144/ What I'm Wearing: Weeks 1-2

Getting more mileage out of your wardrobe: self-referencing your archive.

What I’m Wearing is a series where I share all of the outfits I’ve worn over a given week (or two), along with styling notes, links and related thoughts. If you see an outfit you like on my Instagram, you’ll find it here.

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Dear readers,

In the past, I’ve written extensively about the whys and hows of closet editing,¹ building a foundational wardrobe,² and eventually, a more fulsome, functional and versatile one.

Many clients struggle with what to keep, get rid of and add, which is what the Closet Editing series, Foundational Wardrobe series, and newsletters like the Five Questions help you figure out. Links to those letters are in the footnotes, and I highly suggest you read them as they form the basis of my personal styling philosophy with clients!

Once you’ve made some sense of your closet, another major area that I help clients with is finding creative ways to get more mileage out of the pieces in your wardrobe.

Self-Referencing Your Archive

In past newsletters, I’ve suggested various approaches to looking at your wardrobe with the aim of helping you use more of what you already own.

Today I’m adding another approach: referencing your past outfits as a starting point for new outfits. Astute readers will recognize this approach as a subset of my Lever System!

Here’s what to do:

• First, find past photos of you — whether on your phone camera, closet app or dedicated IG page.

• Identify the outfits that you loved and felt really good in.

• Rewear that outfit,³ or treat that outfit as a Base Outfit, a concept I introduced in this newsletter.

• Tweak one, two, three (or more) elements of the Base Outfit. Tweaking could involve some combination of:

  • 1) swapping one piece for another,

  • 2) adding or subtracting pieces, or

  • 3) styling the same element in a different way.

The result will be a same, same but different outfit, based on an outfit you previously loved wearing. In this way, you’ll rewear some of your existing pieces, while also introducing newness through the tweaks. It’s also a good strategy to turn to if you’re in a rut and are having a hard time coming up with a new outfit from scratch.

Example #1

Both: Husband’s Banana Republic fair isle sweater (200 years’ worth on eBay), Zara boots. L: Goldsign Jarvis jeans, Lauren Ralph Lauren long pearl necklace. R: Husband’s Cole Haan belt, Zara jeans.

On the right is an outfit I wore in late 2022, and on the left is last week’s variation. The Base Outfit is the fair isle sweater, cowboy-ish boots, and I’m including the jeans, too — the shape and colour are similar enough that they’re interchangeable.

The New Outfit results from: 1) no swaps, 2) adding a pearl necklace, and subtracting the belt, and 3) untucking the jeans from the boots.

When I wrote that this approach is a subset of the Lever System, these tweaks also changed the formality of the outfit. I think the outfit on the left reads more formal than the one on the right; I’d be more inclined to wear the New Outfit to a business casual office vs. the Base Outfit. Do you agree?

Example #2

Both: Toteme tapered jeans, Tod’s loafers. L: Aligne denim jacket, COS turtleneck, Aritzia belt. R: Uniqlo turtleneck, Essentials fleece zip-up, husband’s Cole Haan belt.

The Base Outfit here is the Toteme jeans, white loafers, and belt. Again different belt but they’re interchangeable — I was using my husband’s black belt until I finally bought one for myself!

New Outfit: 1) swapping a black turtleneck for a bright blue one, and one style of jacket for another, 2) no material additions unless you count the earrings, and 3) belting over the jacket.

Bringing in the lever system concept, the style of the subbed-in denim jacket changed both the formality and directionality of the original Base Outfit.

Also, I prefer it with sleeves scrunched up so you can see the blue of the turtleneck peaking through:

It’s freezing here in Toronto so I’ve been fixated on my sweater shelf lately. My eye fell on this Proenza sweater which, to date, I had only worn in warmer weather because it’s slightly cropped. I realized I could layer it over a turtleneck and benefit from its interesting shape year-round:

Proenza Schouler White Label sweater, Aritzia Only turtleneck, Zara track pants, Dries van Noten sneakers, Essentials fleece zip-up, Vee Collective bag.

Example #3

Buoyed by this realization, and now a part of my winter sweater rotation, the next step was to wear it under blazers. I remembered a Base Outfit I put together for my 2023 fall corporate edit (below right) and used it as a template to build a more casual outfit.

For the New Outfit, 1) I swapped the dress shirt for the sweater, and navy wool trousers for navy joggers. Immaterial, but I also 2) got rid of the jewellery, and otherwise 3) made no other styling changes.

Both: Zara wool jacket, Tod’s Loafers (pristine on TRR, I’ve had mine for over 10 years and they’re so well made.). L: Proenza Schouler White Label sweater, Tibi Calder jogger. R: Sezane Tomboy shirt, Zara trousers, Cuyana system tote.

And finally, just another outfit I put together this week.

Isabel Marant Oladimia blazer, COS oversized tee, James Street v-neck sweater (H&M sweater around shoulders), De Rococo jeans (sized up, probably could size up one more), Khaite Hooper 55mm thigh high boots via VSP Consignment (get 10% off with code IRENEKIM10, some exclusions apply, here at YOOX and eBay).

If you give the Base Outfit approach a try in the coming weeks, please do report back on your results!

Stay safe and be well,
Irene

1. The Ins-and-Outs of Closet Editing - Parts 1, 2, 3.

2. How To Build A Foundational Wardrobe - Parts 1, 2, 3.

3. Yes, really!