Ways to Wear Your Current Wardrobe for Every Season
With the seasons comes a plethora of trends – what’s in for winter might not suit what’s in for spring (especially not just because of the changes in weather either!) A way to save yourself from having a total meltdown once you see the seasons changing is to be up to date on all the latest trends, but by donning your very own current wardrobe, you can save money and not have to buy anything new at all!
Save Your Clothes
This suggestion might seem like an obvious choice, but spring and summer are two seasons that go hand in hand with each other, much like fall and winter. By saving your pieces from each season, you can save yourself a trip to your local mall (or for those of you that adore thrifting like I do, a quick stop at your local thrift, Goodwill, or Salvation Army can be skipped) and definitely more than a couple dollars in your wallet. This means you can skip out on the seasonal cleaning out your closet – a lot of time, the peacoat you wore last winter will be in style next year, same with the sun-bleached shorts you donned the summer of 2011. Wear shorts in the winter; just make sure to layer some comfy tights underneath so you don’t freeze and throw on your favorite boots to keep warm! Wear that cute long sleeved shirt in the spring; just make sure it’s thin enough to wear casually and match it with some shorts and sandals so you don’t die from heat stroke. The first step in having new ways to wear your clothes is to have clothes! So only get rid of clothes you absolutely wouldn’t wear, and save the rest!
Upcycle
Upcycling is a newer trend in the DIY department this year. Upcycling is when you take old clothes you no longer want or need and adjust them so they suit your current taste or the newest trend. Upcycling can include turning a t-shirt into a couture-worthy tank top, taking an old floral bedsheet and making it into your new favorite dress, or adjusting a jean jacket to become a cute jean vest! Upcycling is a great way to take your old clothes and make them wearable for any time of the year when you see fit – plus it’s free a lot of the time. All you need are your hands, some time, and your imagination to making your closet everything you want it to be!
Stick to the Basics
By collecting pieces of basic clothing, you can actually make more of a statement with other articles of clothing you wear for select seasons. To go with your newest coat or jacket in the fall to those cute mint-colored high waisted shorts you bought last week for your summer trip, go with either a white tank top, long sleeved shirt, or ¾ blouse. By buying more plain clothing to go with your statement pieces, you can save money on buying one shirt just to go with those pieces only to make one outfit! By buying basics, you can improve your wardrobe and spend less money on more articles of clothing. In those colder months, you can layer your plain tank tops over a cute long sleeved shirt or underneath your coat to keep warm. Fashion comes at a price, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer!
Collect Accessories
Accessories might seem like a small part of your wardrobe, but they can really make all the difference in an outfit. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a celeb go onto the worst dressed list because of the accessories they chose to go with a gorgeous gown or frock. Collect jewelry you can wear year-round with all of your clothes so that you can wear them with anything. Going to vintage shops and spending money on silver bangles in the summer might seem a little silly come gold-themed fall, but you can always mix it in with statement necklaces to dress up those dull winter colors. A big trend this season is arm candy – a cute way to say stackable bracelets that you can wear year-round! That peach colored handbag you bought last spring might seem a little frilly come winter, but you can always keep it in cycle with neutral colors like black or gray that fill the winter dress code. By having a small collection, you can keep your accessories for every season, every outfit!
Educate Yourself
If you struggle with maintaining with current trends or are constantly out of ideas on how to wear your clothes, there are tons of YouTube channels and blogs run by beauty gurus and stylists to help you out! Among the thousands of videos and posts you’ll see online, many serve to assist you in your quest for fashion liberation. If you’re not too sure how to wear your hair with a certain shirt or what to pair with the jeans you bought last week, tuning in to a short five minute YouTube video can work wonders on the fashion brain freezes you might have. Referencing sites such as Lookbook can help a lot more than you think. Many videos and blogs are run by stylists who work on those Fashion Week runaways or photoshoots with the very magazines you have come to cherish! One of my personal favorite stylists to watch on YouTube is the ever-informed Chriselle Lim. Depending on your style, it won’t be hard to find your own favorite!
These tips are some ideas that have helped me to dress up my previously disastrous wardrobe. But following these rules and being a little stricter with yourself, you can find yourself saving a lot of money on clothes and still being every bit as fabulous as you want to be! Happy shopping or, in this case, not!
