#styletips Archives - Northern California Style

It’s time for the first Signature Style post of 2022 with my compatriots, Cindy and Sarah and we decided to begin with a post that encourages you to look in your own closet before you buy anything this year. As Sarah, who came up with the idea, says can you ‘relove’ what you already own? I think we all need to try and on today’s blog are ideas on how.

A lot of us are addicted to shopping, to that high we get from a new item, but we can retrain ourselves to stop looking at stores and online ads for inspiration. We can look right in our own closets if we spend some time seeing what we own and what we can do with it.

I know I’ve said this before, but the best way to prevent yourself from buying what you don’t need is know your closet. That means spending a couple hours taking the closet apart every season, (that’s 4xs a year), clean it out, straighten and organize by type and then color. Try on every sweater and pair of jeans and shoes, dress and coat. Lay out the hanging pieces on your bed and then look at each and every one.

If you’re able and have the space, store some of your out of season clothes in another closet or space, so you can see only what you are able to wear now. A crammed closet isn’t conducive to shopping it, and I like my clothes to have space to breathe.

Think of your closet as your own personal boutique and make it appealing.

Start arranging your closet to be attractive and inspiring. Make it smell pretty with sachets or a candle (unlit). If you have the space hang cool art, wallpaper it or create an inspiration board. Then get it curated by season.

Go through your jewelry, shoes and accessories and select things that will work for that season.

Right now in winter, I like to have my sweaters folded neatly by color, and put coordinating accessories in same tones near them just as a shop would. What I see when I walk into my winter closet now is coats, jackets, leather bags, scarves and sweaters and boots. In spring and summer, I have blouses, sundresses, woven bags, sandals and short

If you can’t see things, you won’t wear them. You can’t have everything out at once, so each season pretend you’re a buyer for boutique and select accesories for this particular time of year. An example is my crystals and colored stone earrings have been on my tray for the holidays and in summer I’ll drape my Hawaiian pearls on a cord on my small mirror and have my vintage white Chanel enamel earrings and colorful clip ons from my grandmother on my tray.

I’ll pull out all my flat sandals and slides and put them in cute baskets in warm season. Now they are away and boots, sneakers and loafers are on the shelves. Another idea is to pull forgotten scarves out of a basket and pair each one with a jacket or coat by wrapping them around the hanger with it. You can do the same with necklaces if it helps you to remember to use them.

When you like an outfit, snap a photo and save it on your phone

Take a photo when you leave the house in something you like or in a look you’ve pulled together when going through the closet. Then group them on your phone as work outfits, date night, evening look, or weekend, travel, etc. You’d be surprised how you can forget pieces you own, and looks you’ve worn. When you’re feeling uninspired, look at that album.

For example this is one on my phone with outfits so I can remember what worked and what is in the closet.

Try new ways to wear what you own..

Take jeans and denim and update them by cutting the hem yourself with sharp scissors and chalk. There are many tutorials online. Hello new fringy cropped that look like expensive brands. Mending jeans and adding stitching and patches has become a look. This book is a good one for unique jean hacks.
Sweaters have so much potential. Turn a sweater backwards for a sexy back v neck. Wear one as a scarf around the neck, or draped on your shoulders as a pop of color or and tied around the waist of a dress. I also love layering my sweaters and try them with different blouses you own to see which ones work well together.
Dresses don’t need to sit out winter. Wear your dresses layered over jeans or leggings. Play around with the proportions and see which jeans work best. Try a sweater over your dresses or a long sleeve top under a spaghetti strap type. Add sneakers to dresses to update them, (preferably not the ones you hike or run in.)
Pull apart 2 piece outfits like a suit or a skirt and matching top and wear the pieces separately. You’ll have exponentially more outfits and looks.
Don’t let your evening wear be just for night and gather dust. Bring these fancy pieces down to earth by pairing them with everyday items. Try a sequin top for day with denim, chandelier earrings with a sweatshirt, a velvet dress over skinny jeans with flats, a black dress worn over leggings with a leather or denim jacket.
Dress down your ‘work’ or tailored pieces. Start wearing your blazers and jackets out as your daily topper. How many of us have beautiful jackets that never get worn? I use my jackets all the time and love them with a t-shirt or a sweatshirt to dress them down. I like them in winter with a big scarf wrapped over them for warmth and in summer over sundresses. Tailored skirts and slacks look fresh with a sweatshirt or a big oversized sweater, or white sneakers with and a t-shirt.
Use your bags in new ways. Straw bags tend to be summer things, but Jane Birkin wore her woven totes with fur (or faux preferably), and people like my friend Contessa use their all year long. Leather bags can be changed up by switching your straps. So many have removable straps, or options to add a shoulder strap so look at what can be converted to a cross-body if you want. Guitar style straps here at Madewell, and some of the coolest ones here on Etsy. Older bags are more chic now than new, as seen by the huge market for vintage bags. If you are so lucky to have saved older bags start wearing them again! Or as we talked about in this recent post, take a load off and start using a canvas tote you might already have, like all the cool kids.

