My 5 favourite wardrobe items

A few other peeps in blogland have followed one of the exercises recommended in the Colette Sewing Handbook, of picking 5 things in your wardrobe that you love to wear and analysing them to try and get a better understanding of your own personal style, and what you value in your clothes.  I've had a go at this now, and my top 5 are below:

1. Chunky necklace

I love this necklace!!  Every time I wear this necklace I get a compliment on it, it's just fab.  Pretty, chunky, unusual and funky (also it's from Accessorize if you can believe it).

2. Brown and yellow blazer jacket

This wool blazer is so warm, but is smart and cool too.  I love the mustard lining, and the pinstripe.  It's a really nicely tailored piece, but isn't "too" smart so I tend to wear it with jeans.

3. Purple blue dress

I love the bright block colour of this dress.  It's empire line so is very flettering to wear, but not too restrctive either.  I like the simple style, fitted bodice but floaty skirt.  I also like the embroidery detail near the hem

Wearing this dress makes me feel really feminine and pretty.

4. Flowery jersey dress

This dress is so soft, comfy and easy to wear.  I can just throw it on and go.  It's basically just a rectangle with a waist tie and a cowly style neckline.  It doesn't exactly make me feel professional or pretty but it does make me feel happy!

5. Chunky biker-style boots

I adore chunky boots.  I own a fair few pairs. Although I'm occasionally tempted to be grown up and actually buy proper shoes, I really am only drawn to converse sneakers and chunky boots!  Boots are practical in wet and muddy weather, and are comfortable for my feet.  Also my favourite thing to do is pair chunky boots with a girly dress, I'm not sure why, I just love that look.

Looking at my chosen items, I'd say I like to mix soft with hard, feminine with a rocky edge I guess.  I like soft comfortable clothes, but also things that make me feel pretty.

Browsing through my wardrobe, whilst selecting these 5 items, made me realise that I really really like blue!  Almost to the point that it’s the only colour I wear.  I am attracted to other colours but don’t tend to wear them, I’m not sure why.  I don’t even know what other colours may suit me!  So that’s challenge #1, make something not blue.

Besides blue, I tend I veer towards earthy tones and darker shades. But one of the reasons I love my purple/blue dress so much is that it’s quite bright and I would not regularly wear a colour that bright.  That’s something I want to change too, so challenge #2 is make something in a bright block colour.

I have also realised I don’t wear trousers much these days.  I tend to buy a bootcut pair of jeans and wear them till they wear out, then buy another and so on.  But other than jeans I don’t really wear any other trousers.  This is partly because of current fashions, I mean skinny jeans, harem pants or high waisted shorts on my body, um I don’t think so!  I also hate jeans / trouser shopping because they never fit me because of my sway back!  They always always gape at the back of the waist, and wearing a belt gives me this unattractive tugging look, nasty!  So that’s challenge # 3 make a pair of trousers that fit me!

Lastly I have spotted that I don’t own a lot of separates.  I own a lot of dresses, and a few long tops that I wear over my denim skirt or jeans, but I don’t own many nice tops or blouses, and the only skirts I wear are my denim mini and my beignet, which to be honest gets pretty limited wear because I have no tuck-in-able tops to go with it.  So finally that’s challenge #4 make more separates (a mix and match selection of tops and skirts/trousers is the ideal).

Right so the next step is too make a croquis, have a play with a few pattern ideas, and try to incorporate my 4 challenges to come up with a list of items to make this year.