I was late to work seventeen times last year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not particularly disorganised or bad at managing time – well not usually, anyway. My mum will attest to that.
But every.single.morning, without fail, I would spend so long getting ready for work staring stupidly at my wardrobe that I ended up rushing out the door late. I would spend ages standing in my room, door-off-closing-halfway-half-assembled scenario, staring into my wardrobe wishing I could think of something to wear. At exactly 7: 46am each morning there would be this moment of crippling panic when I knew I needed to leave at eight to catch the bus but had nothing to wear.
I would put on three outfits. Hate every single one.
And finally settle on something truly appalling, throwing it on whilst aggressively muttering at myself about needing to sort my life out.
Does this sound familiar to anyone else?
If it doesn’t, good for you. Please carry on with your life.
But seriously. If this is you. I’m here to help.
Trust me. Before I go any further, there is one thing we need to get out of the way. I work in fashion.
Yep. The same stuff-obsessed industry I blame for my chronic overdressing every morning. I used to work at Marie Claire Magazine and now blog about fashion-ey things.
So you’d think I would have this whole “what to wear” thing sussed, right? Wrong. My friends all look to me for advice. “What should I wear to this wedding?” “Does this top match these jeans?” “What’s trendy right now?” Ask anyone and they’ll know that I am the queen of fashion-related catastrophes come Tuesday morning.
But then one day last November I was running late for a SUPER IMPORTANT meeting and after changing about four times I still couldn’t bear to leave the house in what I was wearing. So I sat on my bedroom floor and cried into a mug of tea whilst my boss – who kindly gave me a pass on being late this time – drove past. Something had to give.
Later that night, after a large glass of wine, I took every single item out of my wardrobe and laid them out on my bed. It was a nightmare. Lots of things I hadn’t worn in YEARS.
Items that still had the security tags on. Pieces I wore once, loathed and vowed to return but somehow made it home without. And don’t even get me started on that cardigan my boyfriend told me made me look ‘frumpy’ three years ago.
We broke up ages ago but I still have it in my wardrobe for some reason.. The issue wasn’t that I didn’t have enough clothes. Quite the opposite actually.
I had too many clothes and hardly any of them were ‘me.’ Much of my wardrobe consisted of wishful buys, bargain purchases ‘just because they were too small’, items I was hardly ever asked but felt rude to return and pieces I bought to wear as a ‘different version of myself.’ I started doing a bit of research. Anything and everything I could find about capsule wardrobes and buying less stuff. Most of it wasn’t really my style.
I’ve never been hugely into minimalism and I love colour and texture. And I definitely don’t have the willpower to restrict myself to a wardrobe of 33 things. No matter how darn pretty they all looked together.
But there was one concept that kept cropping up that REALLY resonated with me. Outfit formulas. Essentially an outfit formula is like maths but for clothes.
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Rather than restricting you to a certain amount of items, or forcing you to only wear certain aesthetics, it’s about recognising the formulas that make you feel amazing and shopping with intention to create more outfits like that. Instead of looking at my wardrobe full of endless possibilities I began to view my favourite outfits as formulas I could reproduce. What combinations had I put together in the past that I ended up loving?
What was I reaching for when I knew I looked and felt good? The more I thought about it the easier it became. I realised I had around 5 outfit formulas that I loved wearing.
No Instagram worthy ‘outfits.’ No fancy ‘statement looks.’ Just easy formulas that worked with my body shape and my personal taste. Work = High waist, wide-leg trousers + fitted tee or bodysuit + tailored blazer or cardigan Casual = Straight-leg jeans + oversized shirt or jumper + ankle boots Evening = Midi skirt + tucked in blouse + statement earrings All simple, repeatable outfits that I could wear with any number of colours and textures. It wasn’t about the actual items, it was knowing that certain proportions worked for me every time.
No more trying to force crop tops that showed off my mum poo on days when I wasn’t feeling size-zero slim. No more dresses with weird cutouts that required me to wear 3 layers of underwear and made me feel like I had to constantly adjust. Trust me, I threw out a LOT of clothes.
I literally went through every item I owned and asked myself ‘does this fit into one of my formulas?’ If the answer was no – and I wasn’t ABSOLTUELY IN LOVE with it for sentimental reasons or special occasions – it went straight into a donation bag. I was left with around a third of what I started with BUT everything I had left worked with everything else. I’d essentially curated my dream wardrobe.
Shopping has also become a totally different experience. Instead of getting distracted by random dresses or fancy tops I started asking myself ‘does this fit into one of my formulas?’ And if the answer was no… I didn’t buy it. Not even if it was the last piece of denim in the sale.
I’ve honestly saved myself so much money because of that one question. My colleague Emma was the first to comment on my overhaul. “You’ve been really hitting it lately haven’t you?” She said one morning as we grabbed our coffees before work. I hadn’t mentioned my formula experiment to anyone yet but apparently it showed.
I hadn’t spent the whole morning panicking about my outfit or declaring my hatred for every single thing I tried on. What’s great about style formulas is you don’t feel like you’re stuck repeating the same old things. Obviously I wear the same formula more than once.
But that high waist trouser formula? One day I’ll wear a cream bodysuit and camel cardigan. The next I’ll rock a burgundy top and grey jumper.
Same formula. Completely different look. The biggest game-changer for me has been the time (and mental energy) it’s saved me every morning.
Trying to decide what to wear USED TO take me ages. And most mornings I was leaving the house feeling anxious and self-conscious about how I looked. Now?
I can throw an outfit together in less than 5 minutes knowing that whatever I’m wearing, I’ll feel kinda damn awesome. Don’t get me wrong, nothing will make you look good 100% of the time.
There will still be days when you wake up feeling bigger than normal, or just aren’t feeling yourself.
But instead of those days making me stress about what to wear, they’re now the exceptions.
Nine times out of ten I could sleepwalk into work dressed as the fabulous human pumpkin that I am and know I’d still look PUT TOGETHER. Because having style formulas means I’m no longer getting dressed – I’m just following a foolproof formula. “I haven’t seen you late again!” my boss exclaimed to me a couple of weeks ago. “Did you get yourself a new alarm clock?” Oh boss.
If only you knew… Share your formulas with me! If you struggle with deciding what to wear in the mornings I really hope you can use some of my tips to streamline your wardrobe. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I’ve helped someone live a more organised life!
Let me know your formulas in the comments – I’d love to add some of them to my rotation! Are you struggling with what to wear in the mornings? Stuck in a rut with your style?
Buying things but never actually wearing them? Then it might be time to identify your own style formulas. Hit me up in the comments and let’s get started.
