The Real Reason You Keep Buying Clothes You Never Wear Open your wardrobe right now. Somewhere in there is a top you loved in the shop and have worn twice. A jacket that seemed like a great idea and now just takes up hanger space. Maybe a dress with the tags still on, because the…
Details
There’s a dress in most wardrobes that hasn’t been worn in years. It doesn’t fit, or the life it belonged to no longer exists, or both. Letting go of clothes like this should be simple. In practice, it rarely is, and it’s still hanging there, taking up its little rectangle of space, refusing to leave.…
Details
Yes, Retail Therapy Works. Here’s the Bit Instagram Left Out. Every so often, a piece of research escapes the journals and goes for a wander round social media, and you’ll have seen this one. Some version of: good news, lovely people, science says shopping actually makes you happier, the effect lasts, and you’re not even…
Details
Go and look in your wardrobe right now. I’ll wait. You almost certainly own a jacket you’ve stopped wearing, not because you dislike it, but because it never quite feels right. You couldn’t tell me exactly why. It just sits there looking a little off, until eventually it gets pushed to the back and replaced…
Details
It Was Never the Purchase in the Bag. It Was the Choosing. Here’s a small mystery worth sitting with. You’ve had a rotten day, you’re feeling down. You go shopping, and you feel better. We all know this happens, and most of us are faintly embarrassed by it, because the obvious explanation is a bit…
Details
I have clients with jackets in their wardrobes that seem like they should be good, but they never reach for them. Nothing is wrong with it technically. Yet when they do try it on, it’s off five minutes later, because even though it might be in fashion, it might even “fit” there is something that’s…
Details
When the news came in this morning about the death of the legend and diva Dolly Parton, I was saddened, not because I’m a big country music fan (sorry to those who are; it’s just not my genre), but because I am a big fan of Dolly. She had so many wonderful traits. As someone…
Details
Fifty colours. That’s exactly how many are in my Absolute Colour System palette swatches. And they are a great guide to the 50 000 you could potentially wear. And you’ll look gorgeous when you wear them. But it can feel overwhelming at times when shopping for your wardrobe. It’s hard to build a wardrobe around…
Details
You Bought It for a Woman Who Doesn’t Exist Yet Go and open your wardrobe. Not metaphorically, actually go and look. Somewhere in there, I’d put money on it, is a garment with the tags still on or never worn. Something a size down from where you are. Something for the gallery opening you don’t…
Details
On 19 August 2008, I published my first post here. It was called How to Choose a Slimming Fabric, and it was two photographs of the same woman in two shirts. One stiff, one drapey. I asked readers to spot what else was going wrong besides the fabric. No introduction. No “welcome to my blog”.…
Details
You have seen the graphic. Five dresses in a row, a tidy little caption underneath, and a confident promise that vertical stripes will make you look taller and horizontal stripes will make you look wider. It gets shared thousands of times. It looks authoritative. It is also, in the most important way, wrong. Not wrong…
Details
The Sale Price Is a Comparison, Not a Saving Here is a sentence that has cost women more money than almost any other: “but it was reduced from $120.” We say it to ourselves in the shop. We say it to our partners at home. We say it, a little defensively, when someone admires the…
Details
How to Express a Style That Is Functional, Genuine and Unique A lovely reader emailed me: how do I express a style that is functional, genuine and unique? It’s a great question, and it has a slightly annoying answer. You have to go back to the beginning. Not to the shops, not to your wardrobe,…
Details
In This Video 0:10 My “challenge” is to refrain from thrifting or buying new clothes! I know what works for me so I edit items that aren’t suitable and don’t fit my criteria or I avoid buying these things in the first place. I am retired now so I don’t need anything fancy or…
Details
“I’ve Retired, But My Casual Clothes Are Still Boring” A reader recently asked me a question I hear all the time from women who’ve just left the working world behind: after years of dressing for business, how do I actually express my personal style now that “casual” is all I need? You don’t even need…
Details
You Didn’t Fall in Love With That Dress. Your Nucleus Accumbens Did There’s a moment in a shop that we all treat as sacred. You’re walking past a rail, not really looking, and something stops you. You reach out. You hold it up. And you get that small internal lift, the one that says Oh.…
Details
Why Do I Look Frumpy? The Real Culprits (And How to Fix Them) “Why do I look so frumpy today?” A reader wrote and told me that that’s how she feels in many of her outfits. If you’ve ever caught your reflection and thought exactly that, I want you to know it isn’t a mystery.…
Details
It’s Not the Mirror, and It’s Not You You go into a fitting room feeling reasonably good about yourself and the outfit you’re wearing to the shops. You come out twenty minutes later having decided that you have terrible legs, that your stomach has staged some kind of coup, and that you should probably not…
Details
If You’re a Shopaholic With “Nothing to Wear.” Here’s What’s Actually Going On. “I’m a shopaholic, yet I feel like I have nothing to wear, and it gives me anxiety because I have too much stuff.” This was emailed to me by one of my lovely readers. If that sentence made you wince a little…
Details
Why You Packed a Hat and Never Wore It (And What To Do Differently Next Trip) A reader recently wrote to me with a confession I suspect a lot of you share. She’d packed a hat for her trip, a good one, chosen specifically for sun protection. It came home unworn. Why? Because nobody else…
Details
You’re Not Buying the Bag. You’re Buying a Holiday from Yourself. Here’s a question worth sitting with before you tap “confirm purchase” next time: are you buying something because you want it, or because you want a feeling to go away? It sounds confronting. But understanding the difference is one of the most useful things…
Details
