If you have been following along with Ask Away's Building Your Wardrobe Series you should have accomplished the following (And if not, click on the links and it'll take you to that blog post:
Step 1: Identify your Core Color
Step 2: Identify your Secondary Colors
Step 3: Purging and Lists
Step 4: Purchasing Your New Wardrobe
Building Your Fall Wardrobe
Building Your Winter Wardrobe
Building Your Spring Wardrobe
Building Your Summer Wardrobe

(And along the way I showed you Outfit of the Day posts for inspiration!)

So the Final Step is:
Organizing Your New Wardrobe

As we discussed before, you want to make sure it's easy to find all of your clothing, and this means organization! 

First things first,  move things out of drawers that don't need to be stored there.  If you have an accessory drawer in your night stand, maybe you can change that to a hosiery drawer.  I used to have my bras stored in a drawer, but then I got a Bra Tree, which is perfect for hanging them up.  If you don't want to use it for bras you can always use it for jewelry. 

I hang my scarfs on little hooks in the back of my closet and I also make sure that my shoes are organized with all the current season picks.  If you have a lot of things that you aren't wearing remember to move them to a different closet or store them in under the bed bins.

I organize my clothes by type: Jackets, Blazers, plain tees, blouses, printed blouses, colored skinny jeans (I hang these but fold and store all the regular casual jeans on my top shelf in the closet), tunics, cardigans.  Then within each category I organize by color.  I originally color coded my hangers by section so I would remember where to store things after they came out of the laundry, but now I pretty much have it down to a tee. 

A major benefit of being organized is that it's much easier to find your specific outfits and their components and you won't feel overwhelmed and frustrated.  If you only have what you wear, you'll never have to skip past "icky" outfits.  I also pick my outfits out a day or two in advance and hang them.  This way if I don't like how it looks once it's on I still have some extra time to change because I didn't spend as much time picking it out.

Also, I suggest you purchase My Clothing Helper to track when you last wore something and when it needs washed.

Make sure all your counters are cleared off on your vanity, and in your bathroom.  This makes getting ready much easier.  To store makeup, I suggest purchasing a My Face Case.  It is easy to take with you on the go as well!

I hope you enjoyed the series! And don't forget to check out my Outfit of the Day posts to see how I used all these steps to create my own new wardrobe.  You can get great ideas and inspiration from outfit posts!

Building Your Wardrobe for Summer

We covered Spring so what about Summer?

For Summer you want to pull out all of the lighter clothing that you have out to wear in the Spring.  You can embrace thin fabrics and bright colors once again.   Make sure you embrace the sundress.

Here are some things you should have as add ons for a Summer wardrobe:

Tees and tanks (solid or printed)

Rompers (if you wear them)

Printed/solid skirts

Solid blouses and cardigans in your secondary colors

Tunics in secondary colors

Printed tunics

White skirts

White dresses

White jackets

Dark thin weight pants

Cropped dark pants such as capris

Summery denim pants (that have a washed look)

For shoes you want to make sure you have some nice flats, wedges, and a nude sandal high heel.  Also, black wedge sandals are excellent for parties.  And yes, embrace the open toed shoes now because this is really the last season to do so before you pack them away for the next 2 seasons or so!

Metallic shoes are also a great idea to add some sparkle to your summer outfits. 

You can pack your heavy scarves away but any sheer, lightweight ones can be used again in Summer.  You can wear them as headbands as well!

Dressing for work:

Wear some nice airy tunics and colorful cardigans are great when the weather is calm and not stifling hot or humid. 

Coral is a great summer color especially for the office. 

If it’s super hot and sticky, make sure you wear lightweight fabrics and dresses.  Keep your dresses at an appropriate length and don’t buy anything that is too low cut.  Skirts look great with plain tops and a matching sheer scarf.

If it’s just regular Summer weather, short sleeved dresses look amazing with a cute jacket.

Khaki skirts look fabulous with a light, year round blazer and a printed blouse top. 

Remember – when it comes to bra straps showing in the summer, it’s still taboo so invest in some bra clips that help you make your bra into a racerback.  This will hide them and it’s still comfortable to wear. 

On the weekends:

Dress in fun and bright colors.  You can shorten your blouses by tying them at the bottom and wearing a full skirt.

You can still layer in the winter.  If you wear rompers you can wear a skirt over them and a white full skirt looks great with a printed top and light denim jacket. 

Check back on Friday when I go over how to organize your closet!

Building Your Wardrobe for Spring

Last week we covered Building Your Wardrobe for Fall and for Winter.  Now it's time to bookmark or save this blog post because you will need it again in a few months when it's time to dress for...Spring!!

