Styling A Sweater I Never Wear
The birds are singing and the sun is shining.
We’ve just had two days of warm spring weather and it’s getting me excited to style some outfits that feel appropriate for the oncoming season. What I would like to do this week is style a few spring outfits featuring an item of clothing that I don’t find myself reaching for very often. I purchased a lightweight cashmere sweater back in November (I bought it at a discounted price) and have only worn it once. I want to get creative and come up with a few ways to style it that will inspire me to wear it more. In my effort to shop less, I hope to find a little bit of joy in using and appreciating the stuff I already own.
This sweater will be a good transitional piece for these fickle, early spring days as it provides some warmth without being too heavy. This golden olive color doesn’t exactly scream spring, but I don’t own anything approaching pastels, and never will. One of my favorite parts of curating a smaller wardrobe means selecting and adding colors that I feel my best in. I’ve always been drawn to this slightly green-leaning mustard color and I was happy to add this piece to my wardrobe. Golden olive for spring, groundbreaking.
The Parameters:
Back when I had a gigantic wardrobe it took awhile for me to figure out that one of the reasons I had so many clothes was that I hadn’t stopped to consider how I realistically spend my time. I had let myself fall into the trap of buying things based only on a vague, theoretical idea of: these items might ultimately change my life for the better. I should have taken the time to ask, is this item practical for me? I owned clothing I wasn’t wearing because I had purchased them without taking into consideration my personal lifestyle. How do I spend my time on a daily, weekly basis? Is this item or outfit suitable for what I have planned for today?
I came up with four realistic occasions within my current lifestyle and will be designing my outfits to fit each one. The sweater is the only required constant for these looks.
Grocery store/running errands
Headed to the Y
Dinner with friends
Outdoor patio family picnic
The challenge will be to figure out how to create outfits that work for these situations while also satisfying my personal style preferences. I will put together my looks keeping in mind the following:
Formality—Most days I prefer a level of formality somewhere on the spectrum between dressed up and casual. I like to wear a mix of both casual and formal pieces which typically creates a look that reads as polished-casual or elevated-casual. Even if I’m just running errands or picking up coffee, this is my preferred way of dressing.
Comfortability—You can bet that at least one piece in my outfit has a relaxed or slightly oversized look and feel.
Proportions—I prefer to mix my more relaxed, or oversized items with something that is more fitted or sits closer to the body. But, not always. I’m curious to see how I can experiment with proportions in this series of outfits.
Color—I rarely wear black and if I do it’s typically in the form of an accessory. I prefer how I look in warm colors vs. cool. I’m interested to observe how this quite potent golden olive color works with some of the other colors in my wardrobe.
The Looks:
The Grocery Store
The YMCA
Dinner With Friends
Outdoor Family Picnic
This was a fun and also extremely gratifying experiment and I’m absolutely going to make content like this in the future. By allowing myself time and space to be creative with the clothes in my wardrobe, I was able to put together outfits that I wouldn’t have thought to otherwise. I’m not feeling the urge to shop for new things because I’ve discovered a way to unlock the hidden potential that lives within my closet. I feel inspired to make shopping my closet a regular practice.
Overall I’m satisfied with how the looks turned out. My two favorites are, by a landslide, the grocery store and the YMCA. I think these two looks strike the perfect balance of formal + casual for my personal taste. I also prefer the color combinations.
How do you think I did? Which look is your favorite? Let me know if you’re feeling inspired to try this with your own closet.
Happy Friday. Thanks for reading.
Britt