The 4-5 piece French wardrobe #3

[RedandNavy]

I think it makes it easier to stay focused when you have pictures of the things you own and of the ones you want, actual pictures and not just ideas in your head. It really helps me to pin things and then sometimes throw them off the board again. There are things that I really like and think they are my style. But when I see them between the other things I like they somehow don't seem to work.

We were talking about closet recently. I'm dreaming of one from a local company here who makes them at request. They mostly work with wood and have extremely good quality. It's a thing that you keep your whole life. But it has it's price, too... So we'd have to save up for that. Right now we have old quite ugly closets that we got for free from the people who lived in the apartment before we moved in. It's a shame - but then again I really want to get a great closet once I buy one so I'm not going to IKEA again. I'd rather live some years with an ugly version and save up for the great one.

 

[Betinapple]

It is official. I am addicted to pinterest.

It is nice to see how my wardrobe is somewhat coherent. There is still a few things that I feel stands out from the rest of my stuff. Can you guys spot those items as well?

 

[twistelette]

We were talking about closet recently. I'm dreaming of one from a local company here who makes them at request. They mostly work with wood and have extremely good quality. It's a thing that you keep your whole life. But it has it's price, too... So we'd have to save up for that. Right now we have old quite ugly closets that we got for free from the people who lived in the apartment before we moved in. It's a shame - but then again I really want to get a great closet once I buy one so I'm not going to IKEA again. I'd rather live some years with an ugly version and save up for the great one.

that sounds lovely (not the living with ugly closets, but you know what I mean!)
I share a closet with my partner, a tiny built-in closet with a hanging rail and a shelve above it that we use for sweaters & linnens. on the floor of the closet are two transparent plastic boxes with all my out-of-season stuff in it + some sentimental items that I won't wear again but want to keep anyway (a dress that I got when I was 14, for example - I last wore it a year ago, but then decided it was really time for the dress to retire. it had had 14 years of duty!). we also have a cupboard with drawers, t-shirts and socks and such live there. shoes are downstairs, in the hallway, under the coatrack and in an ikea shoe closet we inherited from the previous owners of our house - and like you, R&N, we are looking for a costum-made cupboard that will hold More Stuff. our bedroom and the floor on which the bedroom is is super-small, there's no room for bigger cupboards. but I love it the way it is

 

[twistelette]

oh, also! at the weekend, when I have more time, I plan on checking out all your pinterests! (ok... that sounded creepier than I intended ) I haven't set up my own account yet, will let you know if/when I do! I definitely need another excuse to spend time on the internet!

 

[eizhowa]

Wardrobes/closets: Oh no, lets not talk about closets... I could go for hours. I absolutely adore antique wardrobes! I want an ornate one with dark wood, and with room for all of my clothes and the land of Narnia inside it

I currently live in a flat with a small, horrible, white, Ikea wardrobe. I absolutely loathe it My beautiful clothes surrounded by a hideous wardrobe

I don't want a large closet. I'd rather have a small, but absolutely stunning one, than a wall-to-wall built in monstrosity (not a fan of built in anything. Except refridgerators and other kitchen stuffB)). I would rather have less clothes

When I get a larger flat/house I might even have room for a second wardrobe just for my coats in the hallway Oh, a girl can dream

Maybe I need to find a "4-5 piece french furniture" thread, or something like that I love old wardrobes just as much as I love clothes. Shame you can't wear your furnitures

 

[fashionista-ta]

Btw, feel a bit strange when I look at all of your wishlists Everyone seems to be really... what is the word... classy? Focusing on essentials? I've been asking myself in the past whether a 4-5 wardrobe maybe only works if you are focusing more on basics and must-haves. I love crazy colorful stuff! I feel I'm so not going with what is trendy though and that does sometimes scare me a little. Don't want to look like a dated bird. But I just really feel attracted by all the colorful weird stuff, I always have...

i was under the impression you had already proved it works with color but if you haven't, i have

i think doing trendy today is the way to look dated tomorrow. if you're buying new clothes, there's always going to be a trend element there as virtually everything is influenced by fashion, whether it looks like it to today's eye or no. but it's your personal style that makes your wardrobe coherent even when the trend goes--& then circles back.

john ruskin said something very nice about people who love color ... let me find it ... “The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most." no need to question it, of course it's true

 

[fashionista-ta]

It is official. I am addicted to pinterest.

