Products made in India, sport my new "Fashion Tiger" label and those made in Illinois, my traditional "Mrs. Emily" label. 

Spring Planning Sesh Is Underway

Spring Planning Sesh is underway. The goal is not a complete overhaul of your wardrobe, but a strategic refresh: A rebranding and reworking of last year's pieces and the planned addition of new pieces to form a cohesive, interchangeable mix of clothing.

My studio is telling of my Spring fever.

My method is as follows: find inspiration and translate that inspiration to a bulleted shopping list.

1. Find Inspiration. Be inspired by the drip of Spring fashion you can see already in stores and online. Or by the green bits pushing their way through the layers of dead brown leaves. Spend time perusing your favorite websites, instagrams, pinterest boards, magazines, local greenhouses etc. Here are some examples of things that can inspire.

  • That pair of shoes you've been longing after. You see them here and there on instagram and pinterest. You've even found them and stashed them in your online cart at the site with the best deal.
  • That picture you pinned several months back that you adored for no reason in particular and all the reasons at once.
  • That trip you just planned that you're so excited for.
  • That giant awesome necklace or hat or beaded skirt or whatever that you found at your local thrift store that's so so good.
  • Your new hair. You have an upcoming appointment and an impulse to do something drastic.
  • Your latest trip to the mall, where everything was looking Springy and fresh especially that one item you found in that one store and took a picture of because you loved it so much.

2. Look for themes in your inspiration. 

  • As you're perusing pinterest, instagram, the mall, there will be a theme or two that emerges. Do you always gravitate towards scarves? Or tribal prints? Or graphic tees? Or espadrilles? Or a certain color? Or florals? Or sequins? Or trench coats?
  • Build outfit ideas around your inspirational themes. A hidden board on pinterest is particularly useful for this. I use the search function to load a million images of "trench coats" and pin some of my favorite looks. 

3. Translate your themes into a shopping list. 

  • Think small. Edit edit edit what is inspiring you. I am limited in budget and time, so the fewer themes I can narrow it down to, the better. 
  • Inspect last year's spring/summer clothes to find what you have that still works (you can probably do this mentally, or by quickly shuffling through hangers in your closet).
  • Think about your list in terms of filling in holes. Knowing the look that you want (based on your inspirational themes) and also knowing what's in your closet: think about the things you need to complete the look you're going for.
  • Prioritize what should be bought right away and what can wait.
One of the benefits of being a closet minimalist is that my shopping list is always short, which means budget friendly. And dressing in classic pieces makes it easy to incorporate new themes into my existing wardrobe. Dressing minimally and classically is how I can dress on trend. I can refresh my wardrobe in the Spring, not because I have infinite time, money and inspiration, but because I shop smart and plan ahead and have a small collection of clothing.

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