When it’s hanging on the hanger, or you’re scrolling through photos, it’s super easy to think that you love a piece of clothing or hate an item of clothing or will always wear something. But try clothes on before you buy them, or make a snap judgement on them – when you try it on, you’ll know for sure.
It’s true that we can have strong opinions at first sight. Opinions about cut and color and shape and all of that. But we can’t determine for absolutely sure whether or not it’ll be a forever piece before we try it on.
Just because it “should” work, doesn’t mean it will.
I was working with a client on building a business capsule wardrobe so that she can have a clear and obvious personal brand for all of her calls and videos and (eventually) in person meetings.
There was one sweater in particular that should have fit her brand capsule perfectly. It’s a golden softly structured button up cardigan that’s about hip length and we’re going for a preppy geek chic vibe so, with a button up shirt, cute shoes and jeans, this sweater should work really well.
But it’s not.
Instead, this sweater looks sloppy. Not cute sloppy – just overwhelming sloppy. So we cut the sweater from the capsule.
That doesn’t mean it’s a bad sweater and that doesn’t mean it was a bad idea to try. It just means that when push came to shove we went with what worked for her brand in reality, not what should have worked in theory.
Keep what works, pass along the rest.
I recently got a number of pieces delivered. And about half of them don’t work.
All of these items looked fantastic online and they checked all the boxes in my laundry list of clothing criteria. But they don’t all work for me.
So I’m keeping what will work, and am passing along the rest. Some will be returned, some resold, and some passed on to friends.
With most online shopping you have to buy before you can try clothes on. But you can still reserve judgement until you try them on. Just keep them moving if they don’t work for you.
If a piece of clothing doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. It just means you weren’t a match.
Whenever possible, try clothes on before you buy them.
No matter how good it looks in store or online, reserve the final decision until it’s on your body. When we try something on, we know if it’s for us or not.