What is The Curated Closet?
The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees is a fantastic guide to honing your personal style and revamping your closet to reflect it. If you’re in a vicious fast fashion cycle, don’t like your clothes, or simply need to revamp your closet, this book is for you!
Rees, is an author and blogger with The Curated Closet being her first book. Since its release, her career has pivoted to focus more on “feminism and beauty culture” than fashion.
Still, she created a timeless guide to fashion with her debut nonfiction title. The Curated Closet is the best initial guide to zeroing in on your personal style and teaching you to shop for it.
In this series, we will go over main points learned from The Curated Closet. This post is dedicated to defining personal style and the research phase in finding it.
What is Personal Style?
Personal style is each person’s individualized preference of dressing based on their experiences and travels. It’s crafted over years and constantly evolving.
I believe people often fall unintentionally into their personal styles. At least, that’s true in my case.
I’m one of those people that woke up one morning, looked in my closet and realized I hated nearly everything in it.
I had an epiphany that my personal style was not reflected in my clothes. For 2 reasons:
- I frequently bought a random mix of colors, patterns and silhouettes.
- I didn’t know what my personal style was.
I craved a change to both circumstances, but I didn’t know where to start. That’s where The Curated Closet came in!
I first learned of this book from another brilliant fashion read The Conscious Closet by Elizabeth L. Cline. In Conscious Closet, Cline references Curated Closet as a great resource.
Specifically, she relays a valuable lesson about the difference between a wardrobe and a closet.
A closet is a random assortment of colors, patterns and pieces. If you find 2 items that match in that hullabaloo, it’s by coincidence only.
Whereas a wardrobe is a curated selection of clothes that work together. Each piece in a wardrobe is carefully selected to be high-quality, reflect your personal style and work in tandem with many other options.
Now, would you rather have a closet or a wardrobe?
I’d definitely rather have a wardrobe! To get one, we must define our personal style.
How to Find your Personal Style
To find your personal style, you first need to research and consider your lifestyle. It’s time to open a Google Doc and get to business!
Consider your schedule over a month period. Which activities do you partake in over a month’s time?
Write down the number of times you go to work, go out with friends, date nights, working out, camping, etc.
Any activity that you need an outfit for over a month, write it down. Your list should look something like this:
Be realistic about this. It’s from this list that you will prioritize the items in your closet.
Once you know what activities to shop for, it’s time to ponder the specific items needed. To find those, we will first need to narrow down your fashion aesthetic.
Compile a moodboard from Pinterest, Instagram, magazines, media wherever. Take images from those sources and keep them in one place for easy rearranging.
Consider the colors, patterns, outfits and vibes of those images. Which of those elements do you want your wardrobe to emulate?
Consider which pieces are functional and fashionable. After all, you’re looking for the wardrobe of your daily life. Not the dream statement pieces to wear once every few months.
(Unless dream statement pieces are required for the majority of your closet based on your lifestyle. In that case, how can I become you?)
Find patterns among the images of colors, patterns, silhouettes, etc. you gravitate toward.
Then go try them on!
How to Shop for Your Personal Style
A lot of finding your personal style is in the ”finding” part. Like most other experiences, it’s about the journey.
By trying on the pieces that are inspired by your moodboard, you can see in-person what works for you and what doesn’t. As you try on these pieces, take specific notes.
Note each garment’s fabric, cut/neckline, fit and feel. Did it make you feel confident and comfortable? Did it underwhelm you? Why?
If you encounter a garment you were excited about then were disappointed by after wearing, don’t give up on it immediately!
A lot of finding your personal style is trying something new which is a daunting task. Often, when we try on a garment that’s unusual to our old way of dressing, we’re quick to dismiss it.
We feel safer to revert back to our old fashion habits. But, we’re on the journey to finding our personal style to make new habits. And to find our true style.
The only way we can find our true style is by taking some risks!
So try to make this garment work. Pair it with other pieces to see if that improves its appeal.
If not, take note and move on. At least now you know you gave something new a chance. And you will hopefully take that persistence to the rest of your Curated Closet journey.
The most important part of this trying on clothes phase is this: DON’T BUY ANYTHING.
You’re trying on these clothes to compile data. Not to fall into old habits of trying something on, then buying it based on shaky reasoning.
(Shaky reasoning includes but is not limited to thinking it’s too good of a deal to pass up on, feeling pressured by other people in the dressing room, thinking you might need it, etc.)
You will find the right clothes. Don’t feel rushed by a cheap price or bright lights.
The point of finding your personal style is to listen only to you and what your closet needs. To do so, you first must change how you shop.
The Problem is How You Shop
The Curated Closet said it, not me! Although I agree.
I go in a store with no gage on what my closet needs and doesn’t need. I rarely have a plan while shopping and that’s what messes me up.
In that sense, I go shopping completely in the dark which makes all my buying decisions questionable!
The Curated Closet puts an end to that.
It instead encourages a shopping plan. By having a plan, you’re not tempted by deals or fleeting trends. You have a clear understanding of your closet’s lacks and you intend to fill the most pressing needs first.
Ignore the desire to buy something every time you go in a store. Making an informed decision about a future purchase is reason enough to try on clothes in-store.
The purchase may not happen immediately, but it will. And that’s okay! It’s not advisable to make such quick, unsure decisions on items you plan on keeping for years.
Taking your time and having clear shopping intention protects you from shopping regrets. Plus it hones your personal style.
Over time, only your closet’s fact-based needs and your personal style will guide you during shopping trips.
That’s much more comforting than listening to fast fashion brands pressure you to buy their cheap, wasteful garments.
Final Word
In this part of our series we learned finding your personal style takes time and intention. You have to unlearn a lot of the ways you used to shop.
It’s all about research in the beginning. You must consider how you wish your closet looked with the realities of your lifestyle.
Once you have an understanding of both, try on everything. Find what works and what doesn’t. Learn to shop with gathering data in mind. Not hopping on fleeting trends or buying a ”good deal”.
In the next part of our series we’ll dive deeper into The Curated Closet. Part 2 will explain detoxing our current closet and getting precise with wardrobe needs!
More Fashion Books we Love:
- The Conscious Closet
- Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem
- Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes