Clothes Talk: Part 3

So, this is my last post about clothes that focuses on building up my wardrobe and finding a style that works for me and my budget.

As I mentioned in the previous posts, I have been using Pinterest and Polyvore to help find outfits that I like and color combos I would have never thought of. When someone pics something I think is cute on Pinterest, I go to the Polyvore page and look at all the other outfits that the individual who created the pinned one has made. Often times I love their style and other times I don't. And rarely do I like everything in the picture. So, above is an example of a few outfites I have liked and how I could make them sork for me. The first column is the original picture, the second takes out what I don't like at all or would never wear/have. The third column is how I would actually probably wear the outfit. If you notice all of the first pictures have scarves. I have tried to make myself like them but I can't. I think they look cute on other people and they can instantly change an outfit. I don't even think they look bad on me, but I don't like how they feel. When I was at my parents' house one weekend I wore one of my scarves for part of a day. It just bugged me, but I wanted something that would keep that extra punch a scarf can give. So, I thought of an idea.

I looked through a lot of the outfits that I had pinned and made a list of colors that seemed to keep showing up in the form of a scarf. Then, I looked at looked at jewelry online to get some ideas of style or presence of color (like some of the hot pinks ones above aren't so cute, but there is a lot of color). My mom is great at making jewelry, plus it was around Christmas that I thought of this and people needed some ideas of what to get me. Anyway, I'm still working on my jewelry collection as both a substitute for scarves, but also just because I am trying to accessorize more.

Another idea I thought of that can bring that same color or pattern that a scarf might to an outfit is belts and headbands. I just recently made myself a headband that I really liked and it fit well and was easy enough that I plan to make more, keeping my outfit choices in mind.

So here are some samples of outfits I have found online and my version of/inspired by them. As you can see, they don't match perfect, but I don't think they should. In fact (and maybe I said this in another post), I stopped pinning outfits because I didn't want someone to see me that follows my Pinterest board and say/think - oh, I remember seeing you pin that outfit. Some how it takes away from feeling like I am a big girl now wanting to dress like an adult and makes me feel more like someone had to pick out my clothes for me (which they sort of did). Anyway, it has been fun re-learning how to dress myself. It's funny to me how I was pretty on the ball in my high school days, but as a grown up I just plateaued on caring about how I looked. Not that I didn't care at all, but maybe not quite enough for my own expectations/wants. I am far from caring too much (and am saddened when people do because I want them to just like them for who they are and be real and know that I really don't care how they dress and would still like them if they wore potato sacks).

I hope these last 3 posts haven't been too rambling. I felt like I wanted to share about my style journey because a lot of other moms/not-moms might get stuck in a rut too and I just wanted to share that it doesn't have to cost a lot of get out of that. You don't have to feel like you fit into a mold and dress like all of your friends or co-workers or the girls on blogs. You can find something that works for you that just so happens to work period. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Clothes Talk: Part 2

So, here is a small sample of some outfits I had found on Pinterest or Polyvore. I noticed that a lot of them were things I owned already - plain t-shirt, jeans and sometimes a cardigan. (I ignore the bags and most of the shoes because I'm not into bags and I think shoes should be something you can wear with a LOT of outfits, not just a select few.)

In this group I saw that I didn't have a red sweater, the cream shirt, but most of the other main clothes pieces (not accessories) I had some version of. So, I made a mental list and headed to the thrift store.

I was able to acquire most of the items mentioned above and a few other that I had been meaning to get. These all came from Savers and Thrift Town. The blazer is a stretch for me, but I have a few things I wanted to wear it with, so we'll see if that happens. Sometimes I like clothes on someone else, but they just don't end up working for me. I just feel weird. The pink shirt replaced a crappy poorly made Old Navy tee shirt that I loved the color of, but hated wearing because it couldn't hold its shape. Navy sweater - needed it. Red sweater - I had been wanting one and actually got one for Christmas but it was the wrong size and they had no others in stock. So, this one filled in for that and I like the color even more. The buttons need to be replaced though. Oh, and this one was brand new too. I love stripes. I feel like I am in 8th grade again where over half of my shirts were striped - and that is a good thing! And the blue shirt was to replace a too short shirt of the same color. It was about $25 for all of this.

A lot of items in my closet came from thrift stores and garage sales. You might be lucky enough to buy things all brand new at high end places (or even just Target). I actually really LIKE finding things at the thrift store (and I like new stuff too). So many times I find shirts or dresses that I would have probably had to go to store after store in the mall for. I'm not that kind of shopper, so I am glad that thrift stores serve me well. Almost everything in the photo above was bought in the past year and a half at thrift stores. (And I only have one gray and black striped dress, it's just on there twice.)

I got all this at a garage sale last year for under $10. Half of it I bought to use as part of sewing projects, but a lot of it is just great as is.

Same stash,just spread out.

And I don't just buy for me. So many kids clothes - especially little girl clothes.

