Thoughtful entries on style, sustainability and the fashion industry; we care about this stuff and think you should too
The False Choice of “Timeless vs. Trendy”
It’s an old debate, but one that seems to have really kicked up a notch on TikTok lately: is it trendy or timeless?
An Open Letter to Creatives: Why a Digital Wardrobe IS For You, Too!
When I talk to folks about the idea of a digital wardrobe, I’ll almost always get one of two responses.
The first type of person immediately gets it and is EXCITED. They are more of an analytical, left-brain thinker by nature and they see right away how a digital wardrobe would scratch their insatiable itch for organization and unlock a treasure trove of personalized data to help optimize their closet. They’re in.
The second comes from someone who typically considers themselves more of a creative. They’re curious…but, that emotion lies underneath a thin layer of distaste. Let’s call it an ick.
How A Digital Wardrobe Changed My Life
This September officially marks 5 years since I started using a digital wardrobe.
As I was reflecting on this milestone, I came to a realization. After managing my wardrobe this way for so long, I struggle to remember what it was even like to get dressed without it!
I figured that was worth pausing on. What are the things that I do on Indyx that have changed my (fashion) life for the better?
How To Take An Outfit Selfie (And Why!)
One of our most-loved features here at Indyx is our selfie calendar. It’s slick, it’s SUPER satisfying…and even more than that, it can help you *really* figure out your personal style.
There’s certainly no wrong way to take an outfit selfie, but we’ve heard from a more than a few of you that it can feel a little…awkward. How should I pose? How do I set up my camera? What should I do with my face!?! It’s hard to make a habit out of something that feels like a chore.
We’re here to help! Here, we’ll share our team’s top tips for how to take an outfit selfie that you won’t hate.
FAQs: Our Styling Services
Your closet (whether IRL or digital) can be a lonely place, so inviting in an expert to share knowledge and show you new possibilities might be just the unlock you need to finally feel creative and empowered in getting dressed.
Let’s answer your most frequently-asked-questions about how our styling services work.
What We’ve Learned From Styling You
Since we launched our digital styling services about a year ago, we’ve had the pleasure of working with nearly 1,000 (!) clients to help curate their closets and develop their style. Here are our takeaways.
When Your Fantasy-Self Steals Your Summer Vacation (And Your Closet)
A lot of shopping is driven by aspirations of your fantasy-self…and, what is more fantasy inducing than imagining yourself totally free of your daily responsibilities, sunning yourself in some exotic location? It’s rare to have an actual occasion where you’ll be doing things completely out of your norm - and, it’s easy to make the quick jump to imagining yourself as a completely different person. Vacation me IS a different me!
I Used These 4 Systems to Figure Out My Personal Style
Since turning 30, I’ve been thinking much more about how I present the many facets of myself to the world. My 20s were spent purchasing clothing I liked. My 30s have been spent answering the question (largely without purchasing) of what I like, on the macro scale. What clothing feels right when I wear it? What are my dressing patterns, both now and over the last few decades?
Answering the larger, existential question of what I like (as opposed to the quick question of what I like, in a department store, on a singular Saturday afternoon) has been one of my life’s chief joys these last few years.
Why Fashion Is So Much More Than Shopping
The fashion industry at large has drilled a lot of untruths into our heads over the years.
You need to keep up with the latest trends or risk looking “outdated”. Or that this next [insert: blazer, dress, pair of jeans, etc] will solve all of your problems.
But I believe the most damaging idea that the fashion industry has forced on us is that the only way for an average person to engage in fashion is by shopping. To take what is, at its core, a creative art that we all have in common and twist it into something we only see as accessible through commerce is such a disservice. It’s late-stage capitalism at its finest.
How to (Really) Spring Clean Your Closet
There's nothing wrong with decluttering your closet in a burst of spring cleaning energy. But there are downsides to decluttering, particularly if it happens because you want your wardrobe to be ready for an Architectural Digest tour in a single afternoon. If you want a better utilized, better-looking closet without the deferred expense of a new wardrobe, consider taking these actions instead.
How To Find Your Personal Style: 8 Ways To Explore Your Taste
After basically making studying my own and other’s closets my full-time job at Indyx, I now know that the discomfort lies in not truly understanding yourself and how you want to express that in clothes. In other words, from not understanding your personal style. You’re following trends or what other people tell you is “timeless”, but neither of which reflects how you really want to feel.
