Are you tired of standing in front of your bursting closet before a big occasion, important presentation at work, or just your usual Friday date night with nothing to wear? Read below how building an interchangeable minimalist wardrobe influence my life for the better and who knows, some points may even apply to your life.
Create your own personal brand
So this is twofold, for once you will be able to have some kind of designated uniform for your work activities. This is going to make it easier for yourself, to separate work from your leisure, personal life. You change into your uniform in the morning, focus on performing in your workplace and when you come home, you slip out of it and cut the chords to work stuff. This is becoming more and more important, the more both parts of your day are blending together. Are you self-employed and using one mobile device for business & private matters? Do you have a job, where working from home is permitted and therefore a company notebook and a company phone are always accessible? It can get out of hand quickly with constant beeps and vibrations, since work is more and more globalized and you are co-creating across different time zones.
The other big benefit is, you will be recognizable, people will be starting to get a good feeling of what they can expect from you. It will calm their minds, and give you more opportunities to take over additional, greater responsibilities or just being recognized for your work and successes. Even if next to no one would ever say it out loud in a workplace setting, your appearance is the first thing that gets recognized and you will be judged base on that. Maybe just unconsciously, but we all do it. You see someone walking around in dirty joggers with a little fluff around the waist, is your first impression that he or she is a top performing lawyer or doctor?
Save time dressing & shopping
Once you own several staple items, that go well together in any potential combination and for every setting you can think of. Be it a summer wedding, a day in the office or running errands around town. It will be quite easy picking a outfit, that generally is the same look you will always wear. Pick any one item for tops and one for bottoms, depending on time of the year and temperature slap an item for layering over it, grab any shoes heading out and you are good to go.
As for shopping, once you know hat sizes and colors match your type and preference, it will be far easier to add to your wardrobe. If you are already in the position where you are completely happy with the items you own, it’s just a matter of replacing pieces that are beyond repair with similar things.
Spend less money on clothes
In general, once you developed a clear feeling for your own style, what you like to wear, what makes you feel great and doesn’t limit you in your daily activities, the need to go with the trend or buy the thing some influencer advertised will subside. Therefore you will spend less on clothes in general and the potential for buying sprees in online or physical shops will be minimized. Try to develop a healthy relationship with the stuff you buy. If every piece in your closet is an item you absolutely love and love to wear, why would you want to buy additional stuff?
Mitigate decision fatigue
As mentioned two paragraphs before, the more interchangeable the core of the wardrobe you build is, the easier it will become to pick outfits tailored to any occasion. Feel like wearing a suit, wear the suit, either with a dress shirt, an oxford or a t-shirt/ polo. It will look well composed if the patterns/ materials and colors match each other. There will be no thinking involved, just picking items based on gut feeling. Don’t want to wear a full suit, just use the jacked and go with jeans, or the other way round, pick the slacks from your suit, throw a plain white T over it and you are dress for nearly everything, even the modern office job. And you will stand out between all the functional clothes, jeans and running shoes outfits of your peers.
Boost your self confidence
Once you look good and feel good in the outfits you wear you will have a confidence boost. Even without any recognition from other persons. Not to say, that every compliment you receive, and you will receive a lot, once you are always slightly overdressed, will build additional confidence. Coming back on the (unconscious) judging of people based on first impression and appearance, if you get this right, people will start to talk to you differently. They might not be aware of it, but they will treat you more to your benefit compared to the peer showing up like pulled from his own ass and therefore looking not as well prepared as you will be looking.
Make traveling and business trips easier
The bigger the overlap between your professional outfits, your leisure outfits and the pieces you feel and move great in, the less items you will need to pack for a business or even holiday trip. This will save you time and mental energy while packing, while out and about and when you are coming back and need to wash, iron and put everything back away. Travel lightly and it will make traveling itself easier, less space occupied for luggage, maybe you can make do only with carry-on baggage, which will make processing through the airport easier and faster.
Sebastian Strobl 