March 4, 2019

How to Buy Items You’ll Love Next Year

Confessions and lessons from my years as a shopaholic 😉

As the season transitions, it’s a great time to look for items that you will likely still love next year and buy them on sale. When it comes to sale shopping, there’s a certain amount of luck and a certain amount of skill. The most important lesson I’ve learned from my expensive shopping mistakes is simple.

For me to wear an item season after season, it boils down to one simple factor – It’s all about color.

It’s painful to purge expensive items that don’t have a great resale value. As I’ve been sorting and analyzing, I’ve noticed the items that I don’t wear more than one season were usually that particular season’s “it color.” My new shopping epiphany is to stick to a strict color code, especially for more expensive items, if I want to enjoy them for more than one season.

Season after season my favorite looks are Neutrals: Styled Tone-on-Tone or High Contrast. Saddle Brown styled simply with Black is the only color combination I like as much as Black with Beige or Black with White.

Bottom line:

If you’re looking at the end-of-season sales, narrow your focus to neutral colors for your more expensive accessories such as jackets, bags, and shoes. These practical toned items have stood the test of time. I mean, 5 years is an eternity in the fashion world, right? 😉

Jackets (Biker & Bomber)

Over the years I have kept 2 biker and bomber jackets and sold the others. Guess what. The two jackets I continue to wear are neutrals. This saddle brown classic bomber style jacket has no distracting hardware that dates it to a specific time period. I also have a black leather biker edgy jacket that’s always fun to wear. The overpriced “it jackets” that didn’t make the cut were that season’s beautiful “it color,” but I couldn’t style them with whatever I was into the next season. To make matters worse, they were more expensive (cringe) and only worn a few times. It really is all about the color.

Handbags

The same color concept holds true for my handbag collection. As for high-end designer bags, I have resold all my color-blocked ones and most others that were not neutral. Thankfully, handbags have higher resale value, but I’d prefer not to make that mistake again.

Did you see this post with my tips for how to spot a fake Chanel?

Levis

Levis are always going to be in. The cut will change, but “sizing up” gives you flexibility if you want to wear them either low or higher your waist. Two things to consider when looking at Levis: Just the right amount of rip is important, and black makes them more forgiving if you’re not in your 20s 😉

Personally, I find the cropped leg trend unflattering, and I can’t wait for angle length or longer to be the standard again.

Sunglasses: It’s easier to find great designer dupes for sunglasses than ever before.

I say stay away from expensive sunglasses and wait for Amazon to find the same designer ones for less, or just get the $10 dupe. On the flipside, just like Belts, Sunglasses can only be so many shapes and sizes. I totally regret consigning my square Gucci glasses from 14 years ago. They are 100% back in style. (Sigh) That’s how it goes with purging. We are usually thrilled to part with 85% and may regret the other 15%. The small regret is better than hoarding, I suppose. 🙂