Wardrobe organization

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My wardrobe

…or how do I fit a million things in 2 small wardrobes…

I decided to take a few pictures of my closets after seeing this very nice post with wardrobe organization tips in Laura Fantacci’s blog.

Obviously, my level of glamour is waaay below that of Laura’s fashion forward friends. Still, I thought it’d be fun to show you how I (try to) keep my stuff (moderately) organised.

I live in a small 60-65 sq m flat (average for London standards, I suppose) and have to keep all my clothes, shoes and accessories in two smallish wardrobes in the study. Fortunately, my husband is very frugal with clothes (same cannot be said about books and dvds, but that’s another story…), which means I can keep a disproportionately large space of the study for me.

So, here we go…

This is the “big” wardrobe. On the left side I keep jackets, skirts and a few trousers, and the right side is reserved for shirts and dresses.
I try to keep it roughly organised by colour to making things easier.
The bottom of the wardrobe is filled with Muji boxes, where I store scarves, hats, gloves and bags, as well as some more delicate items of clothing.

The Muji boxes

The (squashed, poor) handbags

And this is the “small” wardrobe. Due to the limited amount of shelves (why? why? I need shelves!) I’d to buy these Ikea hangers where I can stack all my tees, tops and jersey dresses. I try to keep it organised by type and colour (i.e. white, darks, stripes, jersey dresses, etc), but, yeah, it gets permanently messy as you can see. Ideally I’d tidy it up every weekend…

Next to these red hangers I keep my wool jumpers and dresses and at the bottom I try to stack all the shoe boxes…

The wools (the middle shelf is actually my husband’s. I know, I’m so generous giving him all this space…)

The shoes

and more shoe boxes outside

Finally, in the bedroom I keep my makeup and jewellery, which I try to store as much as possible inside Muji acrylic boxes…

all the makeup and hair products (most used or chunkier items remain outside the boxes)

makeup roughly organised by “function”: pencils, lips, eye-shadows…

just to give you a perspective of our different levels of consumption grooming

jewellery (less used items go in the big patterned box)

And that’s basically it.

The bad news? I’ve got too much stuff. Keeping it organised in a smallish space means periodical editing (and consequent ebay selling or family/charity donations) AND permanent tidying up.

The good news? I am moving to a larger house very soon! And even if it won’t be fulfilling my dream of having a walk-in wardrobe (yet!), it’ll have more storage space. And shelves. Wardrobes with shelves. Yahoo!

Holidays!

Tags

Essie, Estee Lauder, Etoile Isabel Marant, Gap, Holidays, OPI, Roche-Posay, Sardinia, South Beach Swimwear, Summer 2013

Finally, the day arrived: I’m off to Sardinia tomorrow (yahoo!).

We will be travelling with a few friends from London and I am quite excited. I haven’t spent holidays with friends for many years. I am hoping for a lot of sea, sun, food (gelati!!!) and laughter!

I’ve spent the last couple of hours preparing my suitcase. I’ll be carrying roughly the same I took to Sicily last year (you can see it all here), plus a few new items such as…

Etoile Isabel Marant top and jeans – I’ve been coveting these two since February (especially the top) and I finally got them in the sales.

Red (dark orange?) jersey dress from Gap

Pink & striped t-shirt from Gap (got these today. They were super-cheap and will look great with denim shorts). (And, yes, they need to be ironed.)

New bikini! I am very happy with this purchase from Asos. It looks great (well, it works for my body type) and it cost only a little bit more than £20. The brand is South Beach.

I’ll be carrying very little make up. Estee Lauder Daywear is almost finished and I’ve just got this BB cream by La Roche-Posay to replace it. I decided to give it a try because it’s from a reliable brand (my skin never complained when I used Roche Posay products), plus it is cheaper than the EL one and has got SPF20. I hope I will like it.

And, finally, At First Sight by OPI for fingernails (actually this was the colour I wore at my wedding), Foot Loose or Fair Game by Essie for toenails.

And off I go… I still have 2,564 things to do before the trip!

