This is 30 days of outfits, fashioned from a total of 27 garments and 5 pair of shoes. (See the closet inventory for details.) There are also probably another 10-15 to be had simply by swapping out, say, one of my other two camisoles for the green one pictured, or a different pair of the wide-leg pants in nearly any scenario. These also range from not really warm at all (fine at the moment) to too warm if there’s really no cooling trend in the next 30 days, but I think I’ve given myself a fair chance of not having to think about getting dressed until the end of October. And with the light layers and sweater vests and closed shoes, and a little bit of sleeve action in there, most of these outfits do give me at least a hint of that Fall feeling. Hopefully that will keep me content until actual sweater weather arrives! (Although I should note that 6 of these involve the faded old jeans that are currently at Indigo Proof, so those combos are fictional until the jeans come home to roost.)
I believe there are only 5 garments here that have not factored into previous rounds of Closet Rummy™, and 2 first-appearance pairs of shoes (although one of those is just a replacement pair of white sneakers, so not exactly a paradigm shift), and yet I think there are only 2 or 3 outfits out of the 30 here that I’ve ever worn in these exact combinations, and then only once. It’s not that I’m averse to repeating outfits within a span of a season or whatever — this summer I’ve basically worn the same five outfits over and over and over again — but this is really the central challenge of a slow-turnover closet for me: forever finding new ways to put the same things together, as I am a person who is easily bored and who also finds joy and creativity in getting dressed.
One of my favorite things about this exercise is that, once I have a given set of garments laid out in a grid like I do, I can see things I never would have thought of. Like in the top row up there: a Wiksten Kimono + Fen Top twin set! We’ll see if I ever actually wear it, but it amuses me greatly. And the more I’ve done this, the easier it is to also just glance at the grid and spot combinations without needing to actually spell every one of them out like this.
I’ve had a lot of questions lately about how I do this, and I truly have found it to be the most beneficial thing in understanding my closet and choosing more wisely about what to add and subtract from it, so I’ll dedicate a whole blog post to it during Slow Fashion October.
PREVIOUSLY in Fall 2018 Wardrobe: Not-quite Fall closet inventory
Definitely fall here, and it’s that awkward time of year again–freezing in the morning, warm enough to shed sweater and socks in the afternoon. I enjoy getting the woollies off the shelf, and planning new ones. Only problem? I have so many that I don’t really need new ones! Is it possible to have too many handknits?
It’s cold here! Not ready for winter, but it’ll come anyway. I’m enjoying the outfit posts and realizing that I should get a few basics. I went through all my stuff this week to put away what won’t be worn for sure. I realized I have too many colors and patterns, but a couple neutral basics would fix it. I’m excited for slow fashion October, but my first baby is due at the end of the month, so we’ll see how realistic any making/ clothing actually is!
Sometimes a couple of super basic pieces is all it takes to connect those dots!
Looking forward to the post on grid wizardry! Whatever happened to the denim jeans you made? Were they Ginger? Sometimes I feel like I know your closet better than my own. If I ever find myself searching my closet for ‘my’ Cowichan inspired vest, I’ll know something is seriously awry.
Ha! Regarding the jeans, I wrote a whole post about that: https://fringeassociation.com/2018/04/23/karen-where-are-your-me-made-jeans/
Indeed you did! I forgot about the whole scientific jean splicing thing. Thanks and hope you didn’t spend too much time digging to help my poor memory.
Lol, no problem ;)
dizzying! and so good
Yes I too wondered why your jeans are not in the rotation? Those were some serious sewing!!
That’s here: https://fringeassociation.com/2018/04/23/karen-where-are-your-me-made-jeans/
Wow, your closet is so versatile, it is amazing. I like that you pair similar colours together, I’ve started doing it recently and that opens up a whole new world to me.
I am too are quite interested about, as fobscuripes says so well “grid wizardry”. I felle like my pictures are always not putting my clothes at their advantage, even with the ones I’m crazy about. I also have a problem with the colors, being totally not faithful to reality. I guess you adjust the levels of light and color in the pictures ? I’m eager to have this revealed ;-D.
Anyway, another really interesting post, this is one thank you for each and every one of them that I’ve read for three years.
What a nice thing to say, thank you. It does require a little editing of the photos once they’re snapped, so I’ll be sure to address that when I blog about my process.
I’m so excited rd for that post!
Also, I think you should try wearing your indigo-overdyed State smock under your Wiksten Kimono.
Just sayin’
I am very interested to see what you wind up covering in your post on how you make your Closet Rummy deck of cards! I see them as an extended graphic design project, quite skillfully executed, and I think a lot of what people respond to has nothing to do with tools (cameras, apps). I don’t know how many of your choices here are conscious vs instinctive at this point (I’m certain your graphic design background is playing a strong role!), but here are the things I see as making your Closet Rummy cards work so well:
– The background is neutral, attractive, and quietly speaks to your taste
– The background is consistent (per category)
– The photos have abundant natural light
– The light is diffused enough that the shadows don’t distort the silhouettes of the clothes
– The light comes from one side, giving a sense of depth and bringing out textures
– The scale and cropping of the photos is consistent (again, per category)
– The angle of the photos is consistent (per category)
– The angle of the photos does not distort the clothes, e.g. by looking down or up at them
– The hanger is consistent (always facing the same way!), neutral, and attractive
That’s just off the top of my head! I think the need for this level of attention to detail is not necessarily obvious to everybody. It’s easy to take “just take some photos of your clothes” and wind up with a visually noisy, poorly lit pile of snapshots that isn’t really that much fun to play with. Knowing how to present a lot of disparate items in a way that will allow them to be attractively arranged and interchanged is a skill — but so is making clothes. And the great thing about skills is that we can teach them to each other!
what software do you use to create the grids of photos? I took all my pics yesterday, but am not sure how to get to the next step!
Hi, Kerry — there’s a full post about it here: https://fringeassociation.com/2018/10/18/how-to-make-a-visual-closet-inventory/
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