the other day I have been thinking about my own inadequate recipe for organizing my style confused, limited wardrobe as well as getting outfits together.
  

 
When I'm lazy in the morning - this is what I'll wear. It turned out to be too warm since summer arrived all of a sudden - on a Monday!


Creating a capsule wardrobe is one of the common pieces of advice from professional stylists. I love colour and cannot restrict myself to just one capsule of a couple of colours, so I have four of them: A blue/purple, a green/teal, a pink/red and a neutral one of black, brown, beige, white and metallics. I find that it helps me put outfits together - and identify any any gaps as well as things I buy too many of.

This outfit is from the neutral capsule - in my world denim is a neutral. Notice the feet!

As for style these are my thoughts: Being nearly 50 years old means I have to be careful with retro looks (See Patti's post on the Not Dead Yet Style blog on this very subject), however my full hourglass shape doesn't take the currently trendy silhouette made of skinny  jeans with a tent like top, very well.

The best piece of clothing for my shape is a pencil skirt combined with a fitted cardigan.I just feel that the pencil skirt/fitted cardigan look is too classic for me. It's also inappropriate for 7 or 8 months of the year due to the climate in Denmark! So, how do I then accentuate the good parts of my body in a style that isn't aging?

Wearing dresses that first of all fit my bust and waist is my favorite choice at the moment. Again because of the weather I wear jeggings instead of tights. When it get's warmer (and drier!) I'll put on my tights, all in colours that go with my capsules, or in a contrasting colour.

When it comes to putting an outfit together I use an analytical method of breaking it down into style types so that an outfit may be 100 % classic or 50% bohemian 50% chic or 75% whimsical 25% something else.
 

 


I don't know how to classify these shoes other than NEW!
 
The "guideline" I've created for myself is that my outfits should be at least 25% (colourful) minimalistic, the rest whatever I feel like on the day. This, I feel, will prevent my outfits from being too aging. Most minimalist clothes don't suit my shape which look best in fitted clothes with lots of ruching or draping so I have to bring in the minimalist element in accessories: Bags, shoes, scarves, jewellery and tights.

These are my homemade "rules" that I don't always stick to. Most stylists advice you to find keywords that describe your personality - like Dramatic, Sporty, Romantic, Creative... Categorizing myself this way is really hard, I always end up thinking that I'm slightly mad, and that's never an option - talking style!

Why don't I know how to describe myself then? I've spent more than a year investigating it on my blog and I still buy things that are wrong for me, in the way they fit or how they make me feel. Will I ever learn? Is there a book out there that can help me? I'll keep on  searching and investigating. In the meantime I'm looking at a lot of blogs to get inspiration, find advice, and comfort in knowing that I'm not alone with this problem!


Now as always on Mondays I,m participating in Patti's Visible Monday on her Not Dead Yet Style blog. There's always some new blogs participating, and lots of inspiration to be found and I enjoy it very much, Thank you Patti!