Thursday, February 19, 2009

How Do I/How Do You?

I am really working on shopping my closet, going through things that I need to wear in different ways, but I run into a frequent problem with this endeavor.

I am not a morning person.

Let me repeat that: I hate mornings.

The alarm goes off and I hit snooze. I want to slumber in bed as long as possible. Somehow I lack the motivation to bounce out of bed and style a perfect outfit. There are a few things at work in my lack of motivation: 1, I work in a very casual office and can wear almost anything I want, and 2, I usually throw something together with just one source of inspiration, and 3, Snoozing costs me valuable minutes.

Do you do this too? I find myself basing what I wear on one thing. Sometimes its the weather, sometimes its that I want to wear jeans, sometimes its that I have been wearing jeans for days and I want to NOT wear jeans, Sometimes its that I want to wear flats cause my feet are complaining. When I look at other people's outfits on blogs, it looks to me that they put together an entire look, not that "I don't feel like wearing heels today". This makes me feel inadequate, but its just a truth of my mornings that it has to come together at the last minute based on one fact that I latch onto.

Today I had this thought process:

Blah. Its morning. Not enough coffee.

I want to wear my new Martin + Osa bootcut jeans.

These jeans are shorter. I will need to wear flats.

It has been raining for a week so its cold. I wish I could wear cherry blossom tee but too cold. Hmmm. More coffee needed.

Husband is pacing and wants to leave. Thinkthinkthink.

OK, sweater. What sweater is on top in closet? Oh look, Lori Cashmere Henley. Slight worry that this washes me out. Oh well, will apply more blush?

Put on sweater. What about a bright belt? That might even make it look NOT like a jeans and sweater uniform. OH! And new Target flats! It might work! I'm ALMOST ready!

Hey! I'm dressed! Not bad!

Here's the result. Please excuse this picture. How do people take such nice pics of themselves in outfits? A remote control? A huge mirror? A self timer? I need like a training class on this. Also I need to have my room always look clean.


I would love to know how you all put together outfits. Do you plan them the night before? Do you have things grouped in your closet? Do you have a bright eyed, bushy-tailed half hour to waltz around your closet because you get up early enough? Or do you have a step by step process? Whats your get-dressed strategy? Any answers will be helpful!!

15 comments:

  1. I have a feeling quite a few of us use Polyvore to help us the day or night before. Sometimes when I have down-time I will create a set knowing that I won't wear it for a while.

    I also recommend the night before thing. I will lay out the outfit on my dresser and that way the next morning I don't have to think about it (have to think about getting my kids ready instead)!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm with dinagideon - polyvore is a wonder! Sometimes I even leave on the computer in the morning just to give me ideas and inspiration! LOL!

    However, when the mood strikes me, I do plan the outfit the night before. BUT (and this is a 95% "but") I do tend to plan out outfits the morning when I wake up, and it's a hit or miss. Sometimes it's fab, sometimes...not so much. ;p

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really check out polyvore one of these days. I have the most success when I plan it out the night before.

    I loved the thought process behind your outfit assembly.

    I, too, would like to know how everyone gets such great pics to post - I am thinking I may start a blog myself so wondering about the best photo strategy. Like you said, maybe that's motivation to keep my room clean! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I plan my outfits the night before. If I didn't everyday, I would be wearing black pants and a blah blouse. BORING!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know how you feel. I struggle just about every morning trying to decide what to put together. I usually end up looking boring and NOT put together. I've been trying the night before thing, and it seems to be working out okay, but I still don't think I'm very good at the whole "creating outfits" thing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Morning is not the time to decide. Too much pressure. You should do it the night before. Or on Sunday, pull a few outfits and hang them in an area of the closet where you can easily reach for them. I find that when I am trying to put together's Today's look, I discover a combo better suited for later in the week. So I try to set a period of time where I make at least 2 or 3 looks and then wear them during the week.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I plan my outfit the night before, or even a couple of nights before. I even lay out my jewelry the night before so I don't have to think in the morning. It's enough to get my hair and make up done, the dog fed and outside, my lunck packed, breakfast, and out the door by 6:35. I am not a morning person either, so I prefer to not have to think too much until I get to school. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I second Dina. I have few Polyvore sets on my mind the night before. Many of my sets are in the Draft mode, I post them once I wear a set.
    I love ironing and usually do it on weekends watching movies. I usually pick from the things that I have ironed before as I rarely can do it on a weekday.

