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Wardrobe Basic “Must Haves” for Every Woman in 2009

By DearGaby, on April 8th, 2009

In these tough economic times, we are no longer shopping simply for the fun of it. Everywhere you look, retail sales are down. However, we still must look fabulous in spite of having less money to spend on our wardrobe. So what should you do?

1.Take an Inventory

Go through your wardrobe and remove the pieces that look worn or no longer fit. Donate them to charity if you’d like. Consider selling the items that still look new but just don’t fit on eBay or swap clothes with your friends.

2. Review your “must haves” and see what is missing.

The “must haves” in your basic wardrobe should include the following items:

A Classic 3 piece Suit- Black (if you are cool) or Brown (If you are warm)
A pair of black dress pants
Pencil, A line, or full Skirt – Be sure to chose one that flatters your figure.
LBD – A classic; the little black dress that will never go out of style.
White Blouse (or creme/ecru colored if you are warm) that you can wear with anything.
Well fitting Cashmere Sweater
A Sheath Dress (which could be your LBD). A dress you can wear during the day and also in the evening.
Jeans. These need to fit you perfectly and flatter your figure.
Pair of black pumps. Need I say more?
Black Leather Purse- (or brown if you are warm). I have a purse large enough to hold my laptop.
Classic Clutch Purse- For evenings and dressing up.
A Silver Necklace ( or gold if you are warm)
A Scarf to add color.
A classic trench coat.

Not sure if you are are cool or warm? Check out my post Wearing the Right Colors.

3. Investment Purchase items that you may need to complete your basic “must haves” wardrobe

Investment shopping is the way to go in 2009. Basically you want to buy the best quality you can afford. Make sure the items are classic, ones that you can wear over and over again, and they fit you properly. These items will last you a long time and in the long run be more cost effective because the CPW (cost per wear) of a wardrobe item, goes down the more you wear the item.

So for example, Let’s say you purchase a LBD for $300 and you wear it 12 x/year. After owning the dress for three years, the CPW is $8.33. So it cost you $8.33 every time you put on the dress. Now let’s say you purchased a very trendy dress for $75 and you wore it only 3 times. The CPW is $25.00. The trendy dress cost you $25.00 every time you wore the dress. As you can see from this example, you will save money by investment shopping for items that you will wear over and over again. Even though you paid more for the LBD that for the trendy dress, you wore it more often than the trendy dress. So the LBD actually cost you less than the trendy dress since you got more use out of it. So when you are adding pieces to your “must haves” basic wardrobe, I recommend you buy the best quality you can afford so you can keep wearing it for years.

4. Consider creating wardrobe capsules. A wardrobe capsule is a subset of wardrobe pieces that you can mix and match to create many outfits. It saves you time getting dressed everyday since everything goes together and you don’t need to think about what you are going to wear. It is fantastic if you travel. With the airlines charging to check in baggage, with a wardrobe capsule, you only need to pack a few items to create several outfits for your trip. More on Wardrobe Capsules next week.

Happy Blogging!