Cohesive

Shopping like a goddess

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LogoIf you’ve been reading Following Augustine for long, you know that I love thrift store shopping. In fact, one of my most popular posts over the past year has been this one. I’m not crazy about big city stores like Value Village where there’s an overwhelming amount of merchandise to sift through. Instead, I prefer smaller not-for-profit stores like the two that I shop locally. 

Other than one pair of pyjamas that I picked up at Walmart, the only clothing that I’ve bought in the past four months has been second-hand. One of my most recent finds was the Goddess Blouse from cabi’s Fall 2018 Collection. Although it’s two years old, it’s like new and it fits into my wardrobe for several reasons. 

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Like many cabi pieces, it isn’t trendy. Its timeless quality means that it’s something that I’ll be happy to wear for a long time. The cream coloured background is flattering to my complexion and the abstract pattern, in colours that are part of my spring palette, doesn’t overwhelm me. The blouse also coordinates with lots of things in my present wardrobe including many other cabi pieces. That’s one of my favourite things about cabi; the fact that pieces from one season are intentionally designed to coordinate with those from several previous seasons so that you can build a cohesive wardrobe over a period of time. 

In the first photo, I’m wearing the Goddess Blouse with my grey skinny jeans, also from the Fall 2018 Collection. My necklace is another recent thrift store purchase.

I love the next look which is entirely cabi. I styled the blouse with my Brick Dust skinnies from Spring 2018, the Tudor Cross necklace from Fall 2019, and one of my oldest pieces of cabi, the Shirttail Cardigan from Fall 2016. It might be four years old, but it’s still going strong!

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Next, here I am wearing the blouse with a pair of dark wash jeans and yet another piece from cabi, the Checkmate Jacket from a year ago. 

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And finally, here’s my very good friend and cabi stylist, Deborah, wearing her Goddess Blouse with several items from this season’s cabi collection. 

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By now, you might be wondering if this is a sponsored post. It’s not. I just have a lot of cabi in my closet and I’m delighted that I was able to add another piece for just $3.00 by shopping my local thrift store! 

Building a cohesive wardrobe

/ edebock / 2 Comments

LogoI’ve written before about my 3Cs of fashion… classy, confident, and comfortable, but today I want to look at another C… cohesive. Cohesion could be the difference between a wardrobe that works and one that doesn’t, so what does this C word mean?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, cohesive means “united and working together effectively” and the Collins English Dictionary says that something that is cohesive “consists of parts that fit together well and form a united whole”. That sounds like a workable wardrobe to me!

So what makes a wardrobe cohesive? I would suggest two things… most of the tops work with most of the bottoms and the majority of the garments are versatile enough to be dressed up or down for a variety of venues and occasions.

How then do we build that cohesive wardrobe? Obviously, few of us can scrap our entire closet full of clothes and start from scratch, but begin by evaluating what you already have and then work toward making purchases that add cohesion.

  • If you haven’t already, define your personal style. I’ve written about how to use Pinterest to help you do that here.
  • Choose a colour palette. Build your basic wardrobe around a few colours that suit your complexion, that you feel drawn to, and that coordinate well with one another. This doesn’t have to be boring. Scarves and accessories are a great way to add pops of other colours. Pattern and texture also add variety.
  • Only buy pieces that will go with what you already own. Ask yourself, can I wear this at least three different ways with items that I already have in my closet? If so, it will probably be a good purchase. This may not work for something like a special occasion dress, but it’s a good rule of thumb for most other wardrobe purchases.

If you follow these simple suggestions, you’ll end up with a cohesive wardrobe that will make getting dressed in the morning easy and enjoyable. No more staring at a closet full of mismatched clothes and moaning about having nothing to wear!

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I’ve been thinking a lot about cohesiveness lately for two reasons. First of all, spring is finally coming to the Canadian prairie and I’ll soon be doing my seasonal wardrobe switch. As I bring out my spring/summer wardrobe, I’ll be looking at it with a critical eye and deciding where the gaps are and what I need to fill them with. Secondly, it’s less than two weeks until I’ll be packing that teeny tiny suitcase and flying off to Europe for three and a half weeks. This will be our first attempt at traveling with carry-on luggage only, so whatever goes into that one little suitcase is going to have to work well together!