Wardrobe essentials: the premise

I've been reading lots of blog posts lately* about cutting back on spending and building a versatile wardrobe built on adaptable 'foundations' and 'essential' items. This is a topic that I've been thinking about for a while now, particularly in the last twelve months or so where I've been moving around a lot and surviving off the dregs of my overdraft: I can't afford to maintain a wardrobe as extensive as I have in the past, nor do I want to cart around mountains of clothes and shoes with me every time I move.

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During this time my wardrobe has become more streamlined. I've dramatically cut down on sartorial spending: where I'd often spend all my free time browsing shops online and snapping up everything I could see in the sales just because it was a 'bargain', I now plan what I want to wear and buy accordingly. Although this has meant that the few purchases I have made have been significantly more expensive than items I would have bought previously, these are pieces that I still love to wear months after purchasing them, and which I will continue to wear for many more months rather than reselling, donating, or leaving them to languish in the back of my wardrobe.

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I thought I'd do a series of posts on what I consider to be the 'essential' parts of my wardrobe. These are the items that are completely versatile, that can be worn in a multitude of situations and throughout the seasons. I tend to stick to a palette of three or four colours throughout my wardrobe (red, navy, camel and black) which means that many pieces can be swapped around and worn with each other. This is a massive factor for me when it comes to buying new clothes: I want to know that they will easily fit with everything else that I wear. It also makes packing for holidays and weekend trips super quick and stress-free!

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* one, two, three, and four.