“The perfect wardrobe isn’t something that you can cook up in a weekend. Your personal style is the result of many different influences, all the people you have met over the years, all the places you have traveled. It’s a truly personal thing that can take a little digging to fully uncover.”
“Training yourself to become more selective is the single most effective thing you can do to upgrade your wardrobe. … But because of our natural human tendency to conserve energy in the short term and choose the easiest route when possible, being more selective when it comes to your wardrobe is something you actively have to practice.”
“If you have picked up this book expecting a fail-proof wardrobe plan that you can replicate, I have to disappoint you. On no page of this book will I tell you what to wear, which pieces to include in your wardrobe, or what kind of top to match with which kind of bottom. What I will do is show you how you can figure all these things out for yourself.”
“Some of the biggest style icons of the last century were people who explicitly did not follow every new trend out there and instead had their own very distinctive looks from which they rarely strayed.”
“It takes time to train your eye, experiment with different aesthetics, and develop a sense of style that feels natural and effortless to you. It takes time to figure out which types of pieces work best for your lifestyle and to curate a versatile wardrobe.”
“Our clothes tell a story. Our clothes reflect our personality and what’s important to us.”
“To be comfortable and confident, we need clothes that feel like us.”
“To be functional, your wardrobe needs to be optimally tailored to your lifestyle, or in other words, what you are doing all day. Not what you would like to do, or what you will be doing sometime in the future if all goes well. But right now.”
“A great wardrobe is like a well-oiled machine that consists of interrelated parts that all work together, allowing you to mix and match freely and create a ton of different outfits that all suit your personal style.”
“If you’re on a tight budget, that’s all the reason to use your money well and not spread it across lots of imperfect things.”
“The way you shop is nothing but a set of habits you have picked up over the years. And if you want to change the way you shop and become more selective and thoughtful about what you buy and what goes into your wardrobe, then you need to gradually replace those habits with some new ones.”
“Your best defense is a clear, succinct shopping list. Get in the habit of deciding what you want to buy before you hit the shops, online or in person at a brick-and-mortar store.”
“After decades of research and number crunching, brands know exactly how to lure us in, point us toward the pricy stuff, and send us home with way more than we came in for.”
“Compared to the average shopper, people who own carefully curated wardrobes shop at a snail’s pace. They like to take their time to compare all options before they make a decision and will rarely buy a piece on the same day they first spotted it in a store or online.”
“… humans are pretty terrible at making decisions under pressure. We ignore crucial pieces of information, get hung up on irrelevant details, and overemphasize certain things just to reach a conclusion. Having to make a decision while stuck in a tiny compartment in various states of undress definitely classifies as an under-pressure situation. And I’m not just talking about time pressure … but also an internal pressure not to leave empty-handed. Because after you’ve already invested all that time and effort to come to the store and try everything on, of course you’d rather not leave without having anything to show for it. ”
“The hands-down best way to escape that feeling of being under pressure and improve your decision making when it comes to buying pieces for your wardrobe is to simply automate the entire process.”
“Just like your eating habits, your approach to shopping is something you have been cultivating your whole life. And that’s why changing it usually requires a good deal of effort and introspection.”
“… let’s not forget what discounts are: a marketing tool designed to get us to spend more money, not less. Price reductions are one of the most reliable sales strategies out there and a surefire way for a brand to increase profit. Why do discounts work so well? Because they tap right into our inherent fear of scarcity and trigger our instinct to hoard resources whenever we can. We tend to use the price of a product as a marker for its desirability, so when something is reduced, we feel as though by buying it we are making the best possible use of our most-valued resource: money. That coupled with the fact that time-limited discounts create a sense of urgency puts us straight back into hunter-gatherer mode.”
“No matter the price, a new piece is worth the money only if you need it, love it, and will wear it.”