What constitutes a hard working wardrobe?

5 things that will help you determine if your wardrobe is working hard for you

All photos by Drew Blackwell

One of the reasons I wanted to do a 365 no buy (currently at 228 days) was to give some consideration to what constitutes a hard working wardrobe. I wanted to put my own wardrobe to the test, in a bid to determine, do I actually have a ‘hard working wardrobe’? A term that gets thrown around alot in the style space (it me) but what does it really mean? What does it look like? In today’s Substack I want to explore what I think has contributed to what I consider a hard working wardrobe for myself, and share what I hope will be helpful considerations for anyone else who wants to build a wardrobe they love and wear.

What does a hard working wardrobe mean?

To me, a hard working wardrobe means a collection of pieces that see regular wear, can function for a variety of occasions/scenarios and help you feel like your best self. It has been my experience that a hard working wardrobe has very little to do with quantity, and much more to do with quality and flexibility. It’s interesting that when I had the least money, I think I owned the most clothes and probably wore less than 20% of what I owned. A hard working wardrobe makes getting dressed quicker, easier and sufficiently less stressful than a wardrobe full to the brim but leaves you with no idea what to wear.

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to building a hard working wardrobe is quieting the noise of other people’s opinions on what you should wear, in a bid to reconnect with what you actually like outside of what the fashion industry/content creators are promoting?

Style is very fluid to me, it isn’t something that is set in stone, but there is a gentle knowing that has come from getting to know myself. How I feel in my clothes vs how I might look in them is what guides my purchasing decisions. More on how I found my own style here.

Trying to identify if you do have a hard working wardrobe is both personal and subjective, but after ruminating on it this week, these are the 5 things that have led me to believe I do indeed have a hard working wardrobe…