It’s an all-too-familiar situation to those of us who try to look our best every day: You thumb through your drawers, look in your closet, lost and bored with your current wardrobe. There’s just nothing to wear.
The typical solution for this problem we get caught in is buying new clothes that we’d wear in the same ways. It’s a temporary fix– you can wear your new baggy jeans a few times, but once the novelty of their newness wears off, you end up just as lost as you were before. It’s because you’re buying new clothes to wear in the same old ways you’ve been styling your wardrobe. Rather than buying new clothes, wear and layer your old clothes in ways you wouldn’t normally. Wear jeans under that dress, use your Hawaiian shirt as a winter layer, or throw on a sweater overtop of your white button-up. There are bound to be awkward stages, and outfits you aren’t fully comfortable in, but by trying new things not only can you make your wardrobe feel fresh without having to spend a dime. Plus, you’ll sharpen your own sense of fashion.
Another method that may seem counterintuitive at first is to clear out your closet. Donate your clothes to second-hand stores, sell them on Depop, or just give them to a friend. Getting rid of clothes you no longer wear can put what you have left over in a new light. Sometimes having less options forces you to be more creative in how you style your clothes. Enlisting a friend to style you is another great way to get a fresh perspective. Gathering inspo from places and people you wouldn’t normally consider can broaden your horizons, too. Look at your favorite musical artists, look at magazines from decades past, or just find someone new on TikTok you haven’t previously followed. I personally have been finding inspiration from women creators more. The layering and use of accessorizing are more diverse than what I can do with my own more masculine wardrobe, which opens my eyes to combinations of clothes I haven’t previously put together.
A quick method to make an outfit out of nothing in a pinch is to choose one piece in your closet and build your outfit entirely around it. Rather than trying to make an outfit as a whole, choose something you haven’t worn in a while, or in this season, and go from there. It could be something as loud as a patterned statement sweater, as minute as a pair of glasses if you normally wear contacts, or just a pair of fun socks.
This is more of a personal thing, but sometimes all I need to feel content with my own wardrobe is to clean my room. Having a cluttered or unorganized personal space clouds your thoughts in more ways than you realize. This isn’t always the case, but even just organizing your clothes in a different way can make things feel fresh. Sometimes just a change of scenery is all you need to feel inspired again.
Editor: Isabel Lee
All images are sourced from Pinterest.
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