Summer looks

Exams are done! This has given me some time to day-dream about my look. I’ve been focused mainly on next summer though. Cape Town has a longer summer then winter period so cloths for warmer weather tend to be worn more often. Also my no-buy year ends in the middle of winter and I want to resist a flat-out splurge for a while still so am focussed on spring/summer 2014 which should start around mid October.

Now that I’ve done a colour analysis and found out I am a cool summer I’ve also decided to focus more on my appropriate colours. Shades of blues and rosy pinks suit me. I settled on grey and navy as my neutral tones, since as mentioned before black is not my friend, and will incorporate white, light blue and rosy pink as my main tones.

Then I decided on general style. For summer I wanted a fairly loose float-y look, with materials fitted but not tight on the body. To balance very loose tops I also included a pair of skinny jeans and fitted pants. I worked out the following board, using 18 items of clothing and shoes and a hand full of accessories. I wanted to use pieces that would transition well between work and casual environments. My work environment is mostly air-conditioned and cool so longer sleeves on a few tops is fine. I sometimes also prefer loose longer sleeves when out and about as the sleeves provide some protection from our strong sun. I did make sure that all sleeves can be scrunched up though.

 

I feel like everything on the board works together and in all environments. A possible exemption being the grey T-shirt which might be too casual for work and the navy blazer which I feel is a bit polished for casual.

I also mixed up 6 possible outfits, going from a very formal suit look to casual T and jeans plus some looks that are more playful and in between. I gave one example for each top on the board. Given 5 pants and 6 tops I can create 30 looks without even playing around with the toppers yet!

 

The pink linen pants on my board are from ZARA. The jeans, loose pink and blue tops are from Woolworths. The tailored Navy pants and Jacket from J Crew which we don’t have yet in SA. The rest are a smattering from around the web.

Nearing the end

6 weeks of no buy to go! I am quite surprised I actually made it this far. It’s fantastic, the fact that I’m nearly there is also motivating to keep moving ...so close to the end.

I have had time to hone my style and am feeling quietly confident about where I am heading. My style is not quite hammered down but it’s close. My wardrobe has also reached a point where continued purging without buying in new items is not really possible, mostly because items are ill-conceived and vary too much across the colour spectrum at the moment. I can still cut-down but not without losing functionality. If I buy new items that are multi-functional I could continue to pare the numbers down (ie tops that work for home and an office environment, or a tank top that can play as a layering piece instead of a camisole and be worn on its own as well – I could never wear a cami without a cover).

Since it is winter now and I am always cold these are the few items I would like to purchase in August:

·         A pair of skinny jeans that fit snuggly into my knee-high boots (I don’t own a pair of skinnies and just fold-up my straight leg jeans to fit into boots at the moment)

·         2 Thermal tank tops to replace my camis and hopefully be a bit warmer. I want them in extra length so they don’t pull out when tucked into pants (and leave a dreaded cold strip of exposed lower back! Brrrr!). I am thinking marled grey and white.

I have also considered a long sleeved thermal top. I own two at the moment but neither is ideal (1 is transparent so need to layer over it, the other has gotten too short and leaves my lower back exposed which is less than ideal). I will hold off on this until next winter though as I think I can make it through the current season with what I have. After all I don’t want to splurge all of a sudden now that I am free to shop again as that would kind of defeat the purpose!

My look

I am now into month 10 of my no buy year! There are quite a few items on my ‘to buy’ list now but I’ve also started re-evaluating my list and crossing some items off again. Quite a few have notes now – good to have, buy when such and such worn out, so I will only buy these pieces to replace others I own when they are damaged beyond repair.

The extended no-buy period has also given me lots of time to reflect on my look. I have had time to consider my style both in clothing and in makeup and hair. I have spent ages reading about signature looks, see the INTO-MIND website.

So far these are my conclusions:

Clothing:

·         Avoid black! Navy blue and Grey are my best neutrals, throw in more white as well

·         Best colours are shades of pinks and blues, I had a colour consultant tell me I am a cool medium summer

·         Style is fairly natural classic with a hint of bohemian. I like classic simplicity, comfortable and soft fabrics, low heels, jeans and am veering away from all my graphic Ts to more blouses. Winter I prefer tighter pants that I can tuck into my boots and in summer I prefer a much looser fit.

·         I like front button tops and cardigans

·         I dislike most patterns and am not into floral or ethnic/graphic prints. I prefer muted animal prints and stripes worked into the fabric (ie ribbed tops). Best of all I like solids though.

·         I love scarves and am considering making these my signature items

·         I have yet to settle on a style icon I love though, these are some looks I like and could wear as is:

 

Make-up and Hair

·         I have found my icon! Alexa Chung. I love how she does her eyes with a dramatic sweep of eyeliner. For a couple of years now eyeliner has been my only must have makeup product and I’ve always loved a cat-eye look. With my pretty blue eyes I’ve always felt the need to accentuate them.

·         For my daytime look I will copy her, only avoiding the eye shadow and having a slightly less dramatic wing at the ends of my eyes. Everything else will be keep nude/muted to balance the bold eye (and so I don’t have to spend more than 3min on make up each day!)

·         For my hair I am considering a similar look to her as well, although it will probably not be as bold as her. She has frosted tips and a mussed bedhead look that I’ve looked into and is apparently a little time consuming to emulate. Standing in front of a mirror getting my hair right with a curling iron is going to happen once a month tops I just can’t be bothered normally. 

 

Since my last exam is next week Wednesday I am considering booking myself a hair appointment for that weekend. I haven’t been to a hair dresser since I had a trim right before our wedding. Think I'll have to talk to the hair dresser a bit beforehand to hammer down exactly the style I want. Looking forward and dreading it a bit!