A few pictures of outfits from the past few months

Every morning, my friend sends me a picture of her outfit for the day, and every time—regardless of the season—she has the most adorable outfit.

They always vary from each other and each one is unique. She once told me that she tries to barely repeat outfits. I originally thought that was absurd since I practically wore the same configuration of clothes each week. Once I began to concentrate on my closet, I recognized that achieving this is easier than it seems and I’ve now gone months without repeating a full outfit. She also has such a huge, beautiful closet, and she wears every item in it. I also grasped that having more distinct outfits optimizes your wardrobe. 

There are five vital aspects that contribute to unique outfits: matching, staple items, weather, colors, and planning. 

1. Matching

This could arguably be the most crucial facet of them all. When matching is mentioned, my first thought is colors and patterns. For example, avoid wearing hot pink with hot orange or stripes with polka dots. The crux of matching is the individual pieces, like wearing the same top two different days with different bottoms. By doing this, you can double the amount of outfits you originally had. The rule you must follow with this tip though is making sure that it still matches, color and pattern-wise.

2. Staple items 

Sometimes, a simple black T-shirt is more beneficial even if it is more boring than a brightly-colored teal top. These items can help with matching and can give you a clean, pristine look. The best staple items’ colors consist of blacks, whites, grays, navies, and creams. They can easily be paired with a variety of different colors and patterns and are timeless items to spice up your wardrobe. If you have an orange floral skirt, you may have fewer options to match it with compared to a pair of original black leggings. 

3. Weather 

Weather is a versatile topic. It will vary depending on the time of year and location. Overall, it should be taken into consideration that different outfits can and should be worn depending on the weather. This works best in fall and spring for the Midwest when the weather is constantly changing. So, when it is a boiling hot day, you can wear a tropical outfit, but when it is a rainy, frigid day, you can break out the sweatshirts and leggings. This also helps with matching in the sense that it provides more outfits that can be worn. This is significantly harder in winter when it is endlessly cold, but can still be used if the weather cooperates. In summer, the chillier days make it easier to sneak in a sweatshirt or long pants. 

4. Colors 

When people have a favorite color, they tend to buy clothes and other items in, or similar to that color. That can be used to enhance your outfits. This has already been mentioned and can be more difficult than the others. Sometimes, if you acknowledge the colors you have a lot of, you can buy items that will match with those colors. This can create more potential outfits because you will likely be left with fewer situations in which one specific top will only work with one skirt. 

5. Planning ahead 

My personal flaw is forgetting what I wore the prior week. So keeping in mind what was recently worn, along with planning outfits ahead can result in more variety. You can know what to avoid wearing and what you want to wear in the near future. There are innumerable techniques to keep track of our outfits. Some people simply take pictures of outfits as they are worn on Snapchat or the camera app, but there are also apps to do just that. Outfit Tracker: Diary Planner, for example, is an app where you can take pictures that are set on a calendar so you can see exactly when it was worn and even the event. Overall, by planning you know to spread out your outfits instead of wearing them repeatedly. 

Of course, this article is not suggesting that clothing should never be worn more than once, but just that the tips in this article and spreading out outfits allow you to get more out of your closet. In the winter, I find myself shuffling through a rotation of clothes. But, in the fall, I follow many of these tricks and am able to appreciate so many more of my clothing items.