There’s nothing I love better than the approach of a new season. It means I get to start a very important process all over again: capturing the essence of my wardrobe plan for the season. I do it twice a year: Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Some people use Pinterest and create pins for their wardrobe. Some use Polyvore to create a visual of an outfit or capsule wardrobe. I do use both as sources of information, but I create my own PowerPoint presentation to capture my inspiration.
Each presentation has several parts:
Inspiration, which is a section that I use for photos of looks that I find inspiring or that I’d like to duplicate. It’s a bigger picture section where I try to find visuals that depict the look I aspire to. Usually that means sophisticated, chic, relaxed, stylish put-together 50-something. Sigh…don’t always get there.
Outfits, which is often things I put together on Polyvore specifically to identify what kind of items I will make or buy to achieve my look. Or if I have a piece in my wardrobe, I can play around with how to mix & match it for maximum use. We all end up with orphan pieces that don’t have anything to go with, so this is an easy way to get some ideas.
A section each on Tops, Bottoms, Dresses, Coats etc. that have more specific visuals of things I like or things I’d like to try making.
Here’s an inspiration slide that I’m relating to stuff in my stash. Not sure where I grabbed this photo from – likely Pinterest.
These presentations can get large – Fall/Winter 2015 had 136 slides in it. But reviewing them regularly is absolutely inspiring, and really helps me figure out what I want to make for the season. I’ll spend a good couple of months researching, looking at my favorite designers (Ralph Lauren and Worth) and Chicos for casual wear. I’ll also check out what the people I follow on Polyvore are doing (they have way better style than me), and I’ll even search Pinterest for ideas. I’ll also check out Vogue Magazine runway shows. What happens after a little time is that you can get a sense for where fashion is going, and what is trend versus longer-term style. It helps me identify what trendy things I might like to make, and what quality pieces I’d like to invest in for the longer term (still making them of course, but with better fabric and more care & attention to construction). It gives me such a boost to dream about what I’ll do – and if I’m procrastinating about sewing it’s a great way to rev up my motivation to get back at it!
Here’s a slide that’s identifying how I can duplicate the cardigan in this outfit that I like (grabbed it from one of the people I follow on Polyvore). I also have the striped fabric for a tee, and some shorter brown boots. So the yarn goes on my “to buy” list, and the tee on my “to make from stash” list.
So that’s how I get my list of things to make or buy. How about you?
madforsewingandfashion 