Keeping a wardrobe diary

And what we can learn from it

Morning, afternoon, evening - whichever is appropriate! I love that a lot of you guys are actually based somewhere warm and sunny, and have had the chance to delve into your summer wardrobes already. As you peel off those layers, spare a thought for the rest of us, particularly in the UK, where the days may be brighter but it’s still soooo cold! I think

Sarah Palmer

got a shock arriving here this week - her wardrobe of insanely good knitwear will stand to her!

Despite living in the UK, did you know that I am in fact Irish? I’m very proud of this and consider myself lucky to come from a culture of family, compassion, story telling and craic! The good kind, that is. Our girls are growing up English, with plummy accents, but they are being schooled in the ways of the homeland. One of their favourite things to do as a family is to light the fire pit and sit around telling stories. The word for this in Irish is ‘seanchaí’, and often involves tall tales of fairies and giants. Our stories often involve on my late dad, who had a wealth of stories from his own life, having grown up in the city tenements of working class Dublin, and generally being a bit of a rogue throughout his 86 years. One of these stories, which actually ended up in the national press, involved a bike, a sniffer dog and Michelle Obama’s security detail! That’s for another post 😆

Anyway I digress, wildly! Let’s get back to the focus of this post which is keeping a wardrobe diary and what, if anything, I am learning from this surprisingly pleasurable activity. In a recent post, Anna at

The Wardrobe Edit

expressed the joy she gets from her wardrobe diary and uses it as a practical way to curb impulse shopping:

Make some outfits in Indyx. This is fast becoming one of my favourite evening winddown activities. I know, wow, I’m so fun. It’s scrolly, so you’re still getting a dopamine hit but all you’re doing is making cute little collages of outfits from your wardrobe. That’s it! So simple.

My Indyx

I’m a relative newbie to this practice, having only started a wardrobe diary on Indyx at the start of March, but I have been pretty consistent since then. My practice consists of:

• Taking a daily selfie of my outfit which I upload to the calendar function.

• Cataloguing of my wardrobe which I upload to the items section. This is more fun than it sounds! It basically entails taking a lay flat photo of your wardrobe items or uploading a screenshot of that item from the store website. I’ve been easy on myself on this one, as like most of us, I have items which I wear frequently and which were the first to be catalogued, and then I have items which I wear much less frequently or are out of season, which are yet to be catalogued. There’s no pressure, it’ll get done in its own time!

• Building of core outfits which I either create using the catalogued items - this is the dopamine hit bit - or from what I’m wearing that day and which you can link to your calendar and daily selfies. Et voila!

To me completing these small tasks are like a mindfulness practice for my relationship with my wardrobe. It slows the urge to shop, it focuses me on what I have and it helps me to be creative within my wardrobe (see last week’s post where I recreated outfits using what I already own).

So what is this practice teaching me about my wardrobe and what I am wearing, and what might it teach you? Let’s dive in. While Indyx are actively working on building an area of the app to provide wardrobe stats on ‘what you have and how you are using it’, I’ve made my own notes and here are my findings - nothing groundbreaking but interesting and revealing nonetheless:

• I mostly wear jeans - while this isn’t news to me, it’s good to see it laid out in front of me, and tells me where in my wardrobe to invest. What I’ve also noticed is that there are no glaringly obvious gaps (to me) in my denim collection and I rotate my denim, a lot, which makes me very happy. I’m seeing my Redone Stovepipe, my Levis ribcage (in black and indigo), my Levis 501’s (in white), my Agolde Riley (in distressed blue) and Pinch Waist (in distressed black), my COH Ayla (in skylight), and my trusty old Zara cropped straight leg (similar here) all getting a turn.

• I wear a lot of grey, green and black - does this mean that I can’t add any more of these colours to my wardrobe? 🧐 Not necessarily. I know that

  Sam Preston
  sticks to blacks and neutrals and her wardrobe is always interesting to me. These are obviously just my ‘go-to’ ‘easy to wear’ colours. However I can see beige, taupe, brown and cream creeping in, which I love and will be focusing on for the brighter months. I’m on the hunt for a boxy/ cropped textured beige knit for the summer - answers on the back of a post card please!