Spring is all about adjusting to the new weather and the new colors and trends.  You can start to prepare your Spring-friendly closet at the end of March or beginning of April.  That’s when I do it. 

Before you put all your Winter stuff back into storage make sure you look for any basic winter pieces that are good for layering in the Spring.  Skirts and tights and even dresses are good for this. 

Just store away any huge poofy sweaters and the really dark colored sweaters.

For Spring prepare to embrace the bright skirts, dresses, blouses, and jackets that are out there!

For Spring you will want to have these basics:

A trench coat

Dark Jacket

Dark jeans

Dark Skirt

White/cream blouse

Colored blouse

Cardigans

For your add ons you will want the following in secondary colors:

Solid skirts

Printed skirts

Solid dresses

Printed dresses

Solid blouses

Striped blouses and tops

Solid cardigans

Cropped jackets

And light sweaters

You can still wear some of your winter shoes in the spring and you can even begin to wear summer styles!

When dressing for work:

Remember to layer!  Use your basics and your secondary color add ons.  Spring type skirts look great over tights and wear  a simple light sweater top. 

Print tops look great with jackets and patterned tops can be paired with brightly colored bottoms.

Embrace the animal print side of your wardrobe.  Leopard print looks great with coral tights and a scarf.  And dark pants can be worn with bright scarves and striped tops.  I highly recommend purchasing at least one striped shirt.  Keep stripes narrow and vertical. 

For Weekends and evenings:

Jeans and a short dress top with a trench over top will be weather appropriate and very stylish.

Bright colored tops look great with flowy skirts and even flowy patterned dresses.

I still like to layer in the spring and I tend to dress casual in outfits that if I walked into the office in what I was wearing, it would be totally appropriate. 

Skinny jeans are great in the Spring because they aren’t super bulky and you can wear them in fun bright colors.  I like getting a solid colored grey sweater and then pairing it with skinny jeans and a scarf in a bright color.   You can also play around with color blocking and wearing different shades of the same color. 

Check back in a couple days where I’ll explain the basics for a Summer wardrobe and we’ll finish this series off with good ways to organize your closet. 

Building Your Wardrobe for Winter

Okay so we have covered Building Your Wardrobe for Fall so now it's time for Winter!

Winter is great because it’s the time for comfy and cozy attire, and you can style everything in a simple manner.  You want to pull your super thick and cozy shirts and sweaters out from your storage area and make sure you have the following:

Printed Skirts

Plaid Skirts

Printed Dresses

Solid Dresses in secondary collors

Solid cardigans in secondary colors

Solid sweaters in secondary colors

Remember – It’s okay to wear solid colors in the Winter because you can always add a scarf in another color to help add to your look.

And you also need to make sure you have the following from your original closet stock:

Dark sweaters

Light blouses

Dark Cardigans

Dark printed blouses

Patterned skirts

And dark skirts

You can easily wear your Fall boots for the Winter.  Just make sure you invest in some adorable rain boots and snow boots. 

When dressing for Work:

Try wearing a solid black dress or sweater dress with colored tights underneath.  A printed or colorful dress can be worn with black tights and a black blazer. 

Blazer and Dress by ellenr886 featuring a floral print dress

You can also wear black work pants with a patterned blouse and a sweater over top.  This will keep you warm and gives you a nice layered look.  

Cardigan and Blouse Work Look by ellenr886 featuring a black cardigan

When dressing for weekends and evenings in the Winter:

Leopard print tops look great with black or brightly colored tights.  And black boots over the tights finish off the look.  

Leopard Print by ellenr886 featuring a jersey dress

The only thing with Winter is that there are so many holiday events going on that your regular wardrobe will be interrupted so it’s okay to not worry about Winter as much.  In November and December I’ll highlight some holiday outfits!

Check back next week as I cover Spring and Summer and how to organize your closet with your new wardrobe!

Building Your Wardrobe: Fall

You may or may not have started shopping yet, and either way that's fine, but since we are in Fall, I wanted to start with Fall clothes and what you will need.  Remember - look for your core colors, secondary colors, and keep record of what you already have in your closet.

Preparing Your Fall Wardrobe

For Fall you will want to pull all of your heavy weight sweaters and tops out from storage. 

You want to make sure you have:

Dark turtleneck

White/Cream Blouse

Cardigans

Jackets

A nice, dark winter coat

Printed Black dress (houndstooth, etc. some sort of pattern on it)

Dark denim jeans

Dark short skirts

Dark pencil skirts

And a full skirt if you wear things like that.  I personally don’t wear any kind of flare on my bottom half. 

These items will be things you will wear most, to help tone down an outfit.  Sure color blocking is fun, but for the Fall and Winter it’s always good to tone it down with a dark piece in your core color. 

