Working on getting this FAQ list together slowly... if you have any questions you'd like to see answered please shoot me an email at outfitposts@gmail.com. Thanks!
How do you decide what to buy?
- The way I organize my outfit inspiration photos is to dump them in seasonal Pinterest folders. Basically fall/winter & spring/summer. Any outfit photo that contains colors, shapes, ideas or similar items to those that I already own and is even remotely possible to use for outfit inspiration get saved.
- Oftentimes I find super cute outfits that I would love to recreate but unfortunately I don't own anything slightly similar. Those pictures get saved in a "shopping ideas" folder. Over time I will notice trends to the items in the shopping folder - pieces of clothing that I can see being used in a lot of different ways and owning them would add some specific dimension currently missing from my wardrobe. Those items with both multiple pins & multiple uses get added to my short list of things I keep my eye out for when I'm shopping.
When you are shopping how do you decide if you should purchase something?
- When I go shopping I have my mental list of items I'm interested in finding. When I come across one of the items, or a cool new find I hadn't considered, I always try them on. I try to be super good about only only purchasing things that I really really love. Things that I get excited about when I try them on. Excited being when you do that little happy dance/twirl/pose in the mirror when you see yourself. Or when you like it even more then what you're wearing at the moment and wish you could change into it for the rest of your shopping day. Excited not being a discussion with yourself welllll mayyyybeee if I lose 5 lbs/stand up straight/try it on at home it might be okay. If you're talking yourself into it for any reason - pass.
- When I'm doing a good job at only buying pieces I love, then I don't end up returning very many things. (I haaate returning things. I just don't often have time to go to stores twice in the return period.) But every so often I will realize something doesn't work and I will take it back. But that's a pretty infrequent occurrence. Less then once a year?
- As far as factoring price into those happy-dance items - I'll pay a little more for things that I know I'll wear more often (jeans, blouses I really love) and things that should look nicer for big events at work (suits). But as a really rough estimate if something is worth the price - I calculate $1-2 per wear for normal clothes and $5-10 a wear for special occasions. So if I really like a $12 shirt at Target it'd be worth buying if I'd wear it 6-12 times (and if I'm at F21 - will it survive 6-12 washes!)... and likewise I could justify buying a nicer dress for $50 if I'd wear it to 5-10 special events... It's not a hard and fast rule - if I reeeeally love something I might just ignore it - but as an estimate tool, to figure out if something costs too much, it gives me a good starting place to make the decision...
Do you buy lots of clothes to wear for this blog?
- I often get asked if I buy clothes in order to post them to the blog. And the answer to that is I definitely do not. I don't buy anything specifically for the blog or any particular post. The great majority of the time I am working with clothes I already own and are already in my closet to put together outfits that end up here. And any new things that I buy are always things that are for my real life – which may get posted to the blog - but never purchased just for the blog.
Do you have a favorite source for clothes? Like do you always buy cardigans at Old Navy or work shirts at Banana?
- I don't have a real set method to my shopping for particular items at particular places. I live in a relatively small town so we're limited to pretty generic widespread stores like Banana, Ann Taylor, Loft, Target, Old Navy & TJ Maxx. When I travel to big cities - I try to pop into H&Ms or J.Crews or outlet malls. And thanks to the internet – more and more things are available online. But I like to try things on so I’d say I shop in person a bit more then online.
**Clothing Questions***
- I think I tend to hold onto stuff for as long as I possibly can. Maybe once I year I will go through things and decide I haven't worn them in a really long time and will never have reason to wear them again or they are looking worse for the wear and I really shouldn't be wearing stains/rips. But I'm lucky to have enough space to keep quite a few 'maybes' that if I had less storage ability I'd have to get rid of. (Storage space that I have - one side of a walk in closet, a tall dresser, coat closet and a under the bed box for off season stuff.)
Will you sell your old clothes to me?
