Outfits For My Lifestyle
Before I start reviewing each category of my closet and discussing what I’ve learned and my vision for each going forward, I thought I’d put some thought into my overall lifestyle. I want to keep these different aspects top of mind as I think about and prioritize future purchases.
When I zoom out, these are buckets that resonate the most with my life on an annual basis. I live in San Francisco where it’s pretty temperate year round. I love that I can open my door and enjoy the outdoors any day and time of the year! While that’s one of the things I love most about living here, I do miss having traditional seasons, especially summer. Even on the warmest day of the year, you need to make sure you have a jacket with you because it cools off at night. So with that said, the most important categories in my closet are naturally sweaters, jackets and jeans. And I’d say they’re pretty well stocked. I enjoy walking to places when I can (even dinner dates!) so most of my bag and footwear choices also need to be practical. As you can imagine, I struggle shopping for warm weather categories like dresses, swim, shorts and sandals. They’re just not my priority but then when I do need them, I’m never happy with what I have. So with that said, there’s definitely some spots to focus on in order to build a closet that I love! More on my vision here in case you missed my last post.
Let’s dive into each aspect of my lifestyle and talk about what I’ve learned I like and need in order to feel more like myself. In order to put some quality reflection into this exercise, I spent some time pulling together photos of outfits I’ve snapped over the past few years. I hope this exercise sparks some thoughts for your closet and shopping list too! Looking back, I’m grateful to have these photos to play around with.
Work From Home
In general, I’m a pretty big homebody. I work from my home office where I’m on 1-on-1 calls with coaching clients about half of the week. Sometimes with local clients, we will meet in person at a coffee shop which is always so fulfilling. The other half of my week is spent working on my vintage shop, like creating content, running to the post office, shopping for new finds and doing research.
On the average workday, I gravitate towards wearing jeans, sweaters, button down tops, knits and layers like oversized cardigans and blazers. I love sprucing basics like these up with fun pants, colorful accessories, layered necklaces and belts. I also have a lot of shoe options that I can slip on to venture into the city with while also looking chic. My favorite shoe brand is Margaux, as you can see in the photos, I have about 6 pairs of their ballet flats! I also have a pair of their classic black boots that are great in the winter months. Aside from that, I love chunky Birkenstock style sandals, I have this pair and this pair. They give me a little height and any outfit a bit of pizazz!
On my list to try this fall are either a pair of traditional loafers or ballet style flats with a strap, maybe even mesh! I bought a pair of chunky monogrammed Coach loafers a few years ago and I absolutely love the idea of them but I find that they aren’t as comfortable as the other options I have so I don’t wear them as much as I wish. At some point I will invest in a pair of Chanel ballet flats too. They will probably be tweed or pink! I keep my eye on them at The Real Real.
Overall, I feel like I’m pretty well stocked for this aspect of my life but I would like to expand into more solid colors and stripes in the types of basics I already love. In case you missed it, I did a post on my favorite basics and jeans earlier this year! Other things I know would help me love my day to day looks even better are a few new belts and by new I mean vintage. I tend to tuck a lot of things in and I think they add so much personality to a look. A lot of the belts in these photos were one’s for my shop that have already sold. I might end up keeping this Louis Vuitton one for myself. Pants wise, I’m set on blue jeans but would love to focus on updating my black, grey, ecru and tan options. Nothing too baggy though, I tried the horseshoe trend earlier this year and decided it’s not for me! I’m a curvy 5’3″ for reference.
A few v-neck sweaters, oversized cardigans (love this one) and blazers would really help take this aspect of my life to the next level! I really can’t believe I don’t own any classic v-neck sweaters or tees, this is the one I’ve been eyeing. And in the world of jewelry, I’ve been noticing my preferences switching from statement earrings to necklaces so I’m gonna grow that category in my shop in the coming months!
Workouts & Cozy
During the week I usually do reformer pilates, a 3 mile run and long walk each once. On the weekends, I typically do yoga and a hike or bike ride. I absolutely love getting outside when I can! Nature brings me so much clarity, peace and joy.
This is an interesting aspect of my life to think about because of how practical I want my outfits to be. Let me tell you, I’ve had some odd looking workout looks over the years just because they worked functionally! I find that the more I can keep a tight color palette in this area of my life, the easier it is to pull an outfit together that looks cohesive. From this exercise, I’m noticing that I like to have some sort of pop of color balanced with a neutral. I also recently bought a few Lululemon (these are my go-to leggings) and Beyond Yoga matching tops and bottoms but surprisingly, prefer to wear them separately.
I really think stocking up on a few more options of baseball hats (can’t go wrong with a classic Ralph Lauren) and belt bags would make what I already own more versatile. Having a belt bag I can grab makes it easier to wear sweaters or cardis that don’t have pockets rather that always sporting a Patagonia jacket with pockets. Surprisingly for living in San Francisco, I only have 2 or 3 Patagonia jackets but they’re probably the most worn things I own (obsessed with this one at Ref). I just saw they came out with a bomber puffer style that I’m going to keep my eye on too!
