The Fashion Show In My Closet

via, Penny Pincher Fashion

Everyone has those moments where they can't think of what to wear. It's not that you don't have any clothes; you just can't find what you want to put on that fits your mood, or that you haven't worn to death lately. Speaking for the cheap-and-cheerful crowd: the solution is NOT to go out and buy yourself more clothes. That cycle will just keep repeating itself and suddenly you'll have an indecently large wardrobe that you practically never wear. The key? Learn to work with what you have. There are plenty of blogs that have posts (or are entirely) dedicated to helping women learn how to mix and match individual pieces to create outfits. A Beautiful Mess, Outfit Posts, and Putting Me Together.

I've already admitted this in a previous post, but I have to say it again. Back in uni I used to stay in my room some evenings just trying on all of my clothes. I'd empty drawers, pull hangers from the closet, and have piles of clothes on the bed and shoes on the floor. I'd dress, strip, and re-dress all in front of the mirror that hung by the door, changing outfits and individual pieces at a moment's notice. I wasn't going anywhere, I wasn't indecisive...I was just playing dress-up.

As a tween, I went through a horrible phase where I'd change outfits multiple times a day. I'd just get bored with what I had on. The first time my dad met two of my friends, I'd left them stranded on the front porch while I went upstairs to change. I got better as time went on, but I was still coming down from being the girl who could pack 12 outfits for a weekend away doing nothing.

Discontinued, but via Emerson Fry

All grown up now, I don't find that I have as much time to just sit and sort through my clothes. If you're a very visual person, like I am, it's definitely a useful exercise to get a good feel for how far your clothes will actually go. And sometimes, you find a way to get new life out of an old piece of clothing just by switching up how you'd normally wear it. The freeing thing about having your own personal fashion show is that you aren't going anywhere! It's all research and development. You have nowhere to be where you need to look fabulous, so if an outfit bombs for some reason, it's not the end of the world. And you can get as crazy as you want trying to find a look that you like!

Here are the essentials for having your own Closet Fashion Show:

1) full-length mirror
2) space to spread out your materials (an uncluttered dresser or well-made bed would do)

3) time to spare
4) some fun and relaxing music (that print is discontinued, but here's the store it comes from)

Seriously; get into the swing of things and see what new looks you can come up with using what you already have. You might surprise yourself!