The Lean Wardrobe
I think it’s safe to say that most if not all of us are guilty of staring blankly into a closet bursting to the seam and exasperatedly giving up because you simply have nothing to wear!
In hindsight it might not seem illegitimate to think this when you know you own so many tops that you’ve forgotten about half of them. However, there’s a reason behind this problem and a very viable solution so read ahead to find out how a quick change to your fashion habits can save you money, time, stress and don’t even get me started the environmental benefits!
The problem: We buy clothes constantly, however, tend to get caught up in the current ‘in’ trends and buy before fulling considering our current wardrobe and how it will be incorporated into this.
The solution: I would like to introduce to you the ‘Lean Wardrobe’.
‘Lean Wardrobe’ is defined by ‘effortlessgent’ as the minimum number of items you need to create a flexible, well-rounded wardrobe that suits your daily life.
As you can tell this definition would mean different things to individual styles and preferences but no matter who you are, what your style is this can work for you. It’s about quality over quantity, buying the right clothes and learning how to mix and match.
You may have heard of extreme wardrobe altering challenges such as the 365 day challenge- do not buy new clothes for a year, or throw out one item of clothing per week. These types of challenges can be successful, however, from personal experience I do not have enough self- discipline to go without a new item of clothing for a whole year!
The ‘Lean Wardrobe’ allows for creativity while maintaining ethical and sustainable practices. Think about your absolute favourite outfit. Something you could wear everyday forever. For me it’s a pair of navy skinny jeans, white t-shirt, black casual shoes paired with a black pullover and statement necklace. Now build upon that. Piece by piece you will have a wardrobe that you will absolutely adore and will make use of every piece of.
The pyramid
The Lean Wardrobe pyramid provides a guide for the types and amount of clothes you should have.
Base level: Let’s start off with the easy stuff. Base level clothing are the essentials. Black jeans, white t-shirt, cream jacket. Pieces made of ‘muted’ colours that will match with ANYTHING!
Middle Level: In the middle level you can start to be a bit more adventurous; introducing colour, pattern and textures. But remember you require less of these due to their limited mixing ability, hence you will wear them less often.
Top Level: Items that lie here are the ultra- trendy yet low mixing ability pieces. They accent and finish an outfit, however, are not something you require a lot of. This might include brightly coloured jewelry or your favourite patterned pants. These are the items you need to limit down to just a few of each.
How to you get started with setting up your own lean wardrobe?
You need to set aside time to filter through all your clothes and pick out the best of the best. If you, like me, have difficulty throwing out clothing although you definitely don’t wear it enough to justify keeping it, then start by selecting your favourite items.
Most of the time we go through everything at once, instead approach the process backwards and just select the essentials.
Think about it this way- with a lean wardrobe literally get to wear your favourite clothes every day and will really feel like you have a ‘full’ wardrobe.
Megan Allman
Co- Founder of Conscious Wardrobe