City Hopping
I definitely consider myself a city girl. When I’m not out exploring in San Francisco, I love to spend time in other lively cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin, New York, Miami, Paris and London. I enjoy visiting with friends and clients, coffee shop hopping, vintage shopping, luxury inspiration shopping, museum gallery perusing, natural wine bars and dining at beautiful restaurants.
I’m grateful to travel to one or two of these cities a year. These are the times I love to wear my favorite luxury vintage accessories like a colorful bag, fun sunglasses and Chanel jewelry. I also love wearing bold colors and prints when I travel. Clothing wise, my thinking here has been to buy 2-3 new special fashion pieces for each trip, like a printed maxi skirt, special maxi dress, cute mini dress or going out top. The investment up front really makes the trip more memorable to me. In my experience, The Real Real is a great place to score fashion items like this at a good price- search for brands like Cara Cara, Missoni, Reformation, Farm Rio, Zimmerman or La Ligne. On the plane when I travel to places, I love wearing long maxis or comfy rompers. I find that they allow me to cozy up well in my seat!
Weekends
Aside from doing yoga, hiking and biking on the weekends, I love to spend time antiquing, checking out design exhibits and events, going to a show/dinner or relaxing in wine country.
My day time weekend adventures usually call for maxi dresses and sweaters, sweaters and jeans, or a fashion top and jeans that’s easily layer-able. Flat comfy shoes and cute sneaks are a must here. I just picked up a new pair white pair that I know will go with everything! Lastly, I’m just realizing from these photos how important oversized utility/workwear jackets are for weekend antiquing adventures! Which I think are going to be a thing again for fall so I’ll be keeping my eye out.
My going out wardrobe consists of a lot of white, black, brown and tans. Which honestly makes it so easy to pull a look together. I usually just add one pop of color, either pink or red and voila! Works every time. Room for improvement here is to have a few more silk tanks, black jeans, fun heels with a little edge, fitted tops (Ref is my go-to for knits) and outerwear (maybe a leather jacket?). This area of my life could benefit from a few new bags too like a clutch and a non-Chanel going out crossbody that I don’t have to worry so much about at things like concerts. Gonna scope black leather crossbody styles here soon!
There’s also a fair amount of time I spend just coffee shop/park hopping or chilling in on the weekends too! I usually just wear jeans a sweater and sneakers, a matching sweater set or some sort of non-pajama/ sweatsuit loungewear. I could really put to use a few more layering sweaters and cute tanks because park hangs in the city require both options. Also I really need to put some effort into finding a few pairs of denim shorts that I love. I have a few pairs of Levi’s and have tried the Agolde Parker’s that everyone raves about but didn’t love the dark blue wash I picked and I’m on the fence about the other options which are mostly cutoffs. Another combo I always love is a printed jacket (like this one here) with basic t’s, sweaters and tanks. Cozy yet always makes a weekend hang feel special!
In-Person Events
Over the past couple years I’ve been attending more conferences, workshops and networking events. Love being able to pull a beautiful dress and fun pair of shoes out of my closet to feel confident in for the special occasion. These types of outfits make me feel most like my future self! I’ll be speaking on stage for the first time at Soulward Summit in Nashville this fall and am on the hunt for a new outfit to add to my wardrobe for this special occasion. The filter I like to keep in mind when shopping for work events like this is does it feel special and will I feel comfortable in it?
East Coast Family Visits
Because I live in San Francisco. the categories I struggle with stocking up on the most are swimwear, shorts and any prints, patterns and materials that feel very nostalgic east coast summer like linen, gauze, pastel stripes, etc. I really need to figure this out though because I tend to find myself visiting my family in Buffalo, New York every summer for a few weeks. Usually what works best when I’m there are cotton dresses, slip on sandals and matching sets which are just not something I love to shop for. But I do know having a few more options would make me feel better about myself when the time rolls around. My friend Megan just launched this dress line and I picked up the magenta caftan and lived in last month while I was visiting!
My sister used to live in both Hawaii and Florida so I’ve also spent a lot of time in hot weather places and know how important it is to have easy, flowy options to choose from. Although, she recently moved to Knoxville so I’ve been getting to experience a traditional fall now too! Outfits for that annual trip tend to be casual layers and cute sneakers.
I also typically spend a few weeks around Christmas in Buffalo and it’s never usually a challenge to dress for that stay. Most of my favorite sweaters and jackets work great there! I could use a few new winter feeling sweaters in general though, thinking something heavier in weight, textured and maybe a fairisle option too. These would work great for ski trips as well, and I like to get out on the slopes at least once a year!
Holidays & Occasions
I tend to not buy for occasions like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Baby/Wedding Showers, Birthday Parties or Weddings because they seem to be too specific. For these types of events, I prefer to wear things that are already in my closet but that can also be worn in other ways too. With that said, I do often struggle to get dressed for New Year Eve or Christmas. So I think buying a few items with those intentions would make for better celebrations. I never worry about a bag here because the Chanel bags I own can always be dressed up!
