Thoughts on my wardrobe for the year ahead

Three days shy of one full year ago, I posted about my desire to fill some of the gaps in my wardrobe in the coming year. At the time we were waist high in packing and preparation for our (then) upcoming cross country move, but after long, long mornings and afternoons spent in the close company of packing tape and countless cardboard boxes, in the evenings I was busy as a busy trying to scout out good deals on some of the items (and a few others) I listed in that post.

Around the same time I was in the midst of selling off my rather large collection of cute Japanese Re-Ment miniatures, so that I could apply some of the funds from their sale to buying the garments my wardrobe was sorely missing. As you can imagine, last January was a very, very hectic month! Sales went great though and I was able to purchase numerous items, some of which have appeared here in various wardrobe posts since then, and to fill in a fair number of the gaps that I felt were lacking when it came to certain staple garments.

A good part of the reason why I felt especially rushed about doing a decent sized chunk of this shopping is because I didn't want to move to B.C. with the stress that can come from having a somewhat (or very, as the case may be) incomplete set of basic items in my closet, in a new house and in a town where I knew we'd be doing a lot more going out and socializing. I wasn't short on clothes in general, don't get me wrong, it's just that while I had scores of some items, I had very few - or none at all - of others that I felt really constituted the backbone of any good vintage wardrobe.

Most of those missing items have been acquired. A few remain (vintage or repro trousers that actually fit me well, instead of being way too big or just a touch too small, as is often the case, I find, would be marvelous, for example) and a couple of others have popped up as time went on, but over all I no longer have that looming sense of dread about missing some rather key pieces from my closet.

Three cheers on that front for sure! But what about my wardrobe and 2013? What does this year hold in store for it? This is a topic that began to pop up often in my thoughts around last October and which has continued to do so ever since. The more I thought about it, the more it struck me that I usually divide what I want to buy (in terms of clothing into) four basic categories:


-Wardrobe staples: Those pieces (such as a basic black skirt, white blouses, a sturdy winter coat, etc) that make up the foundation of your closet and which are fundamental to your wardrobe.

-Variations on staples: Technically, if you have the very basics covered, though your wardrobe might be small, you wouldn't truly be without clothes. However, just as few of us would want to eat the same foods few foods day in and day out, so too do most of us crave variety in our wardrobe and generally expand beyond the very basics. These pieces are the next rung up the totem pole, so to speak, and are variations on the basics (for example, a red skirt instead of just a dark neutral hued one, or a second pair or repro jeans) and often constitute the biggest percentage of a person's wardrobe.

-Wish list items: These are garments and accessories that you may have had to save up and/or search for before buying. They're items you want, but which may not be the most practical thing to buy on a whim, especially if you're lacking in either of the two previous categories. You'll likely have some wish list items that fall into the other first two categories, but also some that are more frivolous (and I don't say that in a negative way at all) and just for fun (say, a tulle 1950s prom dress to wear for fancy parties or date nights).

-Holy Grail items: There are pieces - and we all have them - we'd practically give our right arm to have in our closets. The reasons why we don't (yet) vary, but are often centered around an items rarity, price and/or ability to find said piece in our size. They can be staples, but very often are more akin to wish list items (for more on the topic of wardrobe holy grails, see this post from December 2012).

{Sometimes pieces or ensembles can fall into more than one of these four categories. For example, an outfit such as this timelessly wonderful 1940s Hardy-Amies suit with matching felt hat would be, for me at the moment, both a wardrobe staple and wish list verging on holy grail find. Image source.}



Having bulked up the number of staples in my wardrobe, and in some areas not lacking much in terms of variations or even wish list items, this year I'm predicting that the focus of my clothes shopping will be on certain variation staples, some wish list items, and perhaps even a holy grail piece or two (a girl can always dream!).

Beyond that though, I've already begun to somewhat shift how I spend some of my clothes budget. No longer (when it comes to most types of garments) do I feel that sense of incompleteness and a desire to keep upping the tally. I have numerous skirts, sweaters, tops, hats, gloves, and dresses, for example, and am not about to risk going naked anytime soon! I'm very grateful for my wardrobe (which, while not huge, has been well curated and is full of the kinds of pieces that serve me best for the life I'm living these days) and don't usually buy clothes just for the sake of it or out of habit.

Instead I like to review what I own already every so often and see what's missing, what needs to be replaced, what should be weeded out and sold or passed along to someone else, and what I'd like to find for it in the future. Instead of working (largely) on quantity (of over all garments), this year I want to challenge myself to save up and spend a bit more on investment pieces.

I'm not talking vintage Dior evening gowns here, goodness no, but rather, instead giving myself permission to allocate a bit more (within the scope of my budget) on the garments and accessories that I buy. Many times I've passed up a piece I liked, or even loved, because I knew that the money it cost would probably be better spent on purchasing multiple pieces that I needed.

I don't think, even if I woke up tomorrow and was suddenly a billionaire, that I'd ever be the kind of the person who forgoes a great bargain (on the contrary, I'd be thrilled to have money to go barging shopping with!), but now that I have the piece of mind that comes from having a fairly well rounded wardrobe, I can allow myself to spend a bit more on certain pieces from time-to-time.

Instead, for example, of buying five cute $20 vintage hats over time, I could could purchase one show stopping topper for $100.00. There are also certain staples that cost a bit more (for example, vintage suits) that I still need, but which I've largely refrained from. It's my hope that circumstances will permit me to buy some of those pieces this year, as (again) I'm no longer worried so much about filling in those aforementioned wardrobe gaps.

As we sit here at the beginning of a brand new year, I feel very positive about the direction that my wardrobe will continue to take this year. I'll never stop nabbing a really great bargain on something I need (or just plain love!) when I see it, but at the same time, I'm excited about the prospect of adding more investment pieces, no matter which of the four categories they fall into, to my closet in the coming months and beyond.

What are your wardrobe goals for this year? Are you working on plugging holes? Expanding certain beloved categories, trying to cross items off your wish list, focusing on finding some of those elusive holy grails, or something else entirely?

Whatever your plan, I hope you have an awesome year of vintage clothes shopping all throughout 2013!