Healthy Style: Building a New Closet

I got up this morning, got The Beans started on breakfast, then went to my closet.

I haven't shaved my legs recently, so despite the humid heat, I wanted to wear pants.

I tried on 3 pair: a 6+ year old (but favorite) grey chalkstripe Banana Republic suit pant, a post-Bean initial weight loss pair of brown plaid KORS trousers, and a never-worn-because-I-actually-need-to-have-them-hemmed grey wide(r) legged pair of Ports 1961 trousers I picked up at a District Sample Sale after The Bean.

This is my #wearing tweet from this morning. Clearly, the trousers didn't work.

The issue? The pants were all hanging off my proverbial fram, loose in a way that's not just cool slouchy. They looked bad.

Yes, the hashtag for this should be #fashiongirlproblems.

That being said, and with even my standby dress collection (I'm a huge fan of the "one-and-done" dress option to narrow down early morning sartorial choices) dwindling, it's time to overhaul my closet.

I can't do a complete overhaul. It would simply cost too much. I need to do that dreaded closet assessment all of the stylists recommend, I need to have some things altered, and I need to plan my purchases. All quite organized, isn't it? So here's what I'm going to do.

I hope.

Step 1. Continue to try things on and put them in piles of "Worth Trying to Alter" and "Donate." I may add a "Consign" pile, but that's a heck of a lot of effort for me. The "Worth Trying to Alter" will be around how much I love a piece, how much it's literally still worth, and whether or not I think the type or scale of alterations are even possible.

Step 2. Attempt to hold off on buying anything new until my plan is in place.

Step 3. Get things altered, and see where I stand. Getting this done is a huge step for me. I'm notoriously bad [insert H cackling here] at getting around to doing stuff like this. But it's necessary in this case.

Step 4. Collect ideas and formulate a "Buy List." Thank goodness for Pinterest, now. It does make it easy. That being said, I also have to be realistic about inspiration, what will work on me, and what will work in my closet. I've started a "Creating a New Closet" board, and am also pulling from some other boards, like "Just Plain Pretty," "Ladylike," and "Rocker Chic(k)." I'm also open to ideas: if you see something you think might work for or inspire me, just cc: me in your pin! Or if there are enough nosy busybodies out there, maybe I'll open "Creating a New Closet" up to folks who want to help. Thoughts welcome!

What I already know about myself - or perhaps assume is a better word - is that I'm drawn to anything that remotely looks like Katherine Hepburn would wear it (read: higher-waisted wide leg trousers), simply ladylike dresses, and now that I feel like my frame can handle it, neckwear. I'm definitely pulling from a time gone by (see also: "The Way It Was"). Perhaps I should revisit those assumptions. Ok. So that's Step 4a: Find My Personal Style.

I'll tweet ideas periodically, too, and continue to blog about things. Look for the #NewCloset hashtag on, you know, every form of social media available.

Step 5. Go get a Style for Hire consult at Westfield. It's there. It's free. Why the heck not? Someone who doesn't know me as well as other folks may have some useful perspective on what will work for me. (Thanks, Allie, for the review of the service!)

Step 6. Buy. This will probably not happen until September or so, so my inspiration is happening on a distinctly cooler trajectory than appropriate to July.

So what other steps have you used to build or rebuild your wardrobe?