From impulse, to staple piece

Even though I've improved a lot in making better wardrobe decisions, sometimes, I still make impulse purchases

Last year, I was having considerable success in downsizing my shoe count, when, I couldn't resist these shoes at Zara. 

When I bought them, it wasn't too much of an impulse - I rationalized the purchase. 

• Kitten heel - Great! Easy to get around in and dressier than flats; 
• Navy - even better, one of my chosen neutral colors; and 
• Different - I didn't own anything similar to this. 

It was a perfect purchase! Until they sat in my closet for an entire year.

I was beginning to beat myself up over having made this purchase. Despite my initial rationale, I knew deep-down I didn't need them and I knew had falsely convinced myself that I did - I just loved them too much to put them back down. 

I wore them a few times but wasn't super impressed by them, and in my closet they sat, until very recently - I think due to my recent clothing and color choices, they seem to go with everything! I've worn them regularly this last month and they're slowly making their way to the ranks of a staple piece! 

I'm so relieved, but I know that not all my impulses will turn into happy endings. It's a good reminder to myself that I may have to walk away from an impulse-looking purchase for at least a day to make sure I don't fall into that trap again.

May color capsule summary and showcase!

N and I have just completed our second month of color capsules! In May, we decided to keep to our basic colors and we each added a color for the start of Spring - she chose peach, and I chose pink!

Here is a summary of our outfits!

Mine - 

I've highlighted my favourites in green. So far, I'm still loving this color capsule concept versus a pre-chosen number of items. With a color capsule, I'm allowed more flexibility but it still keeps my numbers to a manageable amount. Although I introduced pink into the mix, I only used 3 items in that color and the rest of the items are still coming from my basics - black, white, gray, and navy. 

N's - 

Again, I love N's choice. Peach looks fantastic on her and she seems to have incorporated more of her additional color into her outfits than I did. Her clothes always have an interesting pattern or detail to them, and always look feminine; she always uses some fantastic accessories too! 

For the month of June,we have both chosen to add blue, of the brighter variety =) Stay tuned!

3 piece #ootd

This outfit came about because a number of us that are part of an online community of bag lovers, decided that we would use red bags last weekend. Behold, my Michael Kors red hobo (the factory version - I had the boutique version but sold it as I love this version much more). 

Since I can't seem to get enough of the H&M basic dresses I bought earlier in the month, I paired my bag with my navy dress. I usually play it pretty safe with shoes, going with neutral colors, but I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to wear my red American Eagle cork wedges that I purchased several seasons ago from Payless Shoes, but rarely wear. 

It's a very simple outfit but it's exactly why I love it - it's comfortable and easy to wear. I think the mixture of the navy and the height of the wedges makes it a little bit dressier. I'm happy to have discovered this combination, and would definitely wear it for date nights and casual Fridays at the office. Another plus is that it doesn't even make me feel like it's a lot of effort to put together!

April color capsule summary and showcase!

Well, April is over now and N and I have stayed true to our pact and goal. We have been sticking to a color capsule of black, white, navy, and gray for our work outfits. Here's a look at our outfits!

Mine

I highlighted some of my favourites - It was a lot of fun and the only hard part was sometimes I found myself reaching for things that weren't in my color capsule. It wasn't because I couldn't find anything to wear, it was because they happened to be there; instead of giving in, I saved those items for the weekend. I found that I used my Michael Kors skinny belt a lot and it made a big difference - prior to this month, I rarely used the belt but it's now quite a staple of mine. I also tried out a scarf that was sitting in my closet and fell in love with it. My white GAP tunic got lots of wear (still so pleased about this purchase!) and take note, of the variety in shoes - yup, I'm getting quite good at changing up my shoes! Next month, since we are entering warmer weather, I will be adding pink to my color capsule.

N's

Loved all of N's outfits, especially her scarves and this awesome white top that she has, shown in the first outfit, and her fantastic blazer. Seeing hers makes me want a longer blazer as mine are quite short and seem to make me look a bit heavier than I am. She also has fantastic accessories!! For next month, she will be injecting peach/beige to her color capsule. (PS - N went on vacation and we also had a 4 day long weekend. We're not slackers lol). 

Color capsule attempt - Black, White, Gray, and Navy

After my Tuesday post about our dreary Spring, I decided to try a new approach to my wardrobe. When I began my purge, I organized my wardrobe by colors and let go of anything that didn't look good on me. I am going to take it one step further and try to stick to a color capsule of only black, white, gray and navy (blues). 

Why the sudden change? I'm bored by all this rain and also find myself distracted with what I have - it's been harder the last while to put together outfits and I need to re-focus; also, my purging has really slowed down and I find I'm getting tempted to make purchases (I haven't! but I'm tempted!). Since my attempt at a capsule wardrobe didn't work out, I'm hoping this will help me stay focused but allow me to still be flexible. Also, it's a great way for me to wear more of my shoes - since I got so many new pairs lately, I've been working on creating outfits around my shoes (I have a really bad habit of starting with awesome shoes and then changing into flats the second I get a chance)

I discussed my plan with my co-worker (I shall call her N) and she suggested that I only do this for work, or I might get bored or feel restricted. I thought that was a really good point, especially since I still love color, have great pieces, and am still trying to perfect my weekend wardrobe - perhaps I can shift anything outside of the color capsule into my weekend and voila, perfected! (We'll see, haha) 

Also, she loved the color capsule idea so much, that she joined me on my challenge to wear only black white, gray, and navy for the rest of the week. Here are our outfits:

My outfits:

(Shoes: BCBG gray patent pumps; Nine West Swaymeso kitten heels; Nine West leopard pumps)

N's outfits:

I loved all of N's outfits - she looked so perfectly put together for the office and made it look so easy! For myself, I definitely love the idea but I need to actually organize my closet and think about outfits. Since it started out as a whim idea, I wasn't super prepared but we decided we loved the idea so much, that we're going to take the challenge into April - we'll be sticking to the same set of colors. Also, my husband is returning soon (yay!!!) and I will have use of my Stylebook App again (bonus yay!!!).

Did you notice my shoes though? hehe. I think if anything, although I wasn't super happy with my outfits, I AM super happy about my shoes and their rotation. 

Navy - my new ‘go to’ color

Blue was always in my wardrobe but it was mostly because I like the color, not because I knew how to make it work for me. I decided to go with navy as my main blue shade and bought pieces that I would use as ‘anchor’ pieces - pieces that would hold the eye. This year I added a skirt (Gap, similar to this one), kitten heels (Zara), nylon bag (Dooney &Bourke), and zip-wallet (Michael Kors) to the mix.