Have a great weekend.
I will be back soon with beautiful (I hope) photos of the Mediterranean Sea. Ciaoooo!

Complicated

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Fur?

I have brought a new jacket with me from Portugal. It is, in fact, a very old jacket. It belonged to my great-grandmother, then to my grandmother, after that it was passed on to my mother and now it’s in London with me.

It is a beautiful jacket. The complicated part is that it is made of fur. Real fur.

Because of that reason it has sat in my closet in Portugal unworn for over two decades.
I’ve always felt very strongly against the use of fur. And now I’m torn and feeling guilty in my conscience because I really like this jacket and would really like to wear it. I love the cut, I love the three big buttons, I love the fact it’s really old but still looks modern and I’d love it even more if it were made of faux fur…

I try to fool myself coming up with reasons why it’s ok to wear this jacket:

• it was made in the 1950s… I mean, whatever animal(s?) had to be killed to provide the fur for it, they were killed more than 60 years ago.

• Nobody will realise/believe it’s real fur… I mean, I don’t look like someone who can afford/want to spend money on a fur coat, do I? Therefore, I cannot be accused of promoting a trend.

• It’s beautiful.

But, deep inside, I know it will never be right for me. (Plus, my brother already promised he won’t speak to me if I ever wear it. Good little brother, I taught him well.)

So please feel free to slap me if you ever come across me + the fur jacket walking happily in the streets of London.
(I’m already feeling guilty for having brought it from Portugal.)

Patience

Tags

Etoile Isabel Marant, Wishlist

These have been on my wishlist for weeks…

♥ Laloo draped dress ♥ Flavie embroidered top ♥ Fita dress ♥ Ruby Top ♥

♥ Fez top ♥ Obira Wyoming cardigan ♥ Riverdale bracelet ♥ Ouda sweater ♥

A little bit more patience and, if I’m lucky, I’ll get one (or two) of them during the sales.

My Sunday

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Operation declutter, Tidying-up is necessary

…was mostly spent working at home.

But it is OK. It’s too cold to be outside and working on Sunday (hopefully) means my week will be slightly more relaxed.

On the other hand, working on Sunday also means that all sorts of domestic chores I usually handle during the weekend (like tidying up my closet, ironing clothes and several other super-fun activities) will have to wait a few more days to be completed :(

A few snapshots from my afternoon…

From top:

• new favourite Dyptique scent – Choisya. I like light scented candles and this one has the most delicate orange blossom fragrance. If I have to work on a Sunday at least I make sure I work in the most comfortable and pleasant environment possible :)

• Love is sweet: rice muffins and my new apron. My friend Rosa (who besides being a stunning beauty – old-school Italian diva, really! – great cook and overall lovely girl, is also a talented amateur photographer and videomaker. Hi Rosa!) posted a picture of these muffins on facebook yesterday and I HAD TO get the recipe because I love rice and all rice-derivatives (and because I’ve a considerable surplus of rice flour at home that I need to use as soon as possible). The ‘Love is sweet’ apron was a surprise gift sent from Canada by the super-sweet (and also super-pretty :) Anabela, as a thank-you gesture for a tiny little help I gave her. Muito obrigada, Anabela!

• New batch for ebay (?): I have too many clothes. It’s a fact. Most days I live happily with it. Lately, however, it’s been making me feel uncomfortable (my husband will be pleased to read this...). I need to declutter. I’ve stuck to the 1-in, 1-out rule but it isn’t enough. These are the likely candidates for my next Ebay sale. APC, Whistles, See by Chloe, Vanessa Bruno. All lovely, all underused.

• Magazines, magazines: I’ve a small magazine addiction. I buy too many of them.  I keep (collect?) them for too long. There are piles of magazines everywhere. To be read (I’m really behind. Still reading the September issues) and also to be thrown out. This is another area of my life where I also need to declutter. I’ve already decided I’m not going to renew some of my magazine subscriptions and I’ll stick to a maximum of 2 magazines/ month. The goal is to be more selective and to cut on the ‘disposable readings’. In the long run, less magazines, more good books. Hopefully.

