A wardrobe we love consists of items we actually love to wear, and if we have set the intention to curate a wardrobe we will want to wear and feel good in, and know our pieces will last both stylistically and functionally, then we need to buy well. And this costs money.

And as we all know, adhering to a budget is both necessary and a wise approach to financial peace of mind. With that said, life happens, priorities shift or have to shift due to circumstances beyond our control, but this does not need to derail our one-time project of cultivating our wardrobe.

In today’s segment of our 12-part series, rather than focusing on one type of item as we have in previous posts and will continue to do in the remaining ones, I wanted to pause. We are halfway through our series, If you are following the guide outlined in Part Une, you have a thoughtfully created list of 12-15 items that will fill the gaps missing in your wardrobe and give you what you need and want to wear upon completion.

I, too, am moving through this process with you, being just a few months ahead, and sharing my experience. May introduced a helpful teaching moment that reminds us why going slow, but setting a timeframe of 12-18 months, supports our success in actually having the wardrobe we’ve envisioned by the conclusion.

But first!

How did you do on your task from Part Cinq/Five? Have a look below as a reminder:

Part Cinq Wardrobe Task

Here’s your homework for this month before you start shopping for the dress or dresses you need in your everyday wardrobe:

1) Determine which or what physical part of your body you want to bring attention to and which you want to minimize or not accentuate.

2) Take a look at the list shared in Part Cinq's post of the various styles of dresses. Which style would help you achieve your goal of looking and feeling confident?

3) Once you have narrowed down the type of dresses you are looking for, this will help you refine your online searches and save time when shopping in stores.
 
4) Similar to Part Quatre and Part Trois: Know the colors and various prints or stripes that would flatter your skin tone, hair, as well as eye color.

5) Decide for what recurring occasions you want to have a dress available in your closet that you can depend on to wear.
Examples: work, presentations, interviews, weekly family gatherings, evenings out with various people, different types of outings for fun, outdoor activities – markets, beach, lunch, brunch, etc.
Reflect back over the past year or two and try to recall when you would have loved to have worn a dress, or did wear a dress, but it just wasn’t what you had hoped you had in your closet. Think carefully about what you would have preferred, and then be willing to purchase well, so that forever moving forward, that dress will be in your closet and when you wear it, you will feel your best and be able to enjoy yourself fully engaged in the moment without giving a thought to what you are wearing.

6) Now begin to peruse your favorite brands, and save any that fit your above criteria to KarmaNow.

Now to Part Six!

Today, we’re going to explore the benefits of taking our time while also having an intentional timeframe for curating our wardrobe, a wardrobe we love and live in every day. If you are new to this series, be sure to explore the homepage for Lifetime Wardrobe, where all parts of the series are available, as well as a helpful book that will help you come up with the items you might need and identify your style preferences.

Let’s explore the benefits of this approach.

No inferior purchases

The truth for most of us is that we have a set budget, yet we want to look our best. We navigate this reality by taking our time and having clarity about what we need and which items are worth the investment for our style.

The list you have created at the beginning (Part Une) provides the foundation and direction. It clarifies and eliminates distractions. Gives us focus. Having the actual link to the item on one or more websites as you watch to see if the price drops provides an opportunity for savings, BUT you also know you would purchase it at full price because it fits what you need and you would love to wear it.

When we have our list, it’s not a dream. It’s our plan. That plan may wiggle and be tweaked along the way (we’ll talk about this benefit further down in our post today) but will materialize because we give it time to do so.

If we rush and tell ourselves that we have to purchase these items, or items similar to them, in a very short amount of time, we limit our options (as only certain collections are available and sizing is limited if it is not newly released), and we end up purchasing items that don’t fully fit literally or figuratively into what we’ve envisioned. This leaves us more likely to continue the shopping cycle while limiting our funds that would have been better saved up to purchase what we love, as we are likely to only purchase it once and then be done for a very long while.

The point is, patience will reward us. Maybe an item we love goes out of stock, and we’re heartbroken because it appeared to be perfect. A few things happen when we experience this disappointment: we confirm what we really are drawn to; if it does come back in stock, we prioritize purchasing it as soon as possible; or we eventually find something that speaks to us more adequately, yet we make sure it contains the qualities that spoke to us in the original find. In other words, we gain knowledge about how to purchase well for our satisfaction when we have the opportunity down the road.

Works with our Budget

Alluded to in the first benefit shared above, say our priorities need to shift, and the monthly amount we allotted to our wardrobe project is needed elsewhere temporarily. This project’s design is to provide the ability to do that without feeling you’ve stopped pursuing it or given up. You haven’t, and if anything else, because you’re taking your time, you’re seeing how buying wisely and well is coming together, and you are motivated to return your wardrobe project to a priority when the opportunity is available.

Case in point, in April and May, my attention unexpectedly shifted to completing two small closet projects. That money would have been designated for my wardrobe, but as there was a sale taking place for closet design that would end with April’s conclusion, I chose to seize it as it has been on my list to do with my customizations at Le Papillon.

The beautiful gift we give ourselves by giving ourselves time is that we have flexibility in when we purchase each item and how many each month. The guiding principle is one investment item that is within our budget each month, but again, this is a guideline. Based on the items we need, what becomes available, and our monthly budget, we adapt while staying focused on completing our project.

Unexpected Savings

While we won’t be compromising on the item – i.e., brand – that we want, because we have saved the item to KarmaNow, we will be alerted whenever our saved items go on sale.

