Budget also plays a big part here. Your specific lifestyle will only allow you so much cash to spend on a wardrobe overhaul. Don’t dive into this guide thinking of it as a shopping manual. Chances are you have some hidden gems in your closet that you’ve forgotten all about and they are going to be unearthed very soon. Very few of us have the funds to start fresh, so learning to shop your own closet is a handy tip for everyone.
If you have kids, you may have a whole new post-baby body to dress! It’s like free plastic surgery that you never asked for. Most of us have new ‘problem areas’ to contend with, some have bigger boobs (not jealous at all) or bums, others are thicker around the middle. Whatever body you have, it’s your body. Lamenting that it’s not the same as it used to be won’t change it. If you want to diet and exercise, go for it, but most people will never snap back entirely to their pre-baby selves, so the sooner you accept your new one the better.
Also, if you have kids, said kids will one day have opinions about what you wear. Did you know about this? My daughter (twelve) is embarrassed by most of my favourite outfits. I will never forget the first time she cast judgement. She was eight. I pulled out a pair of palazzo pants (okay, they’re polarising, but I liked them) in a store and said, ‘What do you think of these?’ She said, ‘They’re okay…oh wait! They’re trousers? Ugh! [pulls a face] Just don’t come to school in them.’ The idea that she’d ever care what I wore to the school run was more of a surprise than it should have been, and she’s turned her nose up at many more items since. I mean, palazzo pants, guys! They’re the ultimate item in comfort dressing. Why wouldn’t she want that for me?
My six-year-old, Milo, is very vocal about what I do with my hair. He likes his ladies to dress like ‘ladies’, so it would be dresses and ‘down hair’ all round if it were up to him. He frequently comes home with stories from school parties about who wore the prettiest dresses and which girl has the most beautiful eyes (it’s Rachel, for those wondering), and he always has an opinion about his teacher’s new hair colour. He’s also very into his own style, which I’ll talk a little more about later because it’s fascinating to me, and he’s inadvertently taught me a lot about confidence.
Your wardrobe needs to work for you. You might have an idea of what you want to look like, but try to be honest. Look in the mirror. Are you prepared to iron a shirt every day? Are you going to style your hair and wear makeup before work or school? Are you comfortable in heels? Do you have a fair-haired dog that sheds everywhere? Because if you do (as I do), an all-black wardrobe may not be smart. Try to put together a clear picture of what you realistically want to look like every day. We can throw in ‘occasion wear,’ but I’m talking about on the regular. How do you want to dress that will suit the life you actually lead in Yorkshire…not the life you want to lead on a beach in California?
Colour Analysis
Knowing your colour palette is almost as useful as knowing your size. You can pick up a dress that you love, that you know will fit and flatter your shape, but if the colour is wrong for you, it will never be quite right.
Learning your colour palette makes it easier to put together a wardrobe of cohesive items, but it can also have a huge impact on your confidence. Do you have a certain item that always gets compliments? Chances are it’s not the item, it’s you in the item. It took me years to realise that certain colours drained me and made me look tired. I would turn up to work and have people ask if I was sick. I was fine, it was the colour of my shirt!
Are You Cool or Warm?
Figuring this out will be helpful in finding your overall colour palette, but also, wearing the right temperature should make you look more radiant. Who doesn’t want that?
Here are a few ways to work out your temperature…they aren’t exhaustive, and you probably won’t tick every box, but one or two should help you:
Cool
•Next to white your skin looks pink
•Your undertones are pink/blue/red
•Absence of warmth in skin/eyes/hair
•More likely to burn in the sun1
•Veins look blue or purple in natural light
•Your foundation match is more pink
•Silver looks better against your skin
Warm
•Next to white your skin looks yellow
•Your undertones are peach/yellow/golden
•Warmth in your skin/eyes/hair
•More likely to tan in the sun
•Veins look green in natural light
•Your foundation match is more yellow
•Gold looks better against your skin
This is the first step in weeding out the colours that will flatter you the least. That’s not to say you can’t wear red if you’re cool or blue if you’re warm, but there will be a certain hue that suits you more. Maybe you wrote off yellow as ‘not for you’ after trying on a dress and really not feeling it; hopefully this will help you find your yellow.
Warm/Cool Colour Examples—Cool Is on the Bottom, Warm Is on the Top
If you don’t feel that you fit into either category, then there’s a good chance you’re neutral and the next step will be your jumping-off point.
Are You Bright, Deep, or Soft?
So now that you know your ‘temperature’, it’s time to think about the vibrancy of your colour palette. You know you should be wearing warmer pinks, but should that be a bright pink or a more muted tone? This can be tricky, and it’s incredibly subjective, but the aim of the game is to choose colours that enhance your natural colouring rather than wash you out.
A great test for this is lipstick. Aside from the fact that it can be a little jarring to see yourself in a bright colour if you’re usually a clear gloss person, does a bright lip make you glow, or is it too much? Remember, if you determined that you are warm, then that brightness needs to be a warm and bright. Put me in a cool, pastel pink and I will look ill, but a deep raspberry can really light up my face.
If lipstick isn’t your thing (or you’d rather take the traditional route), pull out some clothes, towels, blankets—whatever fabric you have in different colours—and hold them up to your face in natural light. It should be obvious which colours flatter you the most, but if you’re struggling, take some pictures and send them to your most honest friend. Their opinion may not always be welcome, but today you want the truth.
Warm—Bright—Deep—Soft
Cool—Bright—Deep—Soft
Are you sitting down? This is going to be tough to take in, but…even black isn’t universally flattering. I tell you this not to upset you but to reach those of you wearing a uniform of black thinking they can skip this chapter because they’re ‘set’. You might think you’re all good in the colour department, but everyone can use some colour in their lives. It’s a never-ending evolution, and if you’re closed off to any change at all, you’re not going to like what comes next! Don’t you want to find that one colour that you know makes you sparkle whenever you wear it? Even if it’s just a scarf, dip your toe!
You can dive deeper into colour theory if you’re really interested. There’s so much information out there about ‘finding your season’