I have always tried to against the grain for no other reason that I pride myself on being deliberately perverse. So when the globe went gaga for Marie Kondo I was late to the party, now my home is better because of Kondo, it not only has less “stuff” in it but it also helped me realise what stuff really matters. Then bloggers and influencers went crazy for The Curated Closet, I resisted. This time I had good reason, a reason that went beyond just being perverse, I had read books and endless articles about how to ‘style’ or ‘edit’ your wardrobe. They all followed a general format and guess what I don’t suit trench coats, nor do I desire a nice pair of tailored black trousers. I found all of this fashion advice somewhat formulaic, a ‘one size fits all’ attitude.
During pregnancy I was confined to around 4 outfits. As well as being depressing being away from one’s clothes really does give you the space to re evaluate your wardrobe. I also renovated a junk room into a walk in wardrobe during that time so I could see everything in front of me and knew that there were a whole mess of things there that I didn’t wear, that didn’t suit me and items that only held sentimental value. I knew what needed to go but I was unsure as to what to replace it with.
When I received the book I had a 1001 things to do so I thought I would have a quick skim over a cup of tea and I was quickly sucked in. The first thing I noticed is that there is no advice given about what you should have in your wardrobe, instead it leads through a journey of editing your wardrobe in your own style.
One of the key lessons I have learned so far is that my wardrobe did not match my lifestyle. You see the thing is I don’t attend nearly as many swanky garden parties and cocktail evenings as I thought I might, try zero….who would have thought eh! I have released that instead of filling my wardrobe with gowns I should invest in nice day clothes. I previously thought hey I will invest in a few nice dresses which left very little in my clothing budget, so I was picking up ill fitting cheap crap for the rest of the time. The thing is the ‘rest of the time’ is the majority of my time and I deserve to feel good all the time, we all do.
If your style is chaotic and you are not sure where you stand, you go around buying things on a whim the book helps with that too. One thing I loved about it was how practical it was. When I first saw how big the book was I thought wow that is going to be a chore to get through, can I really read that much about clothing? The opposite was in fact true. I believe the fact that the book was interactive was a big part of that, full of flow charts and quizzes.
One of my favourite hobbies is to cyber shop. What do I mean by this? I fill my basket online with everything and then close the page, of course I do I am not made of money. What I have found after reading The Curated Closet is that very little goes into the wish list basket, even my imaginary purse has become more discerning.
Perhaps a few of these lessons come with age. When I was younger I wanted to achieve certain looks, now I am more focused on the quality and fit of an item rather than defining the genre of an outfit. So my verdict is this; buy the book and read it, don’t have it as a coffee table book you will certainly benefit from it. It will save you money as you will buy things that you will wear and look great in and curb the impulse buying that so many of us fall foul to.