It’s easy to say, and much harder to do: just figure out your personal style!
Open Closet: Therese Jacinto
“Lots of people mistake style for stuff. Style really isn't about stuff. It's a manner of thinking and feeling that you know yourself well enough to be confident in your own point of view. It's not really about what you buy, how many things you have, or how expensive those things were. The stuff is just the ingredients! It's so much more about how you put things together. It’s about the critical thinking to understand yourself, understand your true likes and dislikes - and, to have to confidence and curiosity to figure out how to project the real you to the world through clothing.”
Why You Hate Your Wardrobe
There are very few universal experiences in this life. Some would say it’s just death and taxes that we all share. But if I could so bold as to add one more to the list, I would say it’s the experience of walking into your closet full of clothes and still feeling like you have nothing to wear. We’ve all felt it and it is endlessly frustrating.
I’ve got seven reasons as to why you’ve ended up with a wardrobe you hate - and, hopefully a few helpful tips on how to avoid falling into these traps in the future.
Our Style Quiz Is Pretty Great (If We Do Say So Ourselves)
I hate to tell you this, but there isn’t a single survey, quiz, or questionnaire out there that is going to be able to hand you the perfect answer to “what’s my style?” in five minutes flat. Style is all about self-reflection - figuring out how to match your outsides to your insides, so to speak. And so, your personal style is something only you can answer with time and lots of practice
But there are some clear steps you can take to start to figure this out. Our style quiz is the last one you’ll ever need to take because it’s just the first step in a whole support system we’ve built to help you figure out your style once-and-for-all.
I Am Begging You to Start Styling Instead of Shopping
“Oh! So Indyx is kinda like Stitch Fix!”
I’ll nod my head and smile, and say “oh yeah, kind of!”. But internally, I cringe. It’s some of the most common feedback I get when I first tell someone about Indyx. And hey, you could very reasonably argue that if this isn’t the reaction I want then I need to change my pitch. Noted.
But I think this reaction also says a lot about where our collective heads are at right now when it comes to how we approach fashion and style - and, where we’re making a big mistake
What We Can All Learn From ‘Girl Math’
You may not have heard about “girl math” yet, but I’m willing to bet you’re already doing girl math at least as often as your (male) partner is thinking about the Roman Empire.
Maybe a friend has Venmo’d you for their half of a dinner you put on your credit card and you considered that “free” money. Or, you resisted an impulse purchase and felt like you just “made” the $100 you didn’t spend.
That’s girl math.
How to Create Hundreds of New Outfit Ideas, All From Your Closet
You might be surprised to find how every item you own has the potential to be styled and restyled to create many, many completely new looks. Of course, the real trick is finding the right inspiration to do so. A digital wardrobe is an incredible tool to find that inspiration - and to do all the outfit experimentation from the convenience of my phone!
If you’re struggling to come up with new outfit ideas, I’ll share the five ways I use Indyx to figure out how to build a new outfit.
Style Rules You Should Absolutely Break
Rules *can* be a good thing, creating order or a shorthand way to skip to a desired end result. But you have to have context on who invented them and why. Because style is ultimately completely subjective. There is no clear “right” and “wrong” - only what looks and feels good to you.
The tricky thing is that “style rules” are so often presented as absolute fact. And this just isn’t the case.
Let’s take a quick tour of some of the “style rules” we think you should break. And do it with pleasure.
Wondering Why You Look Basic? Well, Your Basics Are Too Basic
Here’s what I learned in the process: what’s basic for me, isn’t necessarily basic for you. They’re the foundation of your entire wardrobe — the items you rely on to build outfits that make you feel like yourself. But nobody is “every woman” or an “average” woman, and so your “basics” should actually be the most uniquely ‘you’ items that you own!
We Shop for Items, But Live Life in Outfits
It’s a seemingly unbreakable fashion maxim that the piece you love the most is the one that you’re *about* to add to your closet. It doesn’t even need to be a sparkly, impractical confection for this to be true - in all likelihood, the piece you’re currently coveting is something you think is actually quite practical.
You bring it home, and inevitably it loses its shine almost as soon as the tags come off.
This disconnect you’re feeling? It stems from the simple fact that we all shop for items, but live life in outfits.