Style manifesto, part 3. The List.

I mentioned The List a few posts ago, without explaining. Bad Jay. The list, as you can see, is part om the Manifesto. In order to keep The Space in my wardrobe, I work with a list. The list contains items of clothing that I feel are missing in my wardrobe, and thus deserve to take upp some of the Space. I try to not by things that are not on my list, but last week I bought a red cashmere jumper. It happens. And nobody likes a list fascist.

The list, at present, is as follows:

1. Grey cigarette trousers. Light weight wool, preferably.
2. Dark blue jeans. Also of the cigarette variety.
3. Brown brogues with a little heel.
4. Winter coat. Wool, that hits precisely below the knee, has a pipe neck, detachable hood, and a belt. Oh, and it needs to be bottle green. This one might take a while.


The reasons these things are on my list, is that they would complement my wardrobe. If I had brown brogues, for example, I could wear my skirts more often, since I only have one pair of heeled wintershoes, and I want to wear heels with skirts, and I don´t want to wear the same shoes two days in a row because my cobbler tells me not to. Wow, that sentence should just be taken outside and shot. But you get my point.


The List might not work for you, but for me it is escential. It keeps me from buying things just because they are pretty, or have a bow on them. It keeps order in my wardrobe, and thus it keeps order in my life.

Style manifesto, part 2. Everybody must dance with everybody.

Isn´t that an enticing headline! What I´m trying to say is, that the clue to successfully having less clothes without feeling deprived, is to make sure that everything that you buy matches almost everything else. That way it´s like having a lot more clothes, since really it is the number of different outfit you can construct that matters. A lot of people say that you shouldn´t buy something unless it matches at least five other things in your wardrobe, and that´s fine if you like having a lot of clothes. Which is also fine, of course. But if you like me desperately want to keep the number of wardrobe pieces down, but still have a lot of different options, it needs to go beyond that. The last thing I bought was a red cashmere jumper. It goes with every (winter)bottom I have, except obviously my red pleated skirt, because that would get chrismassy and weird. Or perhaps not. I´ll think about it.

Style manifesto, part 1. Less is less, which is better than more.

Ok, so doesn´t Style manifesto have a much nicer ring to it than "rules"? (Note how I didn´t feel the need to put citation marks around Style manifesto!)

I have spent a lot of time purging my wardrobe (also known as The Great Purge of ´10). This has led to a sparse wardrobe, containing only the pieces that I absolutely love, and some space. The space will be, to some extent, filled with stuff that is now on The List, but some of the space will have to stay. I love the space. The space calms me.

There is something about an overstuffed wardrobe, or an overstuffed anything for that matter, that stresses me out. And also, I seem to be a rather narrow minded person, in a way, when clothes are concerned. It doesn´t matter how much clothes I have, I still only use about 30 items. When I realised that, I decided to try to make do with less. I don´t have only 30 pieces of clothing, that wouldn´t cover the different seasons or situations I need to dress for, but I have significantly less than I did a year or so ago.

It is soothing not to have to many choices, having to many choices overwhelms me. And I kept only my favourites, so I love all my clothes. All in all, I am very happy with the result.

I know that I am possibly one of the worlds worst photographers, but I did try my best.

My tiny wardrobe contains:

2 pairs of jeans, one grey and one black.
1 pair of cigarette trousers, brown check.


2 pleated wool skirts, one red and one grey.
1 cashmere wrap skirt, grey.
1 pencil skirt, grey.


1 grey wool blend, sleeveless dress.
1 black longarmed wool dress.

4 silk dresses, one black, one purple and two green.


6 cardigans.

8 jumpers.

1 silk blouse.

This does not of course include t-shirts or summer clothes. Shoes and bags will have to wait for an other post, I think.

To me now, this is a lot. It is certainly enough for easily 50 different outfits, because almost everything matches everything. And that, dear readers (hello mum!), is what the next post will be about!

Let´s pretend I didn´t just forget about this blog for months and months

I found a lovely thread at the fashion spot where people had written about their ten "rules" for dressing. I couldn´t stop reading, I think it is so interesting how people think about their clothes! After a while I started making a list of my own, but as it turned out, it was not easy. I stopped at 70, not ten, "rules". (Note how I use annoying citation marks around rules. It is to point out how they´re not really rules, but I couldn´t find a better word for it. Someone should have payed more attention i English class!)

So instead of posting on The fashion spot, I´ll do it here. Welcome to my possibly never ending list of self serving rules of style!

The one were I stop myself from buying yet another grey skirt.

Most days, I dress like a librarian with expensive taste. Not like a real librarian, obviously, since real librarians dress a lot like real teachers, which is a far cry from how they dress in old movies. Or porn. But this means brogues, pleated wool skirts and cashmere cardigans. You know the drill.

The thing is, I really have enough clothes. Not as much as I did before The Great Purge of 2010, but still. Enough. The things I constantly have to keep myself from buying more of, is grey skirts. And cardigans, but that´s another post.

I´m really trying to keep the "one in, one out" policy, but today I very nearly bought this skirt. God help me, when I die, they will probably discover hidden stashes of grey skirts under my bed, at the back of my kitchen drawers, and in the attic!

Dear Santa,

Imagining what to wear to work, is one of my favorite sunday morning passtimes. I might be a shy rebel, but I am a rebel nonetheless, and I´m contantly trying to raise the bar for dressing for work. My oh so subtle plan is to dress so spectacularly well for work, that my collegues will be subconciously inspired to do the same. Or something. I really want those shoes. But € 495? A wee bit steep.

And I haven´t been a good enough girl this year to even bother writing to Santa about it.

My dirty little secret, or why I´m a rebel

I´m a teacher. We´re not supposed to care about fashion. But I do, because I´m a rebel. But I do it in secret, because I´m rather a shy rebel. Or possibly a coward. And seriously misunderstood.

The thing is, I just recently bought a bag. The one in the picture. And I love it. Worth every cent I paid, but I seem to be the only one in my life who gets it. My granny would have understood. She died a few years ago, and I miss her a lot. Had she still been here, I would have talked to her, but since she´s not I´ll talk to the internet instead. That, she wouldn´t have understood.