Spend a few hours playing dress up.

For fun, I thought I’d show you what looks I created with a old Equipment dress that has been sitting in the closet for a few years. I love this dress, but don’t have many opportunities to wear it, so I thought I’d show you looks I pulled together using other closet pieces, over blue jeans, grey skinny jeans, with leggings and with different boots. I also I tried an oversized sweater over it, a velvet bomber, and a moto jacket. I used bags I’ve had and it was fun to see all the options I hadn’t even thought of.

For Inspiration go to Street Style Instagram accounts or Pinterest.

I still read magazines, but I don’t think I’ve found an outfit I wanted to copy from one of them in years. Everything is so fantasy driven now. I do however find a lot to inspire me on Instagram and specifically for me, street style accounts where real people are snapped in various cities of the world. These people will give you ideas on how to style what you already own. Screenshot looks and out them in an album on the phone to refer back to.

Some of my favorites are

Photos below from the Street Style Global Instagram..

Pinterest is another place to find looks to love and I have been saving my own favorites under Jeans Love, The California Look, Style, Fall and Winter Style, and Spring/Summer Wardrobe.

I also love the Parisian Chic Look Book which has tons of ideas of how to add style to your wardrobe basics…

Also inspiring is Classic Style and How Not to Wear Black. Love all three so much.

Another fun idea is to do a wardrobe swap party with a group of friends. Everyone brings 5 or so pieces that are nice that they no longer wear and they are hung or displayed on tables or racks. You draw numbers and everyone takes turns selecting pieces. It is a great way to keep clothes in the cycle, not the landfill and pass something nice onto another.

Having too much is as bad as not enough. If you’ve paid a lot for something, and have a hard time parting with it, but will never wear it, as Marie Kondo says, be thankful for it and pass it on to another who can enjoy it. Don’t let things sit when others could be using them. Dress for Success in San Jose is a great place to help women who are trying to succeed in the world and can use those items that are gathering dust.

When you are ready to shop again, get to know consignment and thrift stores near you. It’s a great place to sell some of what you no longer want and also find unique and better quality things for a song. Make a commitment to bring only better quality items into your wardrobe this year. Save for the good stuff as I talked about in this post, or find them through thrift and consignment. Stop going for the quick high at places like Target if you can. I’ve yet to have a cheap item stand the test of time – trend wise or wear wise, but I’ve been grateful I saved for better items that still look good, even cooler, year after year and give whole wardrobe an upgrade.

If you find a consignment shop you like, the best thing to do is be a regular. That way you see when the better things come in and can grab them. In the Bay Area, my favorites are Crossroads Trading (the Blossom Hill location) and Filmore & Fifth in Palo Alto. Other options abound online too now.

I can’t wait to read Cindy and Sarah’s blogs today about shopping the closet. Stop by their blogs at:

Cindy Hattersley

Sarah London Style

Thanks for reading and please share below your thoughts on shopping your closet.