With that said, this is another reason why our order of items we want to purchase may shift. If an item all of a sudden goes on sale, even if that item is, say, for example, a wool coat on sale in summer, it would be wise to purchase that coat when the savings happen. We may not be wearing that coat for another six months, but if we put it on our list, we did so for a reason, and we can be confident the purchase is one we will appreciate. The item we were going to purchase is also timeless, so it can be purchased in another month later on during our year’s project.

Savings is absolutely something to scoop up, but only when it is on items we would already purchase at full price if we had the funds.

Time to Rethink or Realize What We Really Need

When we rush our purchases, we can (okay, I’ll admit, it has definitely happened to me more than once) end up purchasing some items we really don’t love, but were persuaded to include for all sorts of potential influencing reasons. The 12-18 month approach gives us time to contemplate and actually live through the season in which we think we would want to wear that item.

Do you really want to wear blazers, or are you following the ubiquity of their sightings on every Fall Fashion Must-Have List this season? In my case, I always want to reach for a blazer, so I know that, yep, I do want a few blazers – linen for summer, lightweight wool/crepe for spring and early autumn, and a proper wool blazer (oversized) for winter.

Time to experience the seasons and realize what we would like to be able to find in our closet gives us confidence in our investment purchases when we make them.

Deepen Awareness of What We Love

A dovetail to the above benefit, by giving ourselves time, because we have consciously chosen to complete this project, we start to pay attention to what we feel our best wearing and to be unrelentingly honest with ourselves: Why do we want to wear that type of clothing? How do we really feel wearing it? Are we wearing it for the approval of others, or does it give us confidence? Will we wear it with ease? Is it the image that feels true to who we are?

Our strengthened awareness again gives us confidence to make investment purchases, and it also motivates us to wait until we can purchase what we want, what we will love, and what will last. This is something that, for me, comes into play when it comes to an investment handbag. Currently, the last handbag I purchased was more than five years ago, and it was a crossbody bag that I use every single day. I love it. During this time, I have come to realize I need a larger tote, but I wanted to first find what I loved and investigate which brand made such a design and a design that would stand the test of time – decades – both in how it was made and its timelessness. I know now (and have for over a year) which handbag it will be, and when the time and budget are right, I will purchase it. The focus on handbags will be a part of this series later this autumn, so do stay tuned.

Sometimes the Unexpected Item Appears that Works Perfectly

Because we are taking our time, we will see, come across, or discover without even trying to find an item that sings to our particular style aesthetic. And in that moment, we may look at our list and realize it is something that we would wear often and would be timeless, and we could mix and match it with ease. We may already have our purchasing schedule set, but this item is one we want to scoop up for a variety of reasons – price, on sale for a limited time, perfect for an occasion on our schedule, and we would still wear it afterward for our daily life.

When this happens, you are still making progress. And in fact, you are growing in your ability to both trust your eye while being discerning enough to check in to see if it would work with what you are curating. This is savvy shopping and you would be wise to trust purchasing it.

How this 12-month time frame has been helpful in my wardrobe curation

Included in each of the previous parts of this series, I have shared my experiences, and while I won’t repeat them all, let me list two of them and spotlight one that recently occurred:

1. A dress I thought went out of stock became available three months later, and on sale.

2. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales on a pair of nude pumps and gray trench coat, both items on my list to purchase at some point.

Spotlight, recent purchase:

In May, as I mentioned above, I had decided to pause my purchasing as I had in April. My budget shifted elsewhere. On my list of items were shirt dresses, preferably for summer, just over-the-knee or midi-length. Enter a dress that fit the bill – blue, desired length, classic shirt dress, but this exact one was not one on my list. Then Memorial Day Sales began. The price dropped to $111. I waited a few days to ponder all that we have explored regarding the boxes items need to check to be timeless, and it did. So I purchased it and have already worn it to my niece’s graduation, and I look forward to wearing it this summer and in future years, for end-of-spring and end-of-summer activities when the shoulders need to be covered. With the light fabric, I will stay cool.

I considered this item an addition to my already created and pre-shopped (saved links) items, as I don’t want it to replace any of the items I know I need. At this low price, it was an addition worth making. Time will tell, but based on my knowledge of myself and my lifestyle, I am fairly confident it is a welcome addition for how I live now and what I feel most comfortable wearing. You can see me wearing the dress in this month’s A Cuppa Moments (June 2026).

~brown 50mm ankle wrap sandals were purchased 3 or 4 years ago on steep discount, Manolo Blahnik, and I do believe many TSLL readers were able to scoop up this awesome savings as well at the time ☺️.~

SIMILAR DRESSES:

The Shirt’s Long Sleeve Midi Dress, five colors (solids and stripes)

SIMILAR SANDALS:

The Series Continues! And A Task for You!

The series, How to Build a Wardrobe to Love and Live In Every Day, continues with Part Sept next month on Tuesday, July 14th, where we will talk about an accessory that is sometimes overlooked, but when we remember to have a few in our closet, each outfit we wear looks all the more polished.

Between now and then, take a look at your list of items you still would like to purchase. Rearrange the order of purchasing as needed, and remind yourself not to rush. If you need to take a month or two off, permit yourself to do so, but then do yourself a favor you will appreciate down the road and for many years to come: be sure to return and complete this project. It is an investment in yourself, and you are the best person to know what you need to look and feel your best, so long as you have the tools to find them. I hope the book shared on the Lifetime Wardrobe homepage and this series are helping you do that, and I look forward to diving back into shopping well for items that you will love and that will last next month.

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