Amazingly what one learns about making art and decorating one's house. Same principles also apply to one's clothes closet. And vice versa!
1) Needs to fit! The dresser looks great by the bed but I can't easily make the bed every morning and that corner is just about eye level with a less than wide awake Rooster. So, plan B. Assemblage is a wonderful mixed media style but I can barely get the top off the child proof laundry detergent bottle. I stroked the Dremel off my 'have to have' list. Therefore all the ill fitting clothing have been edited out. Well, I kept a few warm and slouchy tops- for cooler art days. They will likely not survive the painting messes any who!
2) Colour! I do luv colour but apparently it showcases better on a neutral background and as eye popping accents. The orange art room tends to clash with and colour most of my art project appraisals. :O My colourful (and busy) backgrounds are benefiting with knocking back with swathes of gesso and the application of baby wipe rubs. I have learned all this after investing in coloured walls and now I'm continuing under the influence of the current grey trend. Grey, BTW, shows up colour wonderfully. Much as fire engine red may suit my colouring I won't be wearing a full skirted dress in it. A bit more subdued and who knew that blue jeans are considered a neutral. I must add, mind you, that I was looking at some red shoes the other day! lol
3) Rule of thirds. Gosh this applies in photography, art canvases, windows and drapes, groupings of threes so why not the old body! duh! Proportion and lines has less to do with body shape and a lot to do with what will make a pleasing silhouette. Half black and half white with a red belt and gold bulls eye buckle is not too pleasing. Now I am a short plumping hour glass who needs to embrace my curves without giving star status to the plumping parts. It is good to identify one's nemesis and then skim lightly over them!
4) The yes and no lists. I rather like those white minimalist houses but I'm not neat enough to maintain one. So relaxed Ikea works. I'm giving my French Provincial chairs to my DD#2 and my dearie is swallowing the recovering costs and adjusting to the new swapped mid century modern book case. ;^) Family Affairs!!! Follow alongs and Project Lifes are not my style. My own blogging themes, making my own journals and adding some of the bought ephemera works for me. Making art for Ikea shelving is my happy place. Unhappily, vbsigh, bosoms are a fact of life for us X rated figures. Much as I wish I was that 60's Twiggy model, I ain't. But turtlenecks are not my best look. I need to lower that neckline and get a nice bit of jewelry under my chin to draw the eye up and help acquaintances who are stuck- well, you know where! An interesting aside is that I have a tee shirt with a bit lower neckline and luv it. So this is really about what makes you happy. I luv stripes. I'm not giving them up but I will be thinking rule of thirds and columns of colour when I do it.
5) Armed with your YES list, edit your closet. Downsizing has been easier since I reconciled that I would not be revisiting my folk art period! :{ And while I kinda like the Victorian style of mixed media I won't be spending a lot of my art budget on lace and pearls. A lot of what isn't my art style is passed on to the grand kiddies who haven't discovered their style yet. lol Ideally I want to reach into my closet and get what works quickly, easily and happily.
6) Accessories. The secret weapon for colour and creativity. Those statement accents on the coffee table or bookcase. The bit of metal or glitz near the focal point in the mixed media art. The earring, bracelet or scarf. Amazing what a bracelet does to an outfit or a brooch to a drab cowl necked sweater.
7) Capsules!!! This totally makes sense to me. My home decorating focuses around tweaking the seasons. I have created four bookcases in my basement that store colours and accessories for the four seasons that we enjoy. I luv arranging vignettes and it beats shuffling rooms full of furniture around. No surprise that my randomness leads to various aspects of my art and crafting life. If I embrace the slower pace of winter which keeps me indoors and spend my time sewing and hand stitching my life is far less frustrating. I guess one can snow dye but dyeing is likely a fall outdoors project for me. It was a no-brainer for me to make four clothing capsules. One for each season and they actually over lap a bit so I just shuffle the seasons from accessible to not so accessible along the hanging bar. This works better for me than colours or kinds which I tend to associate with seasonal wear anyway. And if I need orange I do know where in the seasonal line I can find it. It also shows up gaps and the unnecessary number of the same four items and lack of a fifth but different.
The biggest thing I learned is nothing stays the same. House decor goes through trends. A major colour shift occurs every 10 years like brown to grey and minor accessory styles change yearly. Classic is timeless. Most of us have seen the rise and fall of crocheting, paint by numbers, scrap booking and grunge art. But fabric, paper, and the colour wheel are a basic. My 30 year old body exists only in old photos and in my mind. Reality reveals we all change. Selfies (for your viewing pleasure only) are an excellent tool for showing that! And after the first half dozen painful crying jags one focuses on line and proportion. Mind you, dressing in one's bedroom then going for the selfie in better light does not prepare one for the full mirror view of a bent over and half clothed confrontation enhanced by the lighting in a change room. I wonder they sell ANYTHING!!! But covering the body is not really negotiable so lets happily and comfortably embrace it. How about with some style?
Another aha! was percentage. One day a week I dress up for church. One day I have scheduled for errands. Those days I MUST dab some makeup on. See colour above! Five days I am at home happily messing about. Party wear opportunities are extremely rare. So the 3 ball gowns were tossed. Just kidding. However the sparkly top that no longer buttons was sobbed over and laid to rest in the discard pile. That defining moment actually led to unearthing my cloth measuring tape! :/ If my math is correct, 14% of my closet should be semi formal (?) maybe classically casual. 14% should be casually classy. And a whopping 71% needs to be for a comfy, casual, creative country chic (k). And it sure isn't! But I do have a list for future forays into the change room, lighting be d***ed!
SEW- I think tunics, with a bit of shape at the waist are my ticket to creative freedom. Even a loose thin belt would work. The pattern will be easy to fine tune. Easy to sew, easy to wear and I do have fabric! The prototype waits beside Nina and the Rooster's coveralls.
Being creative. Whether it is through my homemaking, chasing the muse, or revealing who I am to all those who pass me on the street, it is all one and the same.
Through one of the members I also discovered a blog- The Vivienne Files. I spent Sunday evening going through the 'Starting From Scratch' tab. Here are two examples of a personal colour wheel. This totally appeals to me. I'm just about ready to commit to my basic neutrals and my accent colours. I was almost going to say navy and grey (no more black) when I realized I have very little navy but I have LOTS of green so it may be green and grey. Aqua (teal) is one colour and I'm thinking pink (cranberry) for the other. The 'other' light will be white/ecru/cream- depending. I did think of two capsules- one for summer and one for winter but remembered KISs just in time. LOL But those kahaki sections can still work when I go grey taupe and green based taupe so I can have those for summer. Then think of all the combos with lights to darks and prints that pull together two colours. I hate clothes shopping so this would focus me on MY colours. A jean skirt is a must, almost considered a neutral and I'd keep my black pencil skirt and LBD (little black dress).
