I failed at a "No Buy." This is what I'm doing instead.
5 steps to finding my personal style after having kids. Plus, my new 2025 wardrobe plan.
At the beginning of January there was a buzz of people sharing their “no buy year” and I was inspired. I’d also just watched the documentary “Buy Now” while sick on the couch and that was eye opening show. I was feeling the momentum toward significantly reducing consumption and naturally jump on the bandwagon.
I made a rough outline of my “low buy year” in a note on my phone. At the same time I discovered the concept of cataloging my wardrobe in an app. My technology, data loving self was an instant, “yes, I’m doing that too.” As I focused heavily on my closet in January I had several realizations and one of which, was that my initial “low buy year” plan probably wasn’t going to work out how I planned it. Here’s what I’m working on alongside my updated version of a fashion focused “low buy year.”
Started cataloging my closet.
I opted to use the Indyx app. It was honestly so much work. I had underestimated the size of my wardrobe. I’d just donated about 3 bags of clothes last fall and hadn’t bought many new pieces, so the volume of clothing still in my closet was a bit of shock. The process of photographing each piece of clothing or finding the product photo online was enough to get me to pause on certain pieces that didn’t feel worth my time. I added about 10 or so pieces to a donation pile.
As of today, I have 153 items in my Indyx app, but I still have several bags, coats, jewelry and few belts to add. I’m skipping things like sunglasses because I don’t want to track them and usually just wear what’s in my car already.
I will say the effort was 100% worth it!! I learned so much from the process of cataloging my closet. Said lessons:
I had fallen victim to the same piece in multiple colors trap. Often, I didn’t wear the other colors, because a large part of why I liked the original was the color itself.
I had been avoiding trying on most of my jeans because I knew they didn’t fit. I was only wearing about 2 to 3 out of the 15 or so in my closet.
I have so much blue. My closet is filled with a million versions of blue from tops to bottoms. No wonder my outfits were feeling the same, same. They kind of were.
My next main color was red. I love a good pop of red, but now I have too much and more doesn’t always mean more options. Again, pieces were too similar to make much impact in my daily outfits.
The majority of my wardrobe consisted of tops. I was essentially wearing the same jeans over and over, but just swapping out the tops. No wonder I was feeling so bored with my clothes. Then, it hit me. When I was feeling bored with my clothes often sought out new top options (thrifted or purchased new), but what I really needed was more variety in bottoms. I’ve had 3 kids in 5 years, so my body has changed a lot! I also started working out consistently a year and a half ago. I’m in the best shape I’ve been in in years, which I’m really proud of. And I’m feeling great in my body, but most of my jeans weren’t making me feel that way. I can technically squeeze into most of my current line up of jeans, my body composition has changed leaning out in some areas, but gaining muscle in others. I’m at my “pre-kids” weight, but most of my pants don’t fit well. I was not expecting that to be the case when I initially started to work out. Just thought I’d share that with any other postpartum mom’s out there. The scale hasn’t been the best gauge for the improvements I’ve seen in my body after working out consistently for over a year.
Created a Notion “style page” to bring purpose to my closet.
Through the process of cataloging my wardrobe I discovered Notion and started subscribing to Anna’s substack (highly recommend!) I jumped into creating a Notion, specifically a “style” page in Notion like Anna’s to really bring purpose to my wardrobe. I started by defining my “3 words” coined by Allison Bornstein (another great substack read!).
My three words:
Relaxed - minimal, casual, comfort
Polished - classic, elevated, tailored
Playful - romantic, undone, a little weird
I started tracking my wishlist items in my Notion style page. This has become my new purchasing filter. I’ve decided I must add it to my wishlist section before purchasing. Sometimes the effort alone makes me pause and reflect if it’s truly a want or just something I was influenced into a shopping rabbit hole after.
I’m also working on tracking my purchases in the wishlist and other purchases outside the wishlist, like thrifted pieces.
Culled my pinterest boards for inspiration based on the actual pieces in my closet.
I had this moment in the process of cataloging my closet that I realized I was pinning aspirational outfits and not outfits based on what was currently in my closet. I’d open pinterest for a jolt of outfit inspo in the morning sometimes and just feel overwhelmed or defeated. My inspiration board was too inspirational (lol). The outfits were wearable in my everyday life, but key elements of the look were pieces like overalls or floral pants - neither of which I owned. I reevaluated my pinterest to find outfit inspiration that actually matched similar pieces in my closet. Then, put them all together in Canva to create a simple moodboard and dropped those moodboards into my Notion style page.