- Once I decide to get rid of something I usually first try to sell them at a consignment shop in town and whatever they don't want I donate to my Junior League Thrift Shop. I've been asked before if I'd sell any clothing items through the blog but nothing I'm getting rid of would be worth the postage/hassle to mail the stuff.
Advice for cleaning out a closet?
- If my closet started to get really crowded and I wanted to do a really really good job - I'd take every single thing out, invite over an honest friend who doesn't mind spending hours with me and item by item try on everything on to decide if it fits, if I’d wear it again, if it needs repair or if it's old/tattered/stained and needs to be tossed. There are some really great posts on the internet, better then I could do, about cleaning out your closet. (If you know a really great one - free to email them to me and I'll link to it here.)
***Blogging Questions***
What's your method for find inspiration photos for the blog?- There are basically two methods I use to find 'inspiration' images to use for posts: Scroll through Pinterest, Us Weekly, celebrity fashion blogs and regular blogs and pin any outfit that resembles a piece/pieces of clothing I already own. The inspiration might just be the shape of the clothes or more often it's the color combination of the outfit. And when it's time to get dressed - I pull up the Pinterest folder and use an already saved inspiration photo to put my outfit together.
- The second method is I am in the mood to wear something and I reverse search for some celebrity or clothing store model wearing something remotely similar. I might want to wear my pink pencil skirt so I start googling "pink pencil skirt celeb" or "pink pencil skirt nicole" swapping in general celeb names like "reese, paris, jennifer, rachel, britney" until I find some passable image that I can use. Or I will browse a site like Net-a-Porter for a similar item because I know they always have an outfit picture with each piece of clothing.
How do you organize your outfit inspiration?
- I organize my outfit inspiration photos is to find pictures use the methods above & dump them in seasonal Pinterest folders. Basically fall/winter & spring/summer. Any outfit photo that contains colors, shapes, ideas or similar items to those that I already own and is even remotely possible to use for outfit inspiration get saved.
***About Me***
Why are you headless? - The primary reason is I work in a pretty boring/serious job for a software company. Professionally I’d rather not have my face running all over the internet associated with clothes/fashion.
- I'm 5'7 1/2", hover around 140 lbs and about a pants size 8. Sometimes a 6 or 10 depending on store.
One Suitcase FAQ
- Do you wear all outfits when you pack a suitcase like this?
- Not typically. I just like to have extra options when I travel. Most times I'll have 30 options for a two week business trip. Just nice to know they're there! :)
- What about toiletries & undergarments & tech accessories - why aren't they listed?
- For me, the most difficult part of packing for a trip is trying pare down
to a small set of clothing pieces to maximize the number of outfits
that I can create. The easier part of the packing process is adding the
necessary undergarments, tech accessories and
toiletries once I've decided on clothing. So for me the focus of the one
suitcase posts have been around harder concept of the clothes.
But, don't worry - the amount of clothes I'm listing in these posts leaves enough room for that stuff! All I would do to complete this suitcase is to top it off with a small packing cube with undergarments and my small makeup bag by placing them both on top of the clothes. And then my liquids & tech items go in my purse for easy access in airport security. Here's an overview of traveling post I did that has a bit of that info. But the internet is full of much more comprehensive packing lists then I'm posting. - How come the individual item pictures don't match your actual clothes?
- I just try to find as close as possible images from googling to use for the example graphics. Many times I can't find the original items. So I just do my best.
- How can you re-wear clothing pieces so many times without getting smelly?
- Re-wearing clothing works better when the weather isn't too hot.
So it's less effective in high temperatures or with any athletic
activity. Luckily my job typically has offices with freezing A/Cs so it
helps lessen the sweating likelihood.
I also usually pack a travel sized fabric refresher - like Downey Wrinkle Releaser - for light refreshes.
But, most often, for a really long trip, I just resign myself to the cost of sending out my laundry (or finding a laundry mat) for the benefit of having a light suitcase for the duration of the trip. I think it's totally worth that extra cost to not die every time you have to carry your bag...