You've got a closet full of clothes and you never have anything to wear, right? If I only had a dollar for every time I've heard that lament! Spend a few hours "shopping" in your closet each season. To start, donate anything that you haven't worn in the past two years or that doesn't fit. Then, arrange your clothes by garment type (sweaters folded with sweaters, pants hanging next to pants) and each garment type by color. Once organized, your closet will resemble a boutique.
Now, you're ready to shop. Think about what you will wear to work, your day-to-evening transitional outfits, working-on-the-weekend clothes, and of course your date and weekend outfits. Take aninventory your closet. Your CD's are alphabetized, right? Do the same things with your clothes. Keep the inventory in your wallet or save it on your Blackberry, Treo, or iPhone or so that you can refer to it while shopping. Unless you stumble upon something fabulous, try to only buy things that will work with items you already own. Now, mix and match your jewelry, shoes and bags into the outfits. I promise you that doing this will save you time getting dressed and prevent you from purchasing something that you already own.
As you begin to grow your wardrobe, stick with the classics; integrate trends into your wardrobe by buying one interesting item or a few accessories each season.
It doesn't matter how much or how little you spend on your clothes, all essential staples should be altered to a perfect fit by a professional tailor. Revive items by having the pants hemmed, waists taken in, sleeves shortened or buttons changed.
For more fabulous information from Kalyn, check out her website: www.kalynjohnson.com.