• Makeup & jewellery boxes: I try to keep all my makeup and all my jewellery in acrylic Muji boxes… but I invariably end up with a very messy dressing table, with piles of makeup products, bracelets, earrings and necklaces everywhere, by the end of the week. How do you store these items? How do you manage to keep them all tidy and well organised? 

Yeah, I guess you get the picture. I’ve been very much obsessed with organization and tidiness lately…

One pair of trousers

Tags

Alexander Wang, American Apparel, Fashion, Gap, Isabel Marant, Zara

The sooner I said I wouldn’t pay a lot of money for a pair of printed jeans, the sooner I had to swallow my words…
On the same day I commented on Sue’s blog that I wasn’t sure snake/leopard print jeans were my thing, I came across a pair of Isabel Marant snake-print trousers at 50% off and, guess what?, I thought it was the greatest deal on earth and I ordered them.

Hello coherency! I’d love to meet you…

Anyway, the snake print jeans arrived and I’m torn. They are certainly fun, but they are so, so different from the type of things I usually wear.
My task this Saturday was to think of all items in my wardrobe I can easily pair with them. This is what I came up with…

I can wear it with: 1. American Apparel men’s denim shirt (yes, Giacomo, it’s your shirt) 2. Green silk shirt 3. Grey T by A. Wang tank top
(old Zara suede boots throughout)

4. White shirt (this too, Giacomo) 5. Zara black t-shirt 6. Black t-shirt + military jacket

7. Black shirt from Gap 8. White slouchy linen t-shirt 9. Zara blazer (I love the cut of Zara blazers, by the way)

So, I think I can safely and comfortably pair it with a slouchy, longish top.
However, I’m in doubt… I cannot wear these to work, which makes them essentially a weekend item (and there are only 52 weekends in a year).
Will I still find them fun in 2 or 3 years time? Or will I end up selling them on eBay?

Hmmm, I’ve got two days to decide…

one in, one out

Tags

APC, Forever21, French Connection, Jovovich-Hawk, Manoush, Marc by Marc Jacobs, McQ, Michael Kors, Vanessa Bruno Athe, Zara

No matter how many clothes I give to friends, family or to charity, my closet still keeps expanding at a ridiculously fast pace. (Too much shopping, maybe? Nooo…)

I decided that from now on, it’s one in, one out. Literally. For every new item that arrives, one has to go out.

To prove how committed I am to this resolution I decided to start a small ebay sale with a few pieces that, for one reason or another, I have kept in my closet for too long even though I hardly (or never!) wear them.

So, here they go…

You can have a look at them here, in case you’re interested
(I wear UK size 10, btw)

Still on packing and shoes…

I said I’d get back to you on a quite horrible looking but very useful pair of trekking shoes I bought for my holidays in Sicily…

So here’s the pièce de résistance…

Beautiful, eh? :) I bought them very reluctantly, following my husband’s advice (he had a little shopping frenzy at this outdoor clothing shop we visited before the holiday when he considered buying all kinds of weird equipment… as if we’re preparing for an expedition to the desert. Hilarious. I’d a few laughs with it). However, I must confess that these were the shoes of the trip. Best value for money purchase of 2012. Comfortable, totally blister-free, ultra-resistant. I wore them in all our long walks and even swam with them on in a few occasions. And all of this for £19.90. Super.

Anyway, to finish off this “packing for the holidays” series (promise. no more post about this!), I need to tell you about my packing strategy for this holiday… As I was sharing a suitcase with my husband and we’re hopping from B&B to B&B every 2 or 3 days (i.e. with no time to properly hang/organize all the clothing in the hotel closet), I decided to split my clothes by type (i.e. day dresses, evening dresses, t-shirts, etc) and pack each type separately in large dust bags. This made it very easy to find any item (without messing the whole suitcase content up, which is something that makes me crazy. I hate untidy suitcases and wrinkled clothes) and saved me a lot of time in the constant packing/unpacking process (I literally only had to stack the dust bags in layers in the suitcase).

