The home working wardrobe – time to play

Create an autumn home working wardrobe with Samantha of Zukuri UnLtd

We’ve already looked at what’s in your home working wardrobe. Today I want to give you an 8-step guide to help you get more wear from your home working wardrobe. With key items in place from each section – investment, foundation, USP – you should be able to get more wear from all the items you have, identify what’s missing and where you might need to stock up. Ready to play?

Step 1 – Make sure all your clothes in your wardrobe adhere to 2 main rules:

• They make you look fabulous – get rid of all ‘one hit wonders’ in your wardrobe that don’t up your confidence or give you that spring in your step.
• All items of clothing in your wardrobe (or a section like work/dressy or work/casual) should coordinate with everything else – in colour, style, print and fabric.

If your clothes do this you are ready for

Step 2 – Choose 4 basic foundation items first, remember these are the ‘hard working soldiers’ I mentioned before. These are tops, knits, trousers or skirts in your foundation colours. So for me it is all autumnal base colours like chocolate browns etc.

Step 3 – Next choose 3 wow colour items from your investment clothing items, these are the brighter tones which give your neutrals a kick. As an example my wow colours are burnt oranges, dark purples, magenta and burgundy.

Step 4 – Add 3 patterned pieces which help to straddle between neutral foundation items and wow colour investment pieces. Patterns connect two block colours you may think don’t work and give vavavoom to simple outfits.

Step 5 – Start with 10 items to create your first clothing cluster for work from home casual or work dressy – try a mix of bottoms, dresses, tops and a jacket.

Step 6 – Now you have your power 10 add perhaps 3 pairs of shoes and other USP items you love to bring outfits alive.

Step 7 – Experiment to your heart’s content. Try combinations you wouldn’t normally put together. Mix that patterned skirt with a plain brown top, add some burnt orange to navy trousers…forget playing safe here! Have fun, be daring and find ways to breathe life into clothes that you may have lost that loving feeling for.

Step 8 – Come up with at least 10 new outfits in the first instance and then try for 20. Take photos of what you instantly like. These are now outfits ready for you to ‘grab and go’.

Schedule a wardrobe play once a month. This process will sharpen your skills and help you create up to 40 different outfits, enough to keep you going for home working, rest and play for a month.

I would love to know more about your style woes or worries are when it comes to your home working wardrobe. Please send in your questions and I will do my best to answer them in forthcoming Q&A sessions.

Samantha is the founder of Zukuri UnLtd and works with female entrepreneurs to get them visible in their business. By helping ladies ‘know their style, cut the clutter from their wardrobes and shop smarter’ they can increase their confidence to win more clients.

Enjoyed this? Read and see more from Samantha Clarke on the home working wardrobe.