You will still use your secondary colors so be sure you have the following in your closet from your secondary colors:

Solid cardigans

Solid blouses

Pants

Sweater dresses

Patterned skirt or shorts

Printed blouses

Printed tees

Dark jacket

Jeans

Also – pick up some tights that are black with designs on them, like ones that have a lacier look to them.  It offsets the black you might wear in your outfit and lets just a tiny hue of skin show!

When it comes to shoes – now is the time to embrace the boots! 

Make sure you have:

knee high boots

flats

booties

riding boots

There is NOTHING worse than getting dressed and realizing you can’t wear an outfit because you don’t have the appropriate shoes.  Fall and winter are tough because you can’t wear your open toed shoes from the Summer.

I also suggest you embrace the idea of wearing a scarf in the Fall because it’s a great way to keep warm, and a great accessory to brighten up your outfit. 

So how are you going to wear all of this stuff?

Well… I will summarize it for you. 

When dressing for work:

You start with a core color item (blazer, pants, etc.) and you use your add ons for it. 

For instance – you can wear a solid top in your secondary colors, like a pink shirt and then you just pair it with a black skirt and pink tights.  Finish it off with some riding boots to offset the whole skirt thing and you have yourself an outfit!

Skirt/boot/blazer look by ellenr886 featuring a lace skirt

Another idea is wearing a printed black dress over colored tights with a black blazer over top.  You can even wear a belt in the same color as your tights.  See?  Most of us don’t think to wear non-winter styles during the cooler months but all you need to do is add some tights and a blazer and you can make it work. 

Printed Dress by ellenr886 featuring opaque tights

Flower print dress
$35 - fashionunion.com

Urban Outfitters opaque tight
urbanoutfitters.com

Blink stiletto heels
$32 - republic.co.uk

KG Kurt Geiger skinny belt
$6.41 - kurtgeiger.com

Now that you have all these outfit ideas in mind, you can think of what works for you, jot down ideas, and make sure you get the Fall add ons that go with that look! I always try to have 6 outfit ideas in my closet that I know for sure will work for the office.  That way I never think to myself (what If I don’t have a different outfit for each day this week?!

For Weekend outfits (or casual office attire):

Try to make your outfits follow this simple guideline – Wear it in 3’s.  Like jeans, a simple top, and a cardigan or a skirt, a blouse and a scarf.

For weekend outfits try a skirt with tights and then an interesting and unique jacket over a brightly colored top. 

Casual Fall Look by ellenr886 featuring scoop neck tops

Scoop neck top
tillys.com

Miss Selfridge tux jacket
missselfridge.com

Miso short mini skirt
$32 - republic.co.uk

Opaque tight
topshop.com

High heels
delias.com

Tights can also be worn under shorts and can give your office outfit a great weekend look.  Plus, you get to utilize clothes from other seasons, which saves you money in the long run.  Sweater dresses can also be worn over tights.

Layering is a great idea in Fall because it is practical in that it keeps you warm, but it can help your simple colors get spiced up just by adding a colored blazer or cardigan.

You can also wear a printed blouse under a jacket with black skinny jeans and flat boots. Heck, you can throw a scarf on there and look totally polished!

Fall Evening Outfits:

These are pretty easy. 

Sweater dresses always look great with tights and heels and it’s okay if your heels are higher and your dress is shorter than it is for the office.  

Sweater Dress for Fall by ellenr886 featuring low heels

Cable knit dress
macys.com

Long sleeve blue dress
sheinside.com

J by Jasper Conran black hosiery
$19 - debenhams.com

Low heels
tillys.com

Your homework for the next couple days is to set out and photograph (even with your phone) some outfits to wear to work and on the weekends.  Test them out, get familiar with your wardrobe and then you’ll get braver as the weeks go on.

Definitely tweet me your outfits and share them on the Ask Away Facebook page!! 

Check back at the end of this week and I’ll show you how to transition easily from Fall to Winter. 

And if you need outfit ideas - check out my Outfit of the Day posts!

Building Your Wardrobe - Step 4: Purchasing Your New Wardrobe

I hope you had a great weekend full of cleaning and sorting out your closet and coming up with a list of things you have and still need.  Some of the items on your list will be in your core color and some will be in your secondary color.

Step 4 is...
Purchasing Your New Wardrobe

Now that you have sorted through everything and you have a list (exhausting huh) the fun part begins.  You get to shop!!   I did my shopping over the course of a week. I kept my list in my purse and whenever I got the energy and urge to go out, I did and I pulled out my list. 
TJ Maxx was a great place for my basics.  You might even have to look in the Juniors section for bright colors.  I found my stuff in the misses, women’s and Juniors section.