It is nice to see how my wardrobe is somewhat coherent. There is still a few things that I feel stands out from the rest of my stuff. Can you guys spot those items as well?

do you mean how some of your older things are very statement-y?

 

[fashionista-ta]

Wardrobes/closets: Oh no, lets not talk about closets... I could go for hours. I absolutely adore antique wardrobes! I want an ornate one with dark wood, and with room for all of my clothes and the land of Narnia inside it

I currently live in a flat with a small, horrible, white, Ikea wardrobe. I absolutely loathe it My beautiful clothes surrounded by a hideous wardrobe

I don't want a large closet. I'd rather have a small, but absolutely stunning one, than a wall-to-wall built in monstrosity (not a fan of built in anything. Except refridgerators and other kitchen stuffB)). I would rather have less clothes

When I get a larger flat/house I might even have room for a second wardrobe just for my coats in the hallway Oh, a girl can dream

Maybe I need to find a "4-5 piece french furniture" thread, or something like that I love old wardrobes just as much as I love clothes. Shame you can't wear your furnitures

it probably won't surprise you to hear i take this approach to furniture as well i have way less furniture in my house than the POs did. they had it crammed to the gills.

i have a french deco wardrobe with original shelves that i use as a linen press. here we typically have built-in closets ... my house was built with them in the '20s. there are so many fantastic vintage wardrobes, & not a whole lot of use for them here ...

we have a Your decorating style thread, btw ...

 

[fashionista-ta]

just wanted to mention, i added a couple pinterest boards ... one for my closet, moved all those pins, & another with recommendations.

 

[Betinapple]

do you mean how some of your older things are very statement-y?

Yeah, that is actually quite right. But mostly I see how the statement shoes, bags, dress etc. looks a bit odd together with the rest of it.

Interior decorating:: being a very picky person I prefer buying quality furniture as well. Therefore we waited untill we found the perfect dining table instead of just purchasing a decent one.

 

[RedandNavy]

Colorful 4-5 pieces wardrobe: I recently bought Parisian Style by Ines de la Frensange (spelling? too lazy to check ). Somehow she made it sound like you need to be very basic to be stylish. AND one of her rules was "never wear yellow with blue" - which is one of my favorite combinations I do own a lot of basics - jeans, neutral pants, a neutral trench, a camel jacket, soon a denim jacket, white tees etc... But I really NEED statement pieces. It's just me. So after rethinking it I guess it's much more important to actually go for what is me than to fulfill any style rules And some colors definitely need to be in my wardrobe! However, I was thinking about buying a nice white top and a sand clutch later this season. Some pieces like bags and jackets should be in neutral colors in my wardrobe - otherwhise combination is more difficult.

Furniture: We have two small kids (4 and 2 years old by now). They are not too cautious with our stuff. I guess I wait a little bit more till we buy new, more expensive furniture. But I thought it would be nice to buy one piece every other year or so. Maybe I should start working on a list, too

It's March! I'll wait a few days till I buy the jacket though, I guess. It's always a pity when I order my monthly item on the very first day of the month

 

[Betinapple]

@RedAndNavy: I think you're style is great since it is so personal and I love how colours work for you. Wish the did for me. I bo, btw. think that navy worn with mustard yellow looks great. Forget the rules

 

[barbaraaa]

On furniture and actual wardrobes: I have a built-in wardrobe (those are also common here) which my parents had made when we moved to this house. The one thing that bothers me the most about it is that it has "slide" doors, meaning I can never see all I own in one glance, only half. I'm moving with my boyfriend in a couple of months (whenever I get an actual job - we're long distance) and I haven't thought about wardrobes to be honest... all I said is I need big bookcases because my books are sick of being double stacked

 

[fashionista-ta]

Colorful 4-5 pieces wardrobe: I recently bought Parisian Style by Ines de la Frensange (spelling? too lazy to check ). Somehow she made it sound like you need to be very basic to be stylish. AND one of her rules was "never wear yellow with blue" - which is one of my favorite combinations I do own a lot of basics - jeans, neutral pants, a neutral trench, a camel jacket, soon a denim jacket, white tees etc... But I really NEED statement pieces. It's just me. So after rethinking it I guess it's much more important to actually go for what is me than to fulfill any style rules And some colors definitely need to be in my wardrobe! However, I was thinking about buying a nice white top and a sand clutch later this season. Some pieces like bags and jackets should be in neutral colors in my wardrobe - otherwhise combination is more difficult.

