If my closet could magically fill itself with well-fitted (pressed!) clothes that suited my shape and whims without me ever having to set foot into an apparel store, I would be a very happy girl. I hate shopping; I like having cute stuff but not all the picking and sore feet that goes along with it.
I also want all new clothes. Following about eight years of gaining and losing 50 pounds in the name of building my family, I feel like I deserve it. (Money, we will speak of you another day. A girl is allowed to want things.) Realistically, I want to prune out the clothes that don’t suit me and strategically purchase classic pieces I will love. But what? So that’s my dilemma.
Step One: Speed-pinning. I was trying to follow Shana’s method for discovering my personal style by speed-pinning everything I like from any source, but I lost patience and interest around Step Two. (If you have time, you should totally try her process!) I wound up with a board stuffed full of “what I think looks cool” without regard for price or practicality.
So, yeah, it’s a lot more dresses than I wear in real life but it certainly shows a pattern. Ha ha. Patterns.
While creating a visual inspiration board of clothing I like did not make Zooey Deschanel appear on my doorstep with a bag of stuff to try on, the exercise was worthwhile. Here’s how my style Pinterest board has helped me:
- Remembering what I like. With my style board around, I can be inspired by friends and strangers and not forget those fleeting thoughts. I have a place to save my ideas like “I love these red shoes” or “Must wear more A-line dresses” (this is where Whitney would like to me make a note to self about a brown cardigan that is more current than Y2K. Ha, I love that sweater!). Simply creating a board is the first step toward figuring out what I’d like to add to my wardrobe. I can “me too” with a click of the mouse by repinning my well-dressed friends.
- Speed up my real life shopping. Shortly after this exercise, I walked into a shop with Whitney and invited the sales person to understand my fashion hopes and dreams and make them come true by flashing my Pinterest iPhone app in her face. Immediately, she could look past my Old Navy jeans and see the kinds of things I really like. She brought me cute stuff while I sat there snacking in the fitting room. Pretty easy and successful. Score.
- Remove pain from my husband’s holiday shopping. My excellent husband hates shopping so much he makes me look like I love it. But armed with a link to my board, he, too, was able to look around and see what I’m coveting without having to take my girlfriends into a store. Nevermind, he said he didn’t even look at it.
And here’s where I still feel stuck: I work from home, occasionally going to in person meetings and conferences, and ideally on a date with my husband once a week. Yet, I keep pinning 40s-inspired frocks as if I work in a Los Angeles graphic design studio. It’s both too cold and too casual to wear such dresses on a daily basis in my current life. So here’s the challenge I’m now issuing myself: What do I want to wear at 10 am on a Tuesday?
Do I need a separate board for this? A 10 AM Tuesday Pinterest board? What do you normally wear at 10 on a Tuesday? Will you share it with me on Pinterest?
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