Image Intensive 
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Part 1: Shop In Your Own Closet and Save!
Recently a number of clients have indicated that they are very interested in saving their money, especially right before Christmas. As an entrepreneur, saving money is always a good thing. Linda Watters, a Vancouver-based actor and administrative assistant, allowed us to come into her closet and show her a number of ways she could work with pieces she already had to make a functional and effective wardrobe.
The first step in any closet consultation includes a brief discussion of the client’s goals and objectives for the session. Linda wanted items that she could wear during her personal and professional time and also wanted items she could wear as a background performer in the local film scene.
The next step was a few brief assessments to get a general idea of the colours that would suit Linda and the styles that would look best on her. Using colour flags and a ribbon, we determined that the general range of colours for Linda were muted, neutral undertone colours and that her proportions were aligned in such a way that she would not have any unusual fitting issues.
After the basics were covered, we spent about an hour in the closet: pulling those pieces that suited her colouring and style best; and putting together clothing items and accessories in a “wardrobe module” consisting of a jacket, two bottoms, three tops and accompanying accessories that would make up twelve different outfits.We soon discovered that not only did Linda already have a basic module; she actually had several other pieces that could work with the same module to create many more looks.
Many of the pieces we pulled were ones that Linda had not worn together before. With the accessories, we were able to complete several different looks that could carry her into the office and onto set with very little effort.
Shopping in your own closet can be easy. Follow these steps to get started:
- Decide what your objective is for your time. Do you want to purge items that aren’t useful, find new ways to put items together or simply figure out what new items you might need to buy?
- Once you have your objective in place, set a timer for an hour to help you stay focused. Don’t try to clean your closet out if your objective is just to find new ways to put things together.
- Group items by colour, style and/or function to give you a guideline to mix-and-match from.
- Try things on! Now is your chance to experiment, try new things and shake up the old ways of wearing all the items in your closet.
- Put together a basic module from the items in your wardrobe: one jacket, two bottoms, three tops and accessories will give you a good start. From here, you an figure out your shopping list, just like Linda did.
Stay tuned for Part 2, next month , where we take a field trip and shop at Value Village!
[ Read More ] • [ 2 Comments ] • [ Filed under Image Intensive ] • [ 12/13/10 ] -
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