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Over the last few months, I have been really purging a lot of clothing around here as well as really figuring out what I’d like from my personal style before investing anymore. I ended up getting rid of over 200 items of clothing from our closets in March; I thrift a lot and still had clothing from high school and some items from middle school, but let’s move on from the clothing hoarding issue I had 😝. I was tired of washing clothing because I’d try it on and then decide it didn’t go together or having a full closet with nothing to wear. I realized my coping mechanism for not liking my closet the last few years was to buy more black because black and black always goes together, right? Well, not really, actually. This is how I deleted black from my closet + invested in having a style.
RELATED // My closet purge and how you can easily do it too
THE BEGINNING OF MY INVESTMENT
I’ve spent a lot of time in my life thinking aesthetics are frivolous even though I highly value them. The older I have become though, the more I have realized that as long as I affordably invest in aesthetics (home decor and clothing included) that they add a lot of value to my life. I like having an environment that I think is beautiful and I like having a closet I enjoy wearing. I decided to stop feeling guilty about it and start investing in myself a little more in that department.
Back in January, as a late Christmas present, I decided to buy the Dressing Your Truth course. This course is now available for free which is awesome! This program is based around energy profiling. This program helps you identify you and then dress accordingly so it reflects with how you show up to the world. I don’t follow or believe in all aspects of the program: I simply use it as a clothing system. I feel like I’ve been able to put together a cohesive closet now!
The Dressing Your Truth program goes down to the very basics of teaching you about design line, texture, fabrication, pattern and color of clothing. By learning this, the program teaches you how to have you really shine through your clothing, accessories, makeup, hair, and personal growth. I am still learning how to figure out how my personal style reflects what I am learning. However, it has made shopping very easy and formulaic. I’m wearing and trying on a lot of clothing that I never would have tried before, but getting a lot of compliments. The biggest change for me though? I knew I was going to have to stop wearing so much black.
Edit // I’m probably a 1/4 in this system, but when I was doing this post I was trying out 3/2. I follow the stylistic rules now to help me have a cohesive closet in a lot of ways, but I use my seasonal palette. This system helped me realize though that I like classic items with a touch of romance or whimsy.
STARTING TO INVEST IN MY STYLE
I’ll admit it, I was afraid to wear color. I realized I stopped wearing color before I went to grad school. It was an easy way to make everything go together and for me to try to look more like an adult in professional settings. Devin had been telling me for a few months that he was tired of seeing me wear black. It never even occurred to me how much I wore black, but I would make myself try on different things at the thrift store and I knew it wasn’t the most flattering color on me. I kept rationalizing that I had so much clothing with black and I couldn’t just waste all of them. To follow the program though, I needed to stop wearing black and I like rules.
When I told Devin that I needed to get rid of black, but I literally wouldn’t have any clothing if I did, he really surprised me. My husband is pretty tight with our cash and do you know what he said? “Buy all of the clothes you want, as long as they aren’t black.”
Hold on, what?
I watched a video on Dressing Your Truth‘s website that showed me how to do a capsule wardrobe to start off and Devin was like “well, that makes sense. Go buy it.”
… and so, I emptied out my blogging paycheck account for my closet and some things for our trip and didn’t look back.
ROUND 2 OF MY CLOSET PURGE
I went through my whole closet and removed everything that I couldn’t dye to be my type in this program or that I really just did not wear. I sacked it up that night until 3 AM in the morning. I was shocked at how empty my closet was, but also felt a great sense of relief. I hate laundry. I hate having clothing I don’t even wear. I dropped off my bags of clothing to the thrift store the next day and then realized I had been kind of rash because my new clothing actually wasn’t in the mail yet. I allowed myself to keep one bag of clothing that felt sentimental to me, but I’ve found that I haven’t worn it since I received my new clothing so that will probably soon go too.
Let’s take a moment of silence for my clothing hoarding problem being over for good. Goodbye to the clothing I no longer have or miss.
MY CAPSULE ITEMS
Anything that I currently had that fit my clothing profile I kept, but I made sure I had the following items in my closet or I bought them:
- a dress
- a pencil skirt
- a fancier top
- a more casual top
- a cardigan
- a vest
- blue jeans
MY OUTFITS
I noticed in these photos that I haven’t been taking pictures much outside of Sunday, but I have plenty of tops and accessories that I have been putting together to make great outfits now. I absolutely love it! Everything in my closet goes together, fits, can easily be mixed and matched, and I do not have a single item that I have not worn. This program taught me how to equally love all of the items in my closet and identify why and I’m absolutely in love with that!
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Hat from Walmart: similar here // Dress from Amazon: here // Watch from Jord c/o: here // Scarf from Amazon: similar here // Belt from Amazon: similar here
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Sweater from Amazon: here // Tunic from Zulily: similar here // Cougar Boots: here // Jeggings from Walmart: similar here
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Sweater from Amazon: here // Dress from Amazon: here // Cougar Boots: here // Belt from Amazon: similar here
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Sweater from ThredUp: similar here // Pencil skirt from Amazon: here // Wrap shirt from Amazon: here // Scarf from Amazon: similar here // Cougar Boots: here
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Sweater from Ireland: similar here // Dress from Amazon: here // Cougar Boots: here // Belt from Amazon: similar here
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I’m in love with my new closet without black and I have been especially enjoying just having my own adult style. I’m now exploring a whole new world of neutrals that don’t wash me out! Never in a million years did I think I would take the plunge and get rid of all of my dark and heavy clothing, but I’ve been having so much fun putting outfits together now! I have a lot more outfits I have put together recently and I am excited to share them! I think this proves though that you can dress nicely while it still being affordable. I love thrifting, shopping consignment, buying consignment online with ThredUp, but having some guidelines makes everything a lot easier when I do choose to invest in some higher quality staples that will last for a long time. I feel very confident about my clothing purchases and I’m glad I finally invested in having a style.
I used to think that investing in my style was a waste of money, but I’m realizing that I get to show up for myself everyday and others by how I present myself and it is very important. I don’t regret that I deleted black from my closet one bit.
