How to build a wardrobe

Dr Duff Watkins and Jean Woo
First published in Men’s Style Australia 2006

That’s wardrobe, as in stock of clothes belonging to one person; not the tall, upright, movable cupboard fitted with hooks and shelves for holding clothes. Got that? So put down that lathe and let’s head for the mall. We have work to do.

The key word is build for indeed, your wardrobe must first be constructed, then continually refurbished. It’s a lifelong process (unless you still wear your school uniform because you ceased to grow at age 14) and these are lifelong skills.

Aim for elegant.  What is elegant? The elegant look is very simple and has one strong feature. Elegance is clear and clean. Elegance avoids clutter and confusion.

Imagine entering a room that features one and only one beautiful object. It could be a big black glossy piano, an Andy Warhol print, a Queen Anne leather chair, an oversized vase of yellow roses, a Faberge egg, whatever. Get the picture? The room has a focal point; it has a feature that your eye is drawn to and directed towards.

That’s elegance. That’s what you want.

Is elegance expensive?

It depends. “Go for the best at all times, without compromise,” says Mark Gill an American style expert who has appeared on Oprah and in the Wall Street Journal, and advocates all designer labels, brands and names. He charges $300 an hour so he would say that, right?

Well, here’s a cheaper, easier, cleverer way of constructing your wardrobe.

First, out with the old….

Fashion is not a fistfight.  Your wardrobe ought not to resemble a territorial dispute. Whether putting clothes in your closet or clothes on your body, you want to avoid competition. If your clothes are competing for physical space in your closet or visual attention from your viewer, you’ve got a problem. Just as a closet has only so much space to offer, a viewer’s eyes have only so much attention to give. The unbending rule is: buy, store and wear only what works well for you.

Winnow the wardrobe.  Purge the urge to hang onto stuff. Retire a garment if it’s faded, worn, frayed, soiled, damaged, aged, ill-fitting or pre-historic. You may be emotionally attached to your first animal skin loin cloth, Tarzan, but time marches on and so does fashion. Besides, there are more luxurious animal skins on the market these days.

Upgrade, Don’t Replace:  It’s not about replacing worn items; it’s about upgrading them. Upgrade your wardrobe as often as you upgrade your computer software. Every 6 months cull and clear your shirts, ties, suits, socks, underwear and shoes. To upgrade, buy better.

Bury your mistakes.  Everybody makes purchases that, when reviewed in the harsh, cold light of reality (ie, the mirror) reveal that you made a commercial error in sartorial buying. Fine. Bury it and move on. See that lairy shirt that makes you look like a Filipino politician? Toss it. Those “Mr. Grumpy” socks that your niece gave you? Lose them. That thin, narrow tie featuring colours not found in nature? Excise it. In short, anything that may’ve looked good once but does not right now, here, today, must go.

Take a hard line.  Face facts. If your waist is now 36 inches and not 32, deal with it. If you haven’t worn a garment in 365 days, toss it. That olive green Italian suit is trendy but does it still look good on you? If not, shed it and create the space in both your closet and your life that is necessary to upgrade.

Be Charitable:  Give it away. Wash, clean, bag and box the garments that no longer serve you and then personally deliver it to your favourite charity so that they may serve others. Being charitable meets a need in our society and makes you feel good. We live in a world of abundance. There’s no need to cling or clutch onto clothes. Giving is good—for you.

Second, in with the new….

Invest in style.  What do stock market shares and style have in common? They are both investments that require your time, effort and action if you want to profit. Alas, a sense of style is not genetically encoded. You must cultivate it. This means you must make an effort (reading this magazine is a bloody good start!), invest some money (have you subscribed yet?), and act on the advice (clip out this article and tape it inside your closet door). In other words, get serious! Fork out the money and the time required to look good.

Have a headline item:  Feature only one item in your appearance. This keeps it simple and leads the viewer’s eye to where you want them to look. Be creative. A headline item doesn’t have to be a tie or shirt. You feature elements can be a cap, belt, shoes, even socks (Disagree? Wear cashmere socks and then listen to the comments.).

Enhance, Advance, Entrance:  Toss out anything that doesn’t fit or make you look good. Only buy and wear garments that enhance your look, advance your prospects, or entrance others. That’s upgrading. New purchases must be better: better fitting, better looking, better functioning for you in your environment (ie, at work). If it doesn’t expedite your progress to where you want to go in life, dump it.

Dress your age not the rage.  Psychology tells us that we go through certain stages of life. These stages correspond to our ages. Clothes should be taken mores seriously as you age and mature because they reflect your status, station and stage of life. Anything else is false advertising, or worse, wishful thinking by a ‘wannabe’.

There is a correct fashion and style for everybody at every age. What’s correct for you?

It’s easy to find out. Just look at your age group peers. What do they wear to work, to the pub, to restaurants? Study the empirical evidence and you’ll spot the current trend. Now you can either join them, go with the flow, and wear what they wear, -- that’s fashion. Or you can tweak it a bit and personalise it, -- that’s style. Either way, it’s best to work within the arithmetical boundaries of your age. Otherwise, you’ll look like a damn fool. All stages of life are good and they’re even better when you’re clothes enhance it.

Casual not careless.  Business casual dress quickly becomes business careless if you wear denim, khakis, and docksider shoes. Business casual means blazers, regular button shirts, fine slacks made of wool or linen and traditional shoes.

Adapt Don’t Adopt:  It’s a common mistake to adopt wholly the style of another person. Just being an executive doesn’t mandate you wearing Armani or Boss. Different cuts fit different physiques. If Armani and Boss make you look boxy, why buy them? Wear what works for you. Adapting elements of another person’s style is fine. But style can’t be mimicked; it must be authentic. As the shoe advertisement rightly proclaimed, ‘if you ain’t you, you ain’t nobody.’

It all comes back to you.  Your clothes reflect you. Who else could they reflect? Adorning yourself in the costliest, chicest brands will never replace the character, integrity and essence of you, the wearer. Enjoy the accoutrements of success. But others will enjoy those accoutrements only if they enhance a good man. Never forget this.

Finally, Learn to be You.  The famous maxim ‘Know thyself’ was inscribed on the Oracle of Delphi temple in ancient Greece. But this sound advice was never a ‘one size fits all’ piece of wisdom. In today’s English it means ‘learn how to be who you are’.

Conforming to someone else’s image is just another way of dressing for someone else’s success. Even toga-wearing Greeks at Delphi knew that.

©2005 Duff Watkins, Jean Woo

Duff Watkins dw@execsearch.com.au is Director Asia/South Pacific of the Cornerstone International Group. His doctorate is in psychotherapy.

Jean Woo jean@personalbrand.com.au is Director of Personal Brand Management. Her first book is Executive Style: dress essentials for men and women. They are co-authoring Dress for Effect: secrets of sartorial splendour.