Spring Cleaning Series: mini wardrobe re-haul

{Click on the pic for original source}

As part of the Spring Cleaning Series, we have already cleaned our makeup brushes  so now it’s time to get into your wardrobe!

Doing this mini re-haul will make it exactly 100% easier to get dressed in the morning, will make sure your not trawling through old clothes & will remind you exactly what you have in there so you don’t end up with 5 pairs of faded denim, cutoff mini shorts.

Step 1:

The weather is warming up & you don’t want to be wading through scarves & gloves to find your sun hat. Take everything you know you won’t need for the next few months {including shoes and accessories} pop it in a box or bag & store it in a safe place. This could include beanies, scarves, coats, thick socks & wintery underwear and pyjamas. When the weather starts to get chilly again just pull them out of hiding.

Step 2:

Once you have removed your winter clothes, start trying on the summer clothes you plan to wear.

If…

• They no longer fit
• Anything looks a little old
• They are no longer on trend

Donate them!

If…

• You could never get that raspberry vodka stain out of your favourite festival top
• You have literally worn your clothes to death
• Your swimmers worked so hard last summer that they are see-through/saggy

Bin them!

If you come across something that you can’t part with, or your not sure if you might need it later on… add it to your winter pile & put it in storage, if you don’t go looking for it all Summer, man-up and get rid of them. Clutter = bad!

What you are now left with is a {much smaller} wardrobe full of clothes you will actually wear.

Step 3:

Take a look at what’s left & write a list of what you are missing.

Step 4:

Shop!

And there is your mini wardrobe re-haul. I do this at the beginning of every Summer and Winter & it’s like hitting re-fresh on your entire wardrobe.

This is only the mini version, if you want a more full-on wardrobe makeover check out this post.

Cost-Per-Wear – Mimco Statement Necklace

The Window Shopper LOVES investment shopping & buying pieces that will stand the test of time. However, when you are faced with two white shirts, one is $50 & the other is $180 it is hard to know which to choose.

That’s where the cost per-wear formula comes in handy!

Basically it is a different way of evaluating whether or not your clothes & accessories are worth what you are paying for them.

To figure it out….

take the cost of the item, divide it by how often you think you will wear it {making sure to take into account what the item is made of, how long it will last & how long it will stay on trend} & then the number you are left with is the item’s cost-per-wear amount.

The Experiment:

I thought I would take this method & see if it works in practice. I wanted to see if a statement necklace was worth spending a lot of money on, or if it was just a waste of moolah.

Enter the Mimco necklace. At a cost of $79.00, I purchased the necklace 6 weeks ago.

Each time I wore the necklace I would take a quick snap with my camera phone & write a note in my diary as a way to record how many times I have worn it.

The Results:

Over 6 weeks (42 days) days I wore the necklace on 14 occasions. Meaning the cost-per-wear of the necklace would be 14 divided by $79, making the cost per-wear $5.64 over 42 days.

$5.64 per-wear may seem expensive, but remember, that is only for 6 weeks. So lets see what the cost per-wear would be for a year!

14 wears over 6 weeks = 121 wears per-year, meaning the total ANNUAL cost per-wear would be a miniscule $1.53.

It would be even less than that if I wear my necklace for more than one year, which I am sure I will!

The Conclusion:

Surprisingly, I wore this necklace more often than I thought I would. It was the perfect add-on to dress up any outfit & I got heaps of ‘where is your necklace from’ comments!

Originally I thought $79 for a costume necklace was a bit exxy, but after realising just how often I will wear it I can justify the cost.

Going to the extent of taking pictures & recording every time I wear the necklace was a bit extreme, & über time-consuming, but next time I go shopping I will definitely do a quick calculation of the cost per-wear in my head before I fork over any cash.

Anyone else out there use the cost per-wear formula when shopping?

The Everygirl’s Fashion Essentials

Here at The Window Shopper we are all about investing in wardrobe essentials. But what exactly are these so-called essentials?

Every blogger & fashion site worth their salt has an essentials list or an opinion on what you absolutely-positively-MUST have in your wardrobe… & it seems that the more of these lists I read the more they begin to merge into one mega-list of must-have’s & the definition of a true essential becomes blurred.

That’s why I HAD to share The Everygirl’s post on 21 Fashion Essentials with you.

Bradley Agather knows exactly what the definition of an essential is & the article features both an investment & cheaper option for each item, catering perfectly to the 20-somethings out there who are slowly building up their wardrobe. You can also download & print off their Handbook which accompanies the article… think of it as a visual shopping list!

In summary it’s a no-bull & common sense list of the shiz you NEED in your wardrobe.

So make sure you check out the great article over at The Everygirl & let me know, do you think they missed anything?

The Perfect Pair of Sunglasses

Remember my search for the perfect handbag? Well here is the sunglasses version!

1. Christian Lacroix 2. Oliver Peoples 3. Roberto Cavalli 4.Miu Miu 5. Karen Walker Anywhere 6. Karen Walker Helter Skelter 7. Ray Ban 8. Ray Ban