I have just a few more items I want to get on my clothes list. I will continue to look at the thrift stores and watch for sales at Target and Wal-mart (yes, THAT store!). I used to hit up Old Navy during sales, but their women's section seems to be made up of really terrible quality stuff most of the time (at least the stuff I can afford), so I usually by pass them for me. I have a really small budget for clothes and am trying to not have an over filled closet of stuff that doesn't fit well, doesn't get worn, and is really just ready to be tossed out because of wear. Plus, because I try to buy clothes that are staples and not trendy, my clothes have a very long life. To take care of and prolong the life of even lesser quality items I usually hang up all of my shirts to dry. 

So, if the clothes are mostly how I want them to be, what's next? Accessories. And I'll get to that soon enough. I bet you can't wait!
In the mean time, I really want to hear your answers to these questions:
How do you decide what you need/want for your wardrobe? Where do you go to find it? How often to you get rid of clothes?

Clothes Talk: Part 1

So, remember when I said I wanted to talk clothes/fashion/style? Well, here I am. I actually feel a little dumb posting this, but I am really hoping for some responses as to how you choose what you wear and so on.

A few years ago a girl I knew made fun of me for how I dressed. I was annoyed and angry and really surprised that a grown adult would actually say something to another adult in such a 7th grade manner. 

Did I stay up with the latest fads? No. Did I accessorize? Mostly no. Did I wear things that flattered me? Not usually. Was I comfortable? Oh, yes! Comfort is very important to me.

I won't lie and say that her words didn't affect me. They did, but not so much in the way probably would have wanted them to. In fact, what made me rethink the way I was dressing myself was a post I read  years later that I wrote about on our family blog*. After reading it I realized that I could be comfortable and wear things that flattered me, all while staying true to myself and not buying into whatever the fashion industry told me was cute that particular year. (And, I don't care that skinny jeans are all the rage now. They have not, nor ever will be flattering on a body like mine. I am totally fine with that.)

Sorry, I think I accidental stepped on a soapbox with that. Let me move on...

Before the days of Pinterest, I used to occasionally tear out pictures from magazines or catalogs of outfits I liked or particular clothes items. I kept these nicely taped in a notebook. Once I started using Pinterest I saw the cute outfits (and not cute outfits) that people pinned. I thought to myself - hey, this can help me on my new quest of wearing comfortable and flattering clothes! And as I started pinning outfits I realized something.

I own most of what I would want to wear! I just never add a little flair to the solid shirts with jeans look. I didn't realize that THAT color looked really nice with THIS color. I hadn't thought about how a scarf (something I will address in a later post) or pretty earrings can totally change an outfit.

So, one day I tried it. I had on a white shirt, brown cardigan and jeans. Very Collette of an outfit and also very librarian. Even though when I just hang out at home I wouldn't normally wear jewelry, I decided to try adding a little something extra to my plainer choice. So, I pulled out this greenish necklace I bought at Wal-mart for like $4 and put it on. You know what? I looked so much better! And I felt better too. Just because I didn't have anyone but my own family to see all day didn't mean I couldn't look nice. And I was still comfortable. I started looking more closely at the things I was pinning (which, by the way I no longer pin the outfits I like. They all go into my One Note pages I have set up and used to organize things before I got in Pinterest.) I noticed that there were a few more changes I wanted to make to make my wardrobe "just so" for me. And I will tell you all about that later because I already feel like I have totally rambled and I want to keep you hanging (not really, but kind of), so I will continue on a different day. But, as you wait, you can share with me if you want why you choose to dress the way you do. I am sincerely interested to hear how other people figure all this out.

*My family blog is private, but here's a snippet of what I wrote in 2009 (which you will notice some sounds a lot like the above statements): 

I am not hip, trendy or cool. I am fine with that. I hate the ebb and flow of fashion. (Like why should I wear skinny jeans today when yesterday I was told they are not flattering on most body types?) I like the staples in clothing. The classics. The things that don't change. But, I also like some fun in my wardrobe. And as much as I like that by taking good care of my stuff so that it lasts, I also like to get new clothing now and then. I found this website called Sensibly Styled a few weeks ago and fell in love. My fondness grew after seeing THIS POST today. Now I just want to go through my closet and drawers (and truthfully the bin in the garage full of stuff that will likely never fit again, despite my want) and clean out. I have way more clothes than I actually wear, but still need just a titch more - solely for variety. (I am trying to step up my sewing to assist with this.) ...
I'm never going to be trendy. It's not me, it's not my thing. Occasionally there are trends that I do really like. The cute shirts with slightly puffy sleeves, the ruffles in the front, plaid shorts - I dig all of those (yet own none). I don't understand things like scarves and I doubt I'll ever put on leggings again (or heaven forbid - stirrups, which I saw in the store the other day!) Those are me in 4th grade, not now. But, I won't say never to them.