Choose well, buy less

Choose well, buy less. If you’ve ever watched one of my seasonal ‘most worn’ videos, there’s one thing that becomes abundantly clear: it’s the solid wardrobe staples that I reach for day in and day out. They feature pretty heavily in my daily outfits season after season, and that’s just the way I like it. Every item in my wardrobe works hard to earn its keep, and I get a lot of joy out of wearing my favourites again and again, plus it feels great to know you chose wisely – personally, I hate that feeling of buying something, only to realise that it was a bad investment.

But as someone who shares a lot of their outfits online, it’s pretty easy to get caught up in the idea that you can’t wear that same look twice – let alone an outfit which has strong hints of something you’ve already posted on social media. I’ve fallen victim to this game before, particularly when I first started documenting my outfits online. I couldn’t fathom the thought of wearing the same look twice, and my wardrobe really reflected that. It was in a constant state of flux, and there was absolutely no cohesion or hint of a style uniform, two things I heavily rely on these days.

Wearing J Crew polka dot wrap front top (similar option here!), ASOS black denim skirt (also love this one), Sam Edelman loafers (I also think they look cute in this colour), Celine trotteur bag (affordable dupe here), Elleme sunglasses, Mejuri editor hoops

I’m not ashamed to admit that this outfit isn’t anything new. Chances are, you’ve seen all of these pieces before, in similar combinations. While it probably wasn’t this exact pairing, it won’t have been far off, though I think that’s the beauty of having a style uniform, and knowing which silhouettes or specific items work for you.

A huge part of my wardrobe journey has been embracing this, and placing a huge emphasis on new additions that do stand the test of time, and that I will reach for over and over again.

I think, I used to be worried that people would notice that I was repeating my outfits. It wasn’t until I tried a version of the capsule wardrobe, that I realised my colleagues didn’t have the faintest clue that I was re-wearing items several times throughout the month. Without generalising too much, I’d say it’s pretty safe to surmise that we’re all guilty of being a little wrapped up in our own worlds; what someone else is wearing on a daily basis doesn’t really factor too much within our orbit. And, if you’re wearing a mostly neutral wardrobe (which I’m incredibly fond of), the fact that you’re re-wearing those same items over and over isn’t as noticeable as you think it might be.

I tend to evaluate most of my wardrobe on these principles; Am I wearing it often? Does it go with at least three other items? Does it make me feel good? Have I reached for it in the last six months? My closet might evolve and change a little more than the average person (a side effect of having a blog – something I’ve tried to acknowledge here), but I’d like to think that my favourites are resoundingly obvious to those of you who visit my little space on the regular.

Sayings like ‘quality over quantity’, and ‘choose well, buy less’, may have entered our lexicon and been thrown around with some abandon over the last 5-10 years – perhaps as a result of our increasing appetite for fast fashion and ever-expanding closets – but there’s definitely something to be said for following these mantras, and the reward of spending a little more for better quality, and knowing that the purchase has been money well spent.