The Clothes We Reach For Again and Again

What our favourite clothes can tell us about our personal style.

I have a green jumper that I wear an almost ridiculous amount. It's from Wrap London, made from a lovely wool and cotton blend, and it's one of those wonderfully accommodating pieces of clothing that seems happy to go almost anywhere with me.

It's warm without being itchy, comfortable without looking too casual, and the particular shade of green works with just about every pair of trousers and skirt I own. I can dress it up, dress it down, wear it with jeans for a dog walk or something smarter when I'm heading out. In short, it's earned its place in my wardrobe several times over.

I also have a beautiful Sézane shirt in marine blue with coral flowers. The fabric is fine enough to sit comfortably beneath a jumper, but the colour and print are interesting enough that just a little glimpse of collar or cuff adds something lovely to an outfit. It's another piece I reach for constantly, and one that never seems to require much thought.

And then there's my tan jacket - goes with everything, a fabric that adds texture but not weight, and it adds just the right amount of smartening up to my outfit.

And I've started to notice something rather interesting about these favourites of mine. They all have a few things in common.

The little clues hiding in our favourite clothes

After years of working as a personal stylist, I've become quite fascinated by the clothes women wear most often. Not necessarily the most expensive things, or the newest, or even the pieces they would describe as their favourites if I asked them to choose something special.

I mean the clothes that simply get worn. The things that come out of the wardrobe on a Monday morning, accompany us through a busy week, and somehow find themselves back in the washing basket before we've had much chance to miss them.

These clothes often tell us an enormous amount about what we actually enjoy wearing.

Looking at my own wardrobe, I can see that I like clothes that are comfortable, practical and don't require too much faffing about. I love beautiful fabrics and interesting details, but I also want things that work together easily. The colours need to make sense alongside the rest of my wardrobe, and there has to be something about each piece that I genuinely love, whether that's the print, the texture, the shape or simply the way it makes me feel.

It's not a particularly complicated formula, but understanding it has helped me make much better choices about what I bring home.

And perhaps more importantly, it's helped me recognise the potential in things I already own.

Sometimes the most useful things are the quietest

Take my winter base layers, for example. I have several silky-feeling roll-neck tops in different colours which, on their own, are probably not the most exciting things in my wardrobe.

But goodness, they're useful.

I wear them beneath shirts, jumpers and other tops throughout the colder months. They provide an extra layer of warmth without adding bulk, and often all you see is a little flash of colour at the neckline or wrists.

They've become part of my winter uniform, and I probably wear one on most days when the temperature drops. They're a lovely reminder that a really successful wardrobe isn't necessarily made up entirely of beautiful statement pieces. Sometimes it's the quiet supporting cast that makes everything else work.

But what about the clothes we love and hardly ever wear?

Now here's something else I've noticed during my years of working with women and their wardrobes.

Every so often, I'll open a wardrobe and discover the most wonderful collection of colour, print, sparkle or beautiful detail, only to learn that the owner rarely wears any of it.

And I always find that rather interesting.

I've worked with women who have spent years wearing jeans because they seemed the most practical choice, while a beautiful collection of dresses waited patiently in the wardrobe. And others who absolutely adored bright reds and pinks but weren't quite sure whether they could carry them off.

Sometimes, as we begin exploring those clothes together, something rather lovely happens. We discover that the pieces they really love are giving us clues about the style they'd like to embrace more often.

One client found herself rediscovering her love of dresses, while another began enjoying the glorious colours she'd always been drawn towards.

There are, of course, all sorts of perfectly good reasons why we choose the clothes we wear. Our lifestyles, work, comfort and confidence all play their part, and these things change over time.

But I think there's something rather wonderful about recognising that the things we love can have a place in our everyday lives too. We don't necessarily have to wait for an occasion, or for someone else to tell us that something is suitable.

If it brings us pleasure to wear it, that's worth paying attention to.

A wardrobe that feels like you

One of the things I enjoy most about personal styling is helping women recognise the threads that run through their own wardrobes. Sometimes they're obvious, like a love of beautiful colour or a particular shape. Sometimes they're more subtle: a preference for soft fabrics, a certain neckline, or clothes that feel relaxed but still put-together.

And sometimes those discoveries are hiding in plain sight, among the things we already wear every week.

It's one of the reasons I've always believed that understanding what we own should come before rushing out to buy something new. When we recognise why our favourite clothes work, we can begin to make better use of the rest of our wardrobe too.

We might discover that a much-loved jacket works beautifully with a skirt we've never thought to pair it with, or that a favourite blouse can be worn in several different ways simply by changing the layers around it.

Those little discoveries can be surprisingly satisfying, particularly when they involve spending absolutely nothing.

A little wardrobe magic

I've been exploring this idea rather a lot recently while creating The Wardrobe Homecoming, my new self-guided wardrobe programme.

And because I think it's such a lovely place to begin, I've put together a little free guide called The Magic in Your Wardrobe.

It's a gentle, twenty-minute introduction to rediscovering some of your favourite clothes, understanding what makes them special and finding fresh ways to wear them.

No enormous wardrobe clear-out, no shopping trip and certainly no complicated fashion rules. Just a little time spent enjoying the clothes you already own.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE GUIDE — THE MAGIC IN YOUR WARDROBE

I hope it helps you discover a few treasures of your own. Because sometimes, the most useful thing we can bring home for our wardrobe isn't another piece of clothing at all.

It's a fresh pair of eyes.

With love and happy treasure hunting,

Victoria x