Kim

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When I think about the collected look I think of people with style. What gives someone style? It’s not designer handbags or the latest cute booties. It’s not the newest clothes or haircut. The people who show up looking like Deborah Harry in the same kind of jeans you gave to charity a few years ago, have style. Stylish people know what looks good on them. They keep the same chic pieces in rotation and wear them like nobody’s business. They know what to hold onto and what always looks good. Being stylish takes effort, but it’s fun, smart and can be green too.

I’m not sure how stylish I am, but I’ve been kindly included with eight bloggers to share our versions of the collected look.

If you want to have style, instead of hitting the stores, first you must clean and purge your closet. This is something I am pretty dedicated to and do religiously multiple times a year. It always reminds me to wear and rediscover things that have been lying fallow in the back forty.

When you have culled the closet hopefully find some unique things that you love and still look great. These things that have stayed with you for years, perhaps decades, if you are close to my age. Those are the things that can take an outfit from bland to standout. Those are the bits that only you have, that give style, and make your look different than the rest.

Remember anyone can buy a designer bag and sadly many women believe that is something that’s going to make you stylish.. A lot of time, it’s just the opposite. I’m not opposed to good handbags, but sometimes people can look a little like they have no taste. You can have the latest $2,000 bag, but so can 40 other people at the mall! That is not style to me.

What is style is the cool pieces you collect and pull together. My friend Elizabeth (Contessa), is not fully dressed without her piles of bracelets and necklaces and lashings of color from a caftan or scarf. Ani, dear friend and another California gal, has a look that is super delicate-with dainty jewelry and lovely, feminine soft tops paired with cool jeans or khakis. Another friend E, adores Hermes-toned orange, pairs it with grey and has made it her signature color. My pal, Jill tall and willowy, has made her gamine cropped hair and pretty tailored clothes her signature. All of these gals look stylish because of the collected bits they put together in a unique way.

My ‘collected look’ usually means a jacket, and I mix with it vintage things I’ve found, inherited, and others I’ve hung onto for decades.

My Theory denim blazer I found for $12, at thrift store is so flattering I am getting compliments on it, five years on. I like showing the cool lining on the cuffs and here paired it with an oversized white James Perse T, pearls on a cord from Hawaii and my Stella bag.

Lately, my favorite extra piece is this faux fur shrug, handed down to me by dear Elizabeth. I wore it through the holidays, but I wasn’t ready to pack it away, so have been wearing it as a topper over my black Everlane turtleneck during the daytime.

A little leopard goes a long way in the style department, and vintage versions exponentially so. (By the way, shoes are old Zara- Stella McCartney lookalikes, but similar ones here. Jeans – Madewell demi-boot.) The Coach messenger bag I wear as a cross-body. It’s an 1970’s version I found years ago at Crossroads Trading for a few bucks. It is made and designed so beautifully, it’s a pleasure to wear, and I feel very French, as they love these bags.

The coolest part about the shrug is that no one has anything like this, and of course it came from someone I adore and love and so it is like a little hug from her when I wear it.

A few more looks where I’ve mixed it up..

My moto jacket and satin skirt with vintage danglers and a 30 year old Furla handbag I saved for, can’t part with.

Another decade old dark blazer jacket, pearls on a string, and a vintage slip of my grandmother’s worn as a top, ( I hacked it off with scissors.) Madewell jeans and white booties I bought a year ago.

Same Theory jacket, scarf from Kew Gardens, and Chloe sunglasses. I love using sunglasses as a hair accessory. (Working on the selfies obs.) I added cool teal J. Crew loafers I scored at a thrift shop, but they didn’t make it into photo.

Another idea is a knit stocking cap on chilly days with big glasses. Think Ali McGraw in Love Story. You don’t always need to wear a puffer with such things. Just add a massive scarf.

For the collected look, shop your closet, add special, unique things and hang onto the cool stuff. Reuse, recycle and reinvent items. Check out vintage shops like Crossroads Trading, and online places like The Real Real and your grandma’s house and your husband and kid’s closets!

Then have confidence in your own look. Mom always told me, ‘Kim, you don’t want to look like everyone else.’ It made me upset in seventh grade, but it’s in my brain now, thank you mom. Individuality is everything when it comes to style.