Progress Report 01: Dressing more like myself

On defining my style, digital and physical closets, and quilted coats.

Heyyy! It’s been a while (okay, it’s been over a year lol), but I’m back with a monthly newsletter to casually chat about some of my many works in progress. Each month, you can expect the Progress Report to be a short and sweet newsletter with some variation of these topics:

• Small projects that I’m currently working on

• Long term projects or goals that I’m always working towards

• Future projects I’m planning

• Professional projects

• Maybe even something that’s actually done

Long Term Project: I’m always working towards dressing more like myself

In general, I feel like I’m a stylish person, but have always felt stunted in how I think about my wardrobe and how I dress myself. I wanted to know why I have the same 5 outfits on repeat and why some specific pieces made me feel off. I’ve been trying to understand and define my style by articulating my preferences and setting parameters for any new garments coming in.

My three words are my stylistic north star.

I started by choosing three words to describe my style. These three words serve as a criteria for anything new coming in:

• Sporty = how I would describe the clothes I actually wear

• French = how I aspire to dress

• Bold = how I want to feel in my clothes

These words are up for interpretation, but for me they tell me that my uniform is going to be preppy-leaning activewear with a fun splash of color or pattern. I can apply these words to any hypothetical outfit and feel like myself.

Ironically, I feel better about removing garments from my closet than I do about adding them.

Once I felt good about my three words, I moved on to editing. I separated my clothes into piles:

• Clothes that I wear all the time

• Clothes that I do wear but are currently out of season

• Clothes that I don’t wear

Removing the clothes that I don’t wear had a huge impact on the way I felt about my wardrobe. My entire sense of style felt so much more refined without the worn out and ill fitting clothes in my way.

My small closet is no longer my excuse for having a chaotic wardrobe.

My closet is small and we have yet to build shelving, so it’s basically a little black hole. Working with what I’ve got has pushed me to get everything organized digitally with the Indyx app. I now have my entire wardrobe digitally cataloged so I can easily see everything I have without needing to rummage through storage boxes.

Screenshots of my Indyx closet app

This app has also encouraged me to track my outfits to understand what I actually wear, and even breaks down the cost per wear of items. These metrics help me make more informed decisions about what to bring into my wardrobe, and the list feature has helped me keep track of the things I am shopping for. I also love being able to visualize complete outfits with anything I’m considering purchasing.

Future Project: Closet build

My closet is currently a blank slate. I have pretty detailed plans for building out shelving, and while I’m still working on filling some gaps in my wardrobe, I at least have figured out where each item will live.

Closet plans

I’m planning on simple shelf construction with a mix of baskets, boxes, and dividers to organize specific items. I’m excited for a better way to store my things. My fabulous boots deserve to live in a nice box for the 360 days each year that they do not get worn.

This closet has been a long time coming as we come up on three years of living in this house, but I’m glad we’ve waited. I made a rough plan for what I wanted in my closet when we first moved in, and it is nothing like the current plan. This is a more efficient use of space and way more practical for what I actually wear. Hopefully it comes to fruition in the next couple months!

Small Project: Quilted Coat

The idea of a quilted coat has been rattling around my brain for years. I’m using the Minimalist Cardigan pattern by Tobias Konrath and discount drapery fabric from JOANN.

Quilted coat in progress

When I got the fabric cut, the lady asked what I was making and then made a disgusted face and said, “Oh, interesting. Maybe you’ll start a trend!”

Maybe I will! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Interested in taking a deep dive into your own closet? I highly recommend reading:

• The Creative Pragmatist Book by Amy Smilovic

• Wear it Well by Allison Bornstein

• Articles of Interest by Avery Trufelman

Thanks for reading and see ya next month!