This step was a game changer in helping me see trends in what I liked. Funny enough, my moodboards included only a few outfits with stripes and my actually wardrobe was stocked with a million versions of striped tops. There was clearly a disconnect between what I was feeling inspired to wear, what was in my closet already and what I was buying. So, I edited down my clothes even more. Picked only my favorite striped tops, removed duplicate feeling pieces and finally tackled my denim jean issue. More on that in a second.
I grouped the inspiration photos in my moodboards above when I saw similarities in outfits and colors. Trends quickly emerged!
I like denim, like a lot. Either in a wide leg or straight leg fit. Mostly in a medium and dark wash color.
Colors I’m drawn to are blues (this one was obvious before I started given my current closet makeup), poppy red, burgundy, chocolate browns, creamy beige, and olive green.
I’m not that into patterns. I had a few photos with classic Parisian style stripes, but mostly solid colors in different textures. I did see leopard print show up a few times mostly in shoes. Noted!
I like casual, textural outfits with paired with feminine or structured shoes. A classic outfit formula for me is loose jeans, slightly oversized crewneck sweater, and mary jane flats or loafers. Add a long coat and tote to the look and I’m out the door.
I bought a bunch of jeans to find what actually fit my current body.
This is really were the “no buy” wheels fell off. When I realized I didn’t fit in most of my jeans I decided it would be a practical purchase. Honestly, I absolutely hate jean shopping, especially online. I mean, who does?! I’m only 5 feet tall, so finding well fitting jeans is like searching for a real life unicorn. Most of my current jeans were Levi’s that I could technically fit into, but they were uncomfortable and too tight. After trying on all my current jeans and paying attention to how I felt all day wearing them, I knew I pretty much needed to start from scratch. I was looking at Agolde and Mother jeans, but couldn’t justify the price tag (still want to at least try some on in the future). I decided to start at Levi’s because they’re classic, budget-friendly and maybe I just needed to size up.
I placed a big order of different styles and sizes at Levi’s, which made me feel a bit bad when at the start of the year I was attempting a “low buy year.” Jeans delivered a week later. I tried them all one and to my relief, found a few styles in the right sizes that I felt great in! Hurrayyyy! Here are the styles I loved:
Levi’s 501 90s Ankle - These are super comfortable. They fit me like a regular length and not cropped on me.
Levi’s Wedgie Straight Fit - I get them in 26 inseam for a regular length fit.
Levi’s Dad Jeans - I had to cut them a few inches shorter and am just going to rock the raw hem look.
I ordered a few color options in a few of the styles to get myself a good base of well fitting, comfortable denim jeans again. Game changer. Now, I don’t totally dread getting dressed in the mornings!
Finally brought pieces to the tailor.
I don’t know why I’m like this, but I’d had a bag of 3 pairs of trousers (navy, chocolate brown and black colors) in my car for many months with the intent of getting them hemmed and one needed the waist brought in. I finally googled tailors and found one pretty much walking distance from my house and brought them in to get hemmed. I’m hoping they are done this week! Right now most of my outfits are with jeans. I love jeans, but it will be fun to rework some outfit with trousers.
This all brings me to my new goals with my wardrobe in 2025:
Finish cataloging my entire wardrobe in the Indyx app.
Track my daily outfits with selfie photos. They help me so much decipher what I feel and look good in or what I could add to make the look feel more complete. For example, I’m learning I need white undershirts for my sweaters and it’s worth a few extra minutes in the mornings to thoughtfully select my jewelry and possibly a belt.
Thrift with intention based on my moodboards and itemized Notion wishlist. No duplicate or similar, but slightly different pieces.
Only purchase one new non-thrifted item each month. Hoping this will help me prioritize my purchases to build out a well rounded wardrobe.
Purchase within my “color analysis season.” Explore more colors that embody the “playful” vibe in my three style words. I’ll share more on my color analysis in a future post!
I don’t think I need any new winter/fall bottoms. I live in Minnesota where we have four seasons that vary drastically in weather. So, I’m anticipating having to repeat this process come warmer months for my summer wardrobe. I like to store those pieces during the colder months.
Make my own clothes! I have a stack of fabric and patterns printed out for making pants, blouses and dresses. I’m really excited to learn how to sew more of my own clothes this year! More on that in a future post too!
Overall, I’m feeling really inspired by my wardrobe and diving deeper into my personal style while stepping away from trends. 2025 is going to be the year I build confidence and a POV with my style. I can just feel it! I’ll share more about my personal style journey here each month. Stay tuned!