    I am as you are, I slumber until the last possible moment!Hate mornings!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi!
    I actually plan my outfit for the entire week on saturday or sunday. I check the weather for the week and browse through polyvore and make sets for the week, and just put that on each morning. I used to spend half an hour trying to figure out what to wear, but figured that's waste of valuable morning time! anyway, it has been saving me lot of time since I started doing it :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. In the shower. I don't take long morning showers, but while I'm in there I think of what I need to wear. And I watch late nite news to see if any funky weather is happening that day. And depending on if I hit snooze only once, or if I hit it five times, I choose something that may or may not need to be ironed.

    Not too much contemplation going on. I have may go-to pieces.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi! I think this is the 1st time I've posted on your blog, but I check it practically everyday. I loved reading about your thought process-- it made me laugh and reminded me of myself! Here are my two cents: 1. I've tried playing with Polyvore but really wasn't feeling it, so that plays no role in my thinking. 2. I usually think about what I'm going to wear on any given day the night before; sometimes this works great, and sometimes things don't come together on *me* the way they came together in my mind. Annoying! So then I run around my apt like a crazy woman looking for random belts, changing shirts, swapping one color of pants for another, ironing, etc. until I'm satisfied. This results in my getting to work late too often! Which is stupid b/c, like you, I work at a super casual office and am ALWAYS the most "dressed up" person there. But what can I do; that's just my way. :) 3. So, I think the *ideal* thing is to not only think about this the night before but also to try things on and make sure they actually work. Also, prepping clothes the night before would save precious (sleeping?) time in the morning. I have yet to do this though, at least not since I graduated from high school. (I'm 28 now.) 4. I've found that thinking about how any given new piece will fit into my wardrobe can be helpful. So, in a way, outfit planning begins from the time I'm debating whether or not to buy something. If I can't visualize at least a few different ways to wear something-- utilizing other items that I ALREADY OWN-- then I pretty much know I'll always struggle to figure out how to wear it.

    I guess some people are planners, and some are 100% spontaneous; I'm somewhere in between. I would say that, in my case, a ton of trial and error is involved.

    Oh, I also think that looking around in magazines, on blogs, @ women on the street, etc. for ideas is helpful; I never wore lots of bright colors or cared about pairing unusual colors until I saw it being done in the 2007 JC catalogs. Now I do it all the time!

    Fun topic! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ooh I love this post. At my best, I plan out what I am going to wear for the week and actually write it down on a notepad. I lay my outfit on my chair the night before and its great! No stress and I'm so proud of myself!

    At my worst I wake up with no idea and try on a bunch of stuff and soon my clothes are all over the floor! I get all stressed out and always end up wearing the first outfit I tried on. Sometimes planning works for me until I realize that I'm having a "fat" day and can't wear what I thought I was going to wear that day...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I do it the old fashion way - write it down. I acutally have a notepad in my closet and I'll write ideas/outfits down and refer back to them when getting dressed(I also keep my wishlist there when I think of something that would make the outfit better). Then the night before I chose an outfit and get it ready (iron, etc) so I just have to throw it on in the morn.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Shopper555 - I hate those days!! That is when I'm not happy with anything I pick out (and wish I was a nurse so I could wear scrubs for the day). :o)

    ReplyDelete
  15. i like a few others, will plan out all my outfits for the week on sunday (after checking the weather) and pull them out of my closet, and hang them in my spare closet. if a few items need ironing i try to do that too. it saves so much time in the morning and i don't wake up husband digging through my closet since he sleeps later than me :)

    ReplyDelete

 
Site Design By Designer Blogs