Wardrobe Architect: Week 2

I'm working my way through the Coletterie's Wardrobe Architect project. If you missed the first post, start here.

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This week's project is about defining my core style. The goal is to find a style that feels like you and to start defining that style through words and images. Now, I know that my vintage style identity is quite developed, but I've been realizing that I also need a good selection of modern pieces in my wardrobe to really fit my life so posts are going to focus on the modern section of my wardrobe. Once I have that part of my wardrobe built up, I can go back and weave in pieces from my vintage wardrobe to make it all work together.

The first task of the week was to think about how I feel in my favorite clothing. Here are some of my words:

elegant, sophisticated, fun, interesting, put together, feminine, comfortable

Secondly, I had to think about how I feel when wearing things that are not quite right. I also added some words from styles I know are totally not me.

frumpy, stiff, sloppy, edgy, alternative, hard, young, twee

Next, I had to identify my style icons. This one was hard for me because I don't really follow modern celebrities and fashionistas. Plus, the whole leggings with a baggy top look that is popular right now is not an attractive silhouette for me. Originally, I picked Audrey Hepburn, Mary Margaret (from OUAT) and Zooey Deschanel; however, the more I looked at their styles, the more I realized that while I liked their looks, they weren't super practical for my life. So I guess I don't have any style icons.

Moving on. I then identified some styles that I like in theory but aren't really me.

skinny jeans, anything that you can't wear a regular bra with, 

anything super girly (lace, ruffles, etc.)

Then I looked back at my week 1 tasks and I identified a bunch of words, moods and feelings that I wanted to incorporate into my wardrobe. Then I narrowed it down to just five words that I really want to revolve my core style around.

classic, tailored, simple, easy, fun

It's really cool because I feel like these words all describe my favorite vintage pieces so I think it will be really easy to mesh the two once I get that far. Ok, so then I headed out to pinterest to try and figure out what the heck my new style was going to be. Having been into vintage and sewing for so long, I felt sort of clueless about modern fashion. And I had no idea what my modern size was!

I went to some stores this week just to try things on and it was a bit of a bumpy road. I had forgotten why I loved to sew my own clothes so much! But I did learn some things and that helped me to build up a pinterest board with lots of pretties to serve as inspiration for my new wardrobe.

Here are some of the things from my pinterest board.

Yellow is one of my favorite colors to wear so I knew it had to figure heavily in my new wardrobe. Choosing a color palette is still a few weeks away but you'll probably be able to figure out what I have in mind.

I really enjoy wearing blazers. They make me feel instantly put together! Plus they are great for chilly air conditioned rooms. I also want some great blouses to wear under the blazers or with shorts.

I love a simple but well put together outfit. Solids are great so I'm going to try not to get distracted by too many prints.

I also still love skirts! And I'm going to be focusing on flats for footwear in keeping with my desire for comfortable clothes.

More cuteness! As far as jewelry goes, I mostly wear earrings. Studs are my favorite so I'd totally wear these cute floral ones.

Hopefully, I'll be able to work my wardrobe to look like some of these great outfit ideas.