I knew that all those net-a-porter bags I kept over the years would serve me for something…

And c’est fini. Next post(s) I’ll tell you about Sicily. xx

Packing for the holidays: make-up

Tags

Avene, Beauty, Bobbi Brown, Clarins, Mac, Make-up, Nars, Urban Decay, Vichy

I’m going to be very minimal this time. In every trip I make I end up using only about one-third of all the make-up I carry with me. I’ve finally learned the lesson and I’m putting in practice a new model: I’ll only take the very, very essential from now on, i.e. the stuff I know I’ll wear every day.

So here are the selected few:

In more or less random order: ♥ Estee Lauder Daywear (this is a 2 in 1 product that I really like: tinted moisturiser + SPF15. I decided to skip foundation and wear this instead) ♥ Avène eye cream (this is new, but given it’s from Avène I think it’ll work just fine) ♥ Vichy Normaderm moisturiser (I’ve been using this ‘anti-imperfection hydrating’ cream for a week or two now, but I still don’t know how I feel about it. It’s definitely moisturising, but I’m not convinced it works well under the make-up… I think I’ll probably go back to my usual Avène skin recovering cream once I finish this bottle) ♥ Bobbi Brown pot rouge in powder pink (this is a cream blush that I think works fine with hot weather. I like the fact that its colour and texture look very natural on my skin) ♥ Shiseido multi-energising cream (I use this as a night cream and I love it. It’s perfect for my oily+dehydrated skin. But I think it’s actually too rich for the summer. Oops, I’ve just decided I’m leaving it in London) ♥ Nars cream eyeshadow duo Thebes (this will work as both eyeshadow and illuminator, if necessary) ♥ Shu Uemura eyelash curler (e s s e n t i a l) ♥ 2 eye pencils: black from Urban Decay and golden (powersurge) from Mac (e s s e n t i a l – part II) ♥ Lipbalm (this one is from Korres and it is very good) ♥ 2 lipsticks in neutral/pinkish colour (from Bobbi Brown and Paul & Joe) ♥ Lip gloss from Laura Mercier in Bare Beige (still not sure I’ll take this. I’m not a very big fan of lip gloss, although I think this one is particularly nice, almost non-sticky and it smells divine).

And on top of the products above, I’m also taking these…

Two comments here: (i) the ‘eau thermale’ from La Roche Posay I got for free. I’ve to admit I never really understood its added value (it’s just spring water. in a spray can. pfff). So I thought that since it’s very hot in Sicily I could at least use it to cool down during the trip, while we’re on the road, (ii) the Clarins Delectable self-tanning mousse is a godsend. I hate self-tanning creams. I really do. I can’t stand the way they smell, I hate the application process, and I don’t like the (patchy) colour that results from them. However, this one is different. Well, at least for me. Smells good, it’s very easy to spread and delivers a very natural and light colour. Give it a try if you’re looking for a self-tanner.

Packing for the holidays: tops, shorts & skirts

Tags

APC Madras, Etoile Isabel Marant, Forever 21, H&M, Holiday wardrobe, Mango, Urban Outfitters

After an exhaustive selection process that took me over… hmmm…  10 min, this is what I’m bringing in my suitcase:

From top, left to right: ♥ Etoile broderie anglaise top ♥ Topshop crochet tunic (I have had this for ages and rarely wear it. So here’s an opportunity) ♥ Green top bought at Urban Outfitters ages ago (it is full of little holes now, but I still love it) ♥ Beige embroidered top from F21 ♥ Lilac top bought in Bali ♥ Three very wrinkled tank tops / t-shirts from Gap and Mango

From top, left to right: ♥ H&M denim shorts ♥ Etoile bandana-print skirt (it has a gathered front. it’s so cool :) ♥ APC Madras black mini-skirt (actually I’m not taking this one. I replaced it by a denim mini-skirt from Le lis blanc) ♥ beige shorts (I got these in Sao Paulo 6 or 7 years ago from Farm. Really like the cut and the little feminine details. it’s a shame they are getting very old).

And that’s it. The foundation of my holiday wardrobe.

Still to come: shoes, make-up and accessories