Style Workshop Week 7: Build Your Wishlist
Be honest: how many shopping cart tabs are open on your screen right now? Trust us, we get it. It’s like fashion junk food to mindlessly scroll through all 128 pages of Net-A-Porter results while catching up on the latest season of Emily in Paris. While just browsing with our imaginary infinite shopping budget *may* do no harm, the problem is when we click checkout without really checking anything out.
This week, let’s close all those tabs - at least until you have an intentional wishlist with the items you need to fully unlock your wardrobe and nail your defined style.
Your wishlist is your roadmap to merge your current wardrobe with your newly re-defined style. Rather than being tempted by every new shiny object presented to you by retailers or social media, it helps focus your intentions towards the new items that will give your wardrobe the most bang for your buck. On the flip side, if you struggle to give yourself permission to make big purchases, the wishlist can give you the little push of assurance that you’ve really thought it through.
The goal is to get to a point where it’s your taste that limits your shopping rather than your budget. With more refined taste and laser-focus on your true wardrobe goals, you may naturally find that you end up shopping less - and when you do, your “hit rate” for pieces that you constantly wear will be much higher. This is about shopping with a purpose.
If you are a naturally pragmatic shopper, this will likely be a breeze, although we still hope you’ll pick up a few new tips. But for the rest of us who would probably benefit from attending a Shopaholics Anonymous meeting, this may be our toughest week yet.
The Lesson
Why build a wardrobe wishlist?
Have you ever noticed that when you go into the grocery store without a shopping list, you come out with way more food than you could possibly ever eat in a week? Shopping for clothes isn’t very different from that. If you don’t have a clear game plan, you’ll end up with things you never wear, must get rid of, and worst of all: buyer’s remorse.
We’d argue that you are in a *particularly* vulnerable state right now, having just refined your ideal style and cleared out your closet. It would be like going grocery shopping without a wishlist and while ravenously hungry! And so, it’s more important than ever to get very intentional about the items you plan to add to your wardrobe so that you don’t end up right back where you started.
Keeping a wishlist does just that: ensures that you are more thoughtful about your purchases. You will be clear about what you truly need and anything outside of that will demand more consideration. It is an amazing check against impulse purchases, as it gives you the time and space to properly check the idea against your three words or even try it in your digital wardrobe.
Second, a wishlist will help you prioritize which items to purchase, especially if you’re working with a budget. All laid out in an organized list, you can evaluate which items are most essential to complete your wardrobe. You’ll also be able to determine which items warrant a higher investment based on your lifestyle needs.
Lastly, you will be ready when an opportunity to buy something unique arises. Fashion isn’t only about the essentials, but navigating the space of buying one-of-a-kind pieces can be daunting. At one point or another, we all wanted to be #GirlBoss Sophia Amoruso, the queen of finding cool thrifted gems - and now you can. A wishlist doesn’t restrain you from buying something unique. To the contrary, it actually opens you up to serendipity, perfectly preparing you to pounce when you happen to come across a vintage gem or even simply a great end-of-season sale. Next time you’re thrifting and come across vintage high-waisted corduroy pants that match the kind of bottoms you’ve been looking for, you’ll be able to snatch them up without having to give a second thought whether you need it or if it will match your wardrobe.
What is a wardrobe wishlist?
Your wishlist is your list of items that you would like to add to your wardrobe, with a particular eye to items that will make using your newly curated wardrobe easier. In other words, items that would unlock new outfits in your wardrobe and have high ROI in moving you towards fully achieving your three-word style definition. Having said that, it does not need to be a list of only completely practical items - it is fine to also use it as a “parking lot” to consider items that you are coveting, just for fun.
There are only two absolutely critical things about your wishlist:
That you generate it independently. The whole point is to put you back in the driver’s seat, rather than being overly influenced by what is being pushed to you by a brand or retailer. You should start with a blank page, not by browsing a shopping website.
