January is upon us, and so are the January sales – often a time when so many people make the most of huge discounts, and fill their shopping carts with items of clothing at great prices. However, this often means a filled out wardrobe that can feel overwhelming and many of these items end up not being used as much as we had first hoped.

I wanted to share a few tips to help you maximise the sales, and your current wardrobe, to make sure your investments truly work for you throughout the year, rather than with an impulse purchase.

Look at your current wardrobe

It all needs to start at the beginning – your current wardrobe! When we have a composed look at what we have in our wardrobes we start to spot certain aspects:

·       Colour palette – do you stick to a few select colours with some bursts of new colours thrown in? Now is not the time to go away from your favourites, but it can be a good time to add a few key pieces that work with your current palette.

·       Your favourite items – what do you wear when you are in a pickle for the outfit for the day? What are your go-to items you love to put on? When you know these key items, you can consider what you’d like to add to make those items be used more often, or perhaps now is a time to invest in some items similar to them that you know you will wear over and over again. This can be, for example, that you often love wearing culottes, or wrap dresses, so you may wish to find one or two more to add to your collection.

·       What do you need? This is a great time to wonder what items you aren’t wearing, but would wear if you had the right piece to go with them. For example, you may have a beautiful midi skirt, but no jumpers or tops that work with it, take some inspiration from pinterest or Instagram to give yourself some ideas of what works well with those items that you’d like to try, and invest in some during the sales to truly get to use those items!

·       What don’t you wear? If you are spotting things in your wardrobe you may not have worn for a while, consider putting these in a “charity” pile. If you aren’t wearing them, then don’t let them take up valuable space in your mind and your closet! January can be a great time for a wardrobe clear out, and is a great way to make note of what not to get again in the sales.

Now that you feel empowered about your current wardrobe, you may have some more ideas about what is missing and is truly required to be added to your collection.

Get inspiration

When you are now given the tools from your wardrobe of what to (and what not to) get for yourself, you can use the wonders of the style icons to help you see what you’d like to convey when you dress. Usually this is a key area within my personal styling sessions, which can really help you to see what you’d love to be wearing more of. As a way to get started, you can search for particular celebrities that you may love the styling of, or designers and fashion houses that you feel create pieces you love looking at.

As a starting point, this can be a great way to get some inspiration for the pieces you’d like to invest in and wear throughout the year. Whether it’s the beautiful suits that Cate Blanchett wears in Ocean’s 8, or the elegant styling of Michelle Obama – you can take inspiration from the way they style themselves and work this into your wardrobe.

Getting to the shops

Now, I know lots of people love buying online – the ability to scan through during your lunch break, or on the commute home, for some new pieces to add to your wardrobe can feel very easy, but, I highly recommend (if you can) going to shops like John Lewis or Selfridge’s, so you can have a great collection of styles at your fingertips, and that you can try on the items too!

If you are going to high street shops, take the items from your wardrobe that you wanted to style with you, so you can truly get to see that these clothes work together before you purchase.

Here are some tips for shopping at high street stores:

·       Go during a quieter time of day if you can.

·       Give yourself time and make it a treat – get yourself a coffee, take time walking around the different areas, and try to go during a good confidence day.

·       Take a friend with you, so you can both help each other in times of unease. A friend can be truly helpful to making sure you make the right decisions for your style and body, and  you can do the same for them too!

·       Take breaks. If you are going for a few hours, it can feel pretty overwhelming, so why not give yourself a good half a day for the experience, grab lunch, and take breaks between try-ons. You’ll feel better and it will give you a chance to consider the items you had tried on before purchasing them.

·       When you come home, try on the items again with your wardrobe and pre-plan some outfits that can work together. This can also really help to reduce the stress of outfit choices in the morning.

If it feels truly overwhelming to head to high street shops, or you simply haven’t the time to go out to them, here are a few pieces of advice for buying online during the sales:

·       Remember the items you need and would like, rather than being distracted by the countless categories they have in spaces such as Asos.

·       When trying on your items at home, take into consideration how you truly feel about the piece – will you definitely wear it? Does it make you feel good? If neither of these feelings arise, then put it back in the returns bag!

·       Use the filters wisely! I have been stuck looking at pieces I’d love to get myself only to be disappointed that they have sold out in my size! You can drill down on size, fit, style, and even colour, so it can mean you are looking only at items you’d really love to have, that would work with your current wardrobe, and will be in stock in your size!

In a world of fast-fashion, January sales often mean an influx of items that are worn only a few times before being forgotten about, and I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to you! I hope these tips will help you to get the items you will cherish for years to come, and if you are unsure on where to start, I’d love to speak with you to see if I can help with a personal shopping or styling experience.