Okay babes, settle in. I’m about to change your life.
As someone who can’t resist an op shop purchase and loves have an up-to-date wardrobe filled with local brands and fashion trends — I am often plagued with having too many clothes but feeling like I have nothing to wear. A first world problem, but a problem nonetheless.
It’s a tale as old as time. You’ve got 45 minutes to get ready for an event that you haven’t pre-planned an outfit for. You’re look at your racks of clothes, turning your drawers inside out, delving into the spare closet under the stairs — but nothing is jumping out at you.
How can you have all these great clothes but nothing you feel like wearing? Nothing that feels quite right?
How we dress on any given day is tied really closely to our emotions. Feeling good in something is paramount. If you don’t feel good in what you’re wearing, it has the power to impact your mood, as well as how you see the clothes.
Like, if you’ve got your period and you’re bloated, chances are you won’t love the way you look in your fave jeans. Usually, they cup your butt in the perfect way and cinch your waist but today, they just bunch up all wrong.
So, How Do You Never Run Out of Outfits?
You have a try-on party. Seriously.
I’ve started hosting a try-on party four times a year — each season — sometimes on my own and sometimes I invite my closest fashion-obsessed besties. And it’s exactly as it sounds — you try on clothes. So many clothes!
Follow the below steps and you’ll never run out of outfits, trust me.
Choose Who to Invite
First, you’ll need to decide if you’re going solo, or want to invite friends. I’d personally recommending doing your first one solo. That way, you can get a feel for whether or not you need outside inspiration. Also, it’s a really great opportunity to spend some time enjoying your own company.
However, if you’re the kind of person who likes outside opinions on your outfits, invite some friends. But not too many — otherwise you won’t actually get anything done. Three of your most honest besties, max.
Pour Yourself a Drink and Crank Hype Tunes
The whole purpose of this exercise is to have fun, and find outfits in your wardrobe that you didn’t know you had. So, obviously, you’ll need a beverage and some feel-good tunes.
I personally love a margarita — every hype girl’s fave — and some Dua Lipa never goes astray. Although actually, Kelsea Ballerini is dropping some seriously good hype girl tunes ATM.
Pull Out 5 Items You Never Wear
Grab at least five pieces of clothing you never wear and lay them on your bed. They could be anything, from a skirt, to a pair of heels, to a dress.
Now, try them on with things you’ve never paired them with. Get creative. Put things together that you don’t know will work. Go for a hunt in that drawer of tops you never wear. Go a little crazy over-the-top with the layering. There are no wrong turns.
Once you’ve found an outfit that you would wear out of the house that includes each piece that was originally on your bed, take a photo of it and pop it away together. I always find that hanging things up together, or lumping pieces together that you want to wear as an outfit, saves that memory for you next time you’re stuck.
Pull Out 5 Items You Always Wear
Choose five things that you always wear and lay them on your bed.
With each piece, try to make it unrecognisable. This could be the way you style it, with new jewellery, a headscarf, a different pair of shoes. Or, it could be how you wear it. Layer it with something different, or pair it with items that you normally wouldn’t wear with it. See if you can totally change the vibe of the piece — take it from dressy to casual, and vice versa.
Once you’re happy with a look that includes each piece, take a photo of you in it.
Rearrange Your Wardrobe
Whatever your situation is — whether you have exposed racks, a free-standing wardrobe, built-in cupboards — take the 10 new outfits you’ve just created and make sure they’re at the front, where you can see them.
Not only will this make your wardrobe look and feel brand new, it will also remind you of all the looks you’ve tried on and loved — so you don’t have the stress of having to put something together in a rush and not like it.
You Have 10 New Outfits!
Can you believe it?!
Not only do you have 10 new outfits that you’re excited to wear, but you’ve (almost definitely) had a super fun time.
You can even turn it into a clothes swap with friends, if they want to bring some items they never wear and you donate some that you never wear — as a group you can make entirely new outfits from each others’ unwanted clothes.
You can do this with as many items of clothing you like. For me, 10 items takes an afternoon. But if you have all day or you’re on a role, what’s stopping you from turning your wardrobe upside down!?
