Why Investing in a Timeless Wardrobe Will save You Money

WHY YOU SHOULD DITCH FAST FASHION AND BUILD A TIMELESS WARDROBE

“I have always thought of the t-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet”.

Wise words from Giorgio Armani, a man who left his undeniable mark in the fashion world.
His simple, signature uniform of a midnight, blue t-shirt; plain, navy trousers and basic white sneakers didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most iconic symbols of style and elegance of our time.

Many other designers have the same pattern, Carolina Herrera, Tom Ford, Vera Wang, Riccardo Tisci and Michael Kors – all seem to share the love for their essential outfit. 

I couldn’t agree more about how important it is to build a reliable, core, all-round basic timeless wardrobe.

A thoughtfully selected yet versatile closet, made of high-quality pieces, will make you feel more confident and stylish than an overflowing wardrobe full of random bargains that will end up in the donation box in a matter of wears. 

STYLE vs. FASHION

Blame Carrie Bradshaw and her dream walk-in closet or the rise of social media but we all became addicted to constantly crave the new. Fast fashion stores made it possible.

Unfortunately, cheap and pretty doesn’t always work well for your wardrobe. Not if you want to build a functional one at least.

Fashion is all about ‘what’s going on out there!?’ Fashion will always come and go.

Style, on the other hand, has nothing to do with momentary, stand-out pieces or collecting more and more of the latest garments forecasted on Instagram.

Style is about your identity and how your clothes can say something about you. Style will remain, evolve and grow with a sense of yourself. 

THE REPURCHASING LOOP

The logic behind low-cost fashion is to buy lots of different items within budget. However, this will lead to a subscription, to the repurchasing process.

Low-cost items aren’t manufactured to last; either the quality is poor or ‘super trendy’ tends to have a six-month shelf life – you’ll just end up tossing things away, after barely wearing them.  

Fast fashion is actually – not affordable. It’s true that those one-off credit card taps do not seem that costly but what about cost-per-wear? 

You use something a couple of times and it starts to fall apart, lose shape in the wash and soon enough it will need replacing.

This repurchasing pattern, in the long-term, will drain your bank account even more than spending on carefully selected, high-quality pieces that are made to last.

Would you swap one pair of Frame or Citizens of Humanity jeans over five pairs of branded H&M, Forever 21 or Zara? Quality wins over quantity in this business.

WHEN LESS IS MORE

Because there are so many stores where you can actually buy a sweater or a bag for the price of a cinema ticket, shopping has become little more than a fun pastime. 

This fashion in-the-fast-lane offers that instant gratification factor. You don’t think about adding them to your virtual basket because it’s only $9.99, $19.99 or even $29.99 and these amounts won’t make much difference to your finances. 

When you are thinking about high targeted items your standards are set at a higher level. You carefully consider whether to purchase an item or not: 
Is it going to match other items in my wardrobe? Would I wear it enough to justify the price? Is it good value for that money? Would I still be able to wear it 10 years from now? 

We have to become far more careful, selective and respectful… almost developing a ‘snob’ mentality when it comes to spending our money.

This is done by planning, setting budgets and focusing on having key pieces that will last, making us feel confident and inspired every day. 

Let’s give up those casual trips to the mall.  No more mindless impulse purchases! It’s better to create AND STICK TO an ideal wardrobe map that includes thinking about, what is missing in our closet from functioning smoothly. 

Instead of focusing on having more items learn how to maximize the variety of possible outfits you can create with well-made statement pieces that are meant to last. 

Let’s stick to a ‘no-compromises’ policy here… are you in? Let’s take a new approach, once and for all, where we quit collecting and choose to add only the very best, timeless clothes.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong if from time to time you add a cute, trendy piece, as long as you can rely on the essential basics as the heart of your timeless wardrobe. 

Limit your fashion extravaganza to those sparkles of fashion, sparingly used with your seasonal capsule wardrobe.

I promise you, you’ll be so happy each time you find the right piece, that you had said ‘no’ to all those cheap (but not really cheap) items and therefore saved allowing you to invest in those pieces. 

IIf you want to know how to use your core wardrobe as the foundation of a capsule wardrobe, look no further than here, How to create the perfect capsule wardrobe in 5 steps.