Furniture: We have two small kids (4 and 2 years old by now). They are not too cautious with our stuff. I guess I wait a little bit more till we buy new, more expensive furniture. But I thought it would be nice to buy one piece every other year or so. Maybe I should start working on a list, too

It's March! I'll wait a few days till I buy the jacket though, I guess. It's always a pity when I order my monthly item on the very first day of the month

thank you very much, ines ... & now i'm going off to do my own thing

much worse is that horrible book with the turquoise cover ... i donated mine, but considered whether i should burn it. she says that being well-endowed is quite the worst problem a woman can have, & delicately implies surgery would be an excellent option. if you go far enough back into the thread you will find me enraged about this sorry, i am not lopping anything off to meet anyone else's standards of ... whatever.

a frend whose favorite colors were yellow & turquoise decorated with them, collected pottery in those colors ... they most def go together.

i have slipcovered furniture for the dogs' benefit ... washable linen.

 

[eizhowa]

Ta-ta: Do you remember the name of the book? I am intrigued....

Parisian Chic: I did notice that the book did not always follow its own advice. Ines said you should ALWAYS wear a bra, and in one of the full-page pictures the model (her daughter) is clearly going braless

March: I bought so many spring/summer clothes last fall/winter that I don't actually know what I could buy this month. I am absolutely gobsmacked by the fact that I have nothing I "need" to buy Mostly I just have a lot of things I want to alter, so I think I'll focus on that.

 

[barbaraaa]

much worse is that horrible book with the turquoise cover ... i donated mine, but considered whether i should burn it. she says that being well-endowed is quite the worst problem a woman can have, & delicately implies surgery would be an excellent option. if you go far enough back into the thread you will find me enraged about this sorry, i am not lopping anything off to meet anyone else's standards of ... whatever.

There are probably not a lot of things I hate more than women trying to make other women feel bad about themselves: being it the way they look, what they choose for their lives, etc.

 

[RedandNavy]

I hate how surgery has become so popular. Too much surgery and botox make anyone look so uniform and emotionless. Even if it's on your body. I have a feeling that beauty and style should be so much more about learning to love yourself the way you are: tall, short, huge or tiny breasts - whatever. Just learn to make the best out of it

I realized that with the bra in Ines' book, too It kind of annoyed me. I loved reading style books before but after reading some they all seem to be the same. The trenchcoat, the white tee, denim, black pumps... Nothing against all these pieces (I own them, too), but that's not very original to always point out the same... Anyone ever read one that was really helpful?? But maybe I just shouldn't read one anymore

Winter: I need to remember to replace my biker boots next winter. High priority. And probably my down jacket, too I bought a diffusion line version with an okay price but sadly, not so good quality as it turns out. It looked good, I was fine with it - but it start to get fuzzy. Argh, I hate that when an item doesn't last

 

[eizhowa]

Are we talking about a guide to elegance? The book is a sort of turquoise/blue color. I quite liked the book, actually, but then again, I love all old books about "how to dress". So many things have changed, but I love their perspective.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ that's the one ... all i could remember was 'stupid sh!t' by french snob, but you're quite right, that's what it's called.

sometimes old school can be charming ... sometimes

 

[twistelette]

There are probably not a lot of things I hate more than women trying to make other women feel bad about themselves: being it the way they look, what they choose for their lives, etc.

I couldn't agree more, and that 'turquoise book' sounds terrible. I especially dislike it when women tell other women (or people tell other people, really) that something about their bodies is not 'fashionable'. not the way they dress, but the way their bodies are. ugh. I know so many women who feel that fashion and style is only for those with a perfect body - whatever that may be, if it even exists - and that they, not being perfect, do not deserve to be stylish. it makes me sad. and mad.