How to Build a Timeless Wardrobe : Color Matters

First and foremost, I care about creative outfits and easily being able to put together a unique (but quick) outfit. If that’s a value of yours too, this series of posts on Building a Timeless Wardrobe is totally for you. If you really like to keep things funky and trendy or overly simple, this might not be for you AS much, but you should still take a gander at my take on Timelessness.

Something I wish I would have known when I first started shopping for myself wayyyyy back in high school (2004?), was this: color matters.

Do you remember what it felt like to start shopping for your outfits all on your own?

In high school I was torn between dressing trendy and dressing vintage. I was inspired by the looks of the forties and fifties and absolutely loved that vintage Zoey Deschannel Twee vibe, but I also lived and breathed every modern outfit Hilary Duff wore as Lizzie McGuire. Am I even a millennial if I wasn’t influenced by those two women?

So, I tried to have a bit of both in my wardrobe. But it all felt mismatched and chaotic.

What I didn’t know until recently, is that having a good 7-10 colors I LOVE and LOOK GOOD in, is a really great place to start when it comes to building a wardrobe I will wear over and over. A wardrobe that doesn’t feel mismatched and chaotic.

If you’re like, “Cool, how do I find out what those colors are?” you gotta try out this post on Building Your Color Palette.

If you’re like, “I want to wear all the colors regardless of whether they compliment my skin, hair, and eyes, I want to wear it because I love it”, PLEASE DO THAT. I rocked that mindset for the longest time. Nowadays, I’m trying to wear things that make my eyes pop or that stay in my closet for years and years on end, which means shopping within a certain color palette so all my new and old items can mix and match easily. It’s still a FUN color palette and I can still get SUPER creative with fun pops of color. So, take or leave my advice below.

Here’s what I didn’t understand about shopping TRENDS and COLORS:

Trends are sometimes a remix of the past or totally something fresh and new (but also maybe very temporary). What I didn’t understand is that colors are also trendy.

In the past two years, pastels and neons have become incredibly trendy, whether you were shopping in the spring, summer, fall, or winter. While certain colors tend to be sold during certain seasons (you’ll understand why if you keep reading), the light pastel trend or neon trend was popular all year. And if I were in high school, I probably would have been begging my mom to buy me some cute pink sweatshirts… but I’ve come a long way this past year as I’ve figured out what colors actually look good on me, and a trendy millennial pink really looks terrible on me, and if it looks bad, I really find I never reach for it in my closet and end up donating it. So, even though I was tempted to, I didn’t jump on the pastel trend.

Here’s what I didn’t understand about shopping vintage:

High school Stacie (and current Stacie) also really loved thrifting and vintage vibes. I lived for a poodle skirt, pencil skirt, or polka dot top. I was also really into buying men’s ties and wearing them with collared shirts (you know this came from Avril Lavigne’s style). Color-wise, I didn’t understand that just because it’s cheaper and really cute, doesn’t mean it works with my daily outfits or looks good on me.

I shopped vintage and thrifted so often because I loved it and was really good at finding cool stuff, but my closet quickly became very color scattered and not cohesive because I was buying a bunch of items that didn’t compliment anything I already owned or actually looked good in. Maybe the fit was perfect, but the color was never one I actually reached for.

I wanted to wear red SO badly, but it turns out I only look good in CERTAIN shades of red, not all reds. I wanted to wear navy blue all the time because I found so much of it at the thrift store, but it turns out, I LOOK TERRIBLE IN NAVY BLUE. But Green, I look brilliant in green, it makes my eyes pop. And caramels, I can eat and wear caramel all day every day.

In short, I wish I would have paid more attention to colors that looked good on me.

Nowadays, I shop according to the colors I love and the shades that look best on me. And here’s where it all started, just one year ago, when I discovered my color palette.

Do you have colors in your closet you never reach for? Have you considered why that is?