That it is of general, rather than specific items. Think “white poplin button up” or “square toe ballet flats”. We will identify brands and actual items in the next step - but again, it’s important to start by identifying the type of item you want without getting fixated on a specific version of it.
In other words, this should be a very generative, rather than reactive process. You want to create a clear idea of the types of items you’re going after before opening back up those shopping tabs or walking into a store.
Here, Co-Founder Devon explains a specific example how she uses her wishlist:
Each individual’s wishlist is going to look completely different. This is a great thing, as it means that your wardrobe roadmap is reflecting your personal style, which is unique to only you. No one-size-fits-all “Capsule Wardrobe Checklist'' here. As always, we will guide you through the process of identifying which items will give the highest ROI in completing your ideal wardrobe.
The Homework
While we at Indyx don’t love the image of fashion as being all about shopping, we are a sucker for a Pretty Woman moment. Or a Crazy Stupid Love moment - we’d let Ryan Gosling take us shopping anytime.
This homework will be fun, but from one recovering shopaholic to another, please exercise extreme caution. To the Rebecca Bloomwoods among us, take notes.
Step 1: Revisit your inspiration board
The work you put into your inspiration board in Week 2 & 3 continues to pay off, as your board has a ready-made clear vision of your aspirational style. And so, is the perfect resource to draw on to identify items that would help complete your wardrobe. Ask yourself:
What types of items (clothing, shoes, or accessories!) appear frequently on my inspiration board? Do I already have a version of that item or is it missing?
What colors appear frequently? Does my wardrobe already reflect that balance, or should I work to shift my palette with future purchases?
Are there other commonalities in styling, hair, or makeup that I can start to adopt?
Step 2: Build outfits and identify the missing pieces
You might have already started styling new outfits with your digital wardrobe - it’s addictive! But if you haven’t had the time or are pacing yourself, now is the time to try your hand at creating outfits in your digital wardrobe.
You should aim, of course, to build outfits that are hitting all of your three words. For those that aren’t quite hitting the mark, ask yourself: what item would help the outfit achieve all three words and make this look more you?
Or, you might encounter more of a logistical problem. Are there certain items that are you having trouble combining into multiple outfits? What additional items could you add that would ‘unlock’ those outlying pieces into many more outfits?
If you’re having trouble getting inspired to create outfits, having an occasion in mind can help you. The best way to do this is to look at what you’ve got coming up in your calendar, but we’ll also give you some ideas to get you started. And, don’t forget to think about building outfits that would work for all the seasons you experience in your city.
A big work presentation or conference
Brunch with your friends
Dinner with your parents
Night out with the girls
Visiting a museum
Running weekend errands
Working from home
Step 3: Build a List
When you add an item at this stage, just give it a general description. For example, black boots might be a little too vague, but tall black heeled boots create a much better image of what you are looking for.
It’s that simple! If you are feeling like going above-and-beyond, you can start to think about how you might want to prioritize your list. Which items are you just dying to have now vs. which are more of a cherry-on-top where you are fine to wait for just the right one to come along?
One small piece of advice on prioritizing: we tend to find that if anything, most folks are under-accessorized. The truth is that most of us are *pretty* well covered when it comes to the basic building blocks of clothing. But dollar-for-dollar, a new accessory - a bag, pair of shoes, belt, scarf, piece of jewelry, etc - will do more to add versatility, variety, and personality to your look than yet another pair of jeans.
As a preview to next week, we’ll emphasize that you should not expect to fulfill your wishlist all at once! It is much better if - even now that you have a clear roadmap - you take your time to find just the right thing. But, next week we’ll get to sourcing the very top priorities on your list.
The Indyx Team’s Homework
Below is this week’s homework as completed by the Indyx Team.
(Note: the team did this on a prior version of the app. You can now find the upgraded wishlist feature by navigating within your wardrobe to the Collections tab, and then the Wishlist folder. We recommend creating a separate Wishlist for each type of item you’re thinking of).
Until next week…
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