Marshalls was good for shoes!

Target had a nice selection of flats and scarves.

Old Navy has a ton of bright colors for skinny jeans and also some adorable cardigans and they are reasonably priced.  I literally have almost every color of skinny jeans from there now.

Kohls also has a lot of items that will be on your list, I’m sure!

Go in waves.  Search for the skirts you need all at once. Scour all sections of the store for it, then go back through and look for the tops you need, etc.

So now your homework is to do some shopping!!!!   And let me know how it goes! If you don’t want to go shopping yet you can wait till I do the next post this week on your Fall wardrobe and you can instead shop for some things you will need for your Fall closet.

Building Your Wardrobe: Step 3 - Purging and Lists

On Monday, we discussed core colors and Wednesday, we covered secondary colors.  So by now you should have your core color and at least 2 secondaries.  Keep those colors in mind because you will need them when we begin making a list.

It's on to step 3!

Purging your current wardrobe and identifying what you still need

Now comes the fun or not so fun part, but guess what!  I’m giving you a whole weekend to do this! 

Take EVERYTHING out of your closets and drawers and lay it out.  You are going to go through EVERYTHING One by one and ask yourself:
Have I worn this in the past 6 months?
Did I feel attractive in it?

Did it fit well?

*Make a keep pile and a get rid of pile.  Just two piles for now.

If you never wore something and it still has tags, definitely put it in the Get rid of pile.  You cane ither donate it or sell it or give it to someone who wants it. 

*Try things on!!!  How else can you know if they fit or not?!  Don’t be afraid to go crazy when it comes to purging your things. You can always go through your Get Rid Of Pile  a second time to make sure you don’t have any regrets.

I put all of my things back into my closet then when I was done so I could see what I had left. 

For now – You can separate the seasonal things like Summer dresses and beach wear  and also heavy sweaters that you wear in winter.  You want your main closet to have the basic stuff you can wear year round whether it’s alone or layered with something.  If you have another closet you can keep the seasonal stuff in that’s great but if not, consider buying large plastic bins that you can fold and store your items in.  Don’t pack them away forever though because you’ll actually need some of your fall stuff next week when we cover that wardrobe.

And remember – just because something is made for warm weather doesn’t mean you need to consider it seasonal.  Cardigans can always be worn over things in the cooler months.

I then made a list of the basic items you need in core colors and the basic and add ons you need in your secondary colors.

They are:

Basics in Core Color:

Blazer

Blouse

Cami

Pants

Tights

A typical black dress

Skirts

Jacket

Cardigan

And Dark wash denim jeans

Shoes:

Black Heels

flats

riding boots

booties

Nude heels

Basics and Add ons in Secondary color:

A Printed Dress

Tights in secondary colors

Tanks/cami’s in your secondary color

Blouses (with patterns or just solid colors)

Printed skirt

Solid dress in secondary color

Cardigans in secondary colors

Scarves in secondary colors

Write all of these down.  Don’t get overwhelmed yet…you may not have to buy ALL of it.  Look in your closet for what you already have and then cross it off the list.  Your goal is to purchase what you still need on that list.

Your homework assignment for the weekend is to begin purging your current wardrobe and listing what you need. Make sure you make this list on a large piece of paper that you can fold up and bring to the store with you.  It’s what I did with mine and mine is so crumpled now! But I love it and I love crossing things off of it.

What did you find you had most of and what do you REALLY need to get? Next week I’ll cover how to buy what you need, where to get it, and how to find the best deals.  You can do this with just a couple hundred dollars which isn’t that bad at all!

Building Your Wardrobe: Step 2 - Identifying Your Secondary Colors

Earlier this week, we discussed core colors and how to identify your core color.... so now it's time to move on to Step 2!

Identifying your secondary colors

Yep, everyone has secondary colors.  It’s probably something you like to wear a lot because when you see it in the stores, you remember all the compliments you receive in that color.  And THAT probably means it’s something compliments you.  Whether it brings out your eye color or goes well with your skin, your secondary colors will be what you base the additional components to your wardrobe around.

Mine is Pinks and Purples

And Blues and greens

I am sticking mainly to the pinks and purples but because the green and blue go so well with my eyes and skin color, I listed that as my secondary colors as well I just don’t have as many items in those colors as much. 

Your homework assignment for the next 2 days is...
Identify your secondary colors.  Think of at least 2. 

**Having trouble??
Well, do you have a lot of printed tops or dresses?  What colors are printed on them?  Pick some colors from that.  I had a dress that was splattered with pinks, blues, and oranges so I picked the pink from that.  I could wear that dress with components of my secondary color Pink!

So what are your secondary colors? List them below!