Experts Share How They Build Outfits With a Small Wardrobe • Wardrobe Audit Week 5

It’s week five of our audit course. We’ve been on a journey of introspection, starting by examining why we have so many clothes. In week two, we explored what we’ve been wearing recently and how it made us feel. Week three was about setting goals, personal to our style and our wardrobe, to set ourselves up for success. Last week, we discussed different ways to curate a community on Whering to borrow clothes from and expand the possibilities of your newly refined wardrobe. 

Building on that, if you’re looking for tips on getting more out of a refined selection of items without sharing clothes, I spoke with styling experts about how they put outfits together with a smaller wardrobe. Delving into their process for putting an outfit together was really interesting. Read on to see what gems they shared.

Walk us through how you put outfits together…

Sophie Benson, Sustainable Fashion Journalist: For me, everything depends on what the weather's doing because I hate being too cold or too hot, so it starts there. My approach tends to differ between weekdays and weekends. In the week, I'm more likely to wear tried and tested outfits that I know work together, but on the weekends I'll take the opportunity to try out new combinations. In that case, I tend to start with an item I know I want to play around with and build it from there. Sometimes, the first combination I try on works; other times, it's twenty minutes of me going back and forth to my wardrobe until I find something that works.

Heidy Sands, Slow Fashion Content Creator: I generally throw on what feels good and quirky. I have an eclectic wardrobe where I enjoy clashing colours and patterns and also experimenting with silhouettes and styles. e.g casual sports shorts with a femme top that has a ridiculously large Peter Pan collar.

Marian Kwei, Celebrity Stylist: I put outfits together around what works with reference to the structure, colour, print and texture of the sum total of the parts of the outfit. A lot of times, the format is that I start with a key piece which might have an interesting focal feature I build the full outfit around.

For example, I might start with an off-the-shoulder knit midi-length dress. I would work to create an outfit around that focal shoulder and pair it with a collared shirt in the same colour tones of the dress to be worn under the dress. Given the midi length of the dress, I would work to enhance that by accessorising with knee-high boots of an interesting structure. The jewellery and beauty would play on the faux double neckline of the collar shirt under the off-shoulder dress with perhaps shoulder-length earrings.

Nicole Stefanos, Slow Fashion Content Creator & Vintage Store Owner: I usually build an outfit around one thing. So I’ll grab a bias cut skirt, for example, and then factor in the weather. If we’re lucky to be having a lovely sunny day, I would pair it with a cropped linen top and sandals. If it’s a bit cooler, I might go for an oversized shirt, trainers and a denim jacket. 

Hannah Rupp, Slow Fashion Content Creator: I'm never not thinking about clothes, so I love being hands-on in my closet and putting together outfits in advance. I look ahead at what activity or event I have going on and pick pieces that match the vibe. I usually start with a top or dress and build from there. If I'm really feeling in a rut, I work backwards and start planning my outfit around a shoe or a cool piece of jewellery. Switching up my routine helps me look at things in a new way!