• I don’t wear pattern - even a quick glance at my daily outfit images tells me this. Most outfits feature block colours, with little or no embellishment or pattern. While I’m not adverse to pattern, particularly a delicate floral Liberty-esque number or a leopard print bottom, I don’t tend to wear it that often. And as for big bold patterns, they swamp me, so get a firm no.

• My three style words fit - yes, we all know about Allison Bornstein’s three word method at this point, but keeping a wardrobe diary and looking at your own ‘findings’ is a GREAT way to confirm or to help find your three words. I really do feel as though mine - minimal, casual and street/ feminine - actually describe what I am wearing as opposed to what my style aspirations are! The distinctive lack of pattern or ‘fuss’ in my outfits is evidence that the word ‘minimal’ earns it’s spot. The fact that I don’t have much call to get ‘dressed up’ - being a busy mum of 3, working from home most days, and living in a somewhat sleepy small city in the UK - confirms that ‘casual’ is where it’s at. For days when less casual is called for, such as office days, I tend to swap my jeans (not always) and sweatshirts for some tailored trousers and knitwear. Some days I feel like wearing my baggy COH Ayla jeans or my oversized Raey sweatshirt and Adidas handballs - my ‘street’ days - and some days I feel like wearing my Sezane Gaspard, which to me is the ultimate in feminine French girl chic - my ‘feminine’ days. And these days aren’t always, and don’t have to be, exclusive.

What do you think your wardrobe diary would tell you about what you are wearing? I love the idea that it could reveal that we are buying clothes for the lives we don’t have! See below for Anna’s brilliant post on this point.

Why Are We Buying Clothes For Lives We Don't Have?

Wish list pieces and inspiration

Have you been feeling inspired this week? And how’s your wish listing going? Here’s what I’ve seen this week and have loved.

Utility trend:

This image, from Sheerluxe this week on ‘Modern Utility’, literally stopped me in my tracks. I LOVE these looks, the relaxed structure, the fabrics, the muted tones - all of it! I’m so pleased with my recently purchased COH Marcelle pants and preloved Massimo Dutti jacket (similar here), which will fit right in.

Utility Fashion | SheerLuxe

Sheer underlays:

With the sheer trend showing no sign of tapering off, and skirts becoming the latest to get a translucent makeover,

Irene Kim (김애린)

shows us how to make this trend a bit more ‘workable’:

Instead of working hard to make sheer work as an overlay, an accessible way to wear it is peeking out as a “third piece” underlay. The properties of sheer are so effective at communicating an aura of delicacy and femininity, and act as a perfect counterpoint against my otherwise utilitarian knit, trousers, and loafers.

Irene kf, Harpers Bazaar, My take

Leather skirt styling:

This image is from the Matches website which I think we’re all a little bit guilty of trawling lately looking for the ultimate bargain. It struck me for a few reasons: (1) I feel as though this is a very ‘me’ going out outfit; (2) I love it’s simplicity; and (3) I own very similar items and immediately recreated this look in my head, and then IRL. Ah inspiration, nice to have you back ❤️.

Wish list pieces

These are the pieces which have caught my eye this week and which I have added to my wish list for summer.

As of Friday when drafting this post, I was patiently waiting for this gorgeous Faithfull the Brand Antipas top to come back into stock. News hot off the press! I got home late (anything after 10.30 is late now, right? 😆) that night from a most excellent evening of ‘book clubbing’ (the new clubbing), and lo and behold, this top was back in stock, in my size! I’m super excited to try it and will feed back. I love that it’s so simple, so unique in its silhouette and 100% linen.

Known to be ‘never not seeking a good white tee’, this Leset Margo t-shirt appears to be as good as the hype - it comes recommended by

Olivia’s Shopping Diary

and

Angie Smith

. I did a little ‘buy to try’ and once I check sizing, it’s very likely to get to stay.

I love these Ancient Greek Sandals Eleftheria sandals and bought the tan leather version last year in the Net-a-Porter sale. This iteration are rubber and make total sense to me as an elevated take on the casual flip flop.

Faithfull the Brand, Leset, Ancient Greek Sandals

Well, it’s been lovely to have you here! I hope you’ve enjoyed the read, and I hope to see you again next weekend, Jenny x