It's not truly the end of winter here, but I moved my big puffer to the downstairs closet yesterday and I'm starting to edit, retire items that no longer make me happy or fit, and purchase with an eye to spring/ summer. So I thought I'd do a round up.
This winter, I tracked wears again for the first time since I can't remember. (Note -- the entire collection does not show, below -- you have to follow the link to see it.) My not very efficient but fun method was to use the Finds and simply make a note each time I wore something. It doesn't calculate CPW, but that is not my purpose for tracking. I mainly just wanted to get a handle on my wear patterns and perhaps prompt myself to be a bit more creative in the closet.
I started tracking December 1 and my numbers go up to today. So about 3.5 months.
I won't bore you with the details, just the takeaways:
MVP -- my new loafers. 61 wears I wore them as indoor shoes exclusively during the winter, and WOW, did that ever make me happy (as compared to wearing slippers or even my clogs, which are my other indoor shoes -- and which I also wore 23 times).
Takeaway: A current, slip on indoor shoe is key to my work from home style, going forward. This is a really hard brief for me. Slip ons almost never stay on my feet. So it's going to mean careful and devoted shopping. What I know now is that it is worth it. Instead of feeling like I was schlumping around every day, I felt dressed. Brilliant!
I also wore my clunky Blundstones 61 times. These are the boots I wear on my neighbourhood mixed trail and road and sidewalk tromps. I walk every day. I also wear them (in winter) on the bike. So they are gear, pretty much, but so, so important. (I have another collection of the gear worn this season.) For some reason, I kept these in the regular wardrobe collection.
The new white Lagunas were a risk but I have worn them 27 times so far. I think they will pay off.
My Aritzia long puffer got 47 wears. It's my daily go-for-a-walk coat, so that makes sense. Other coats got fewer wears but the lavender coat is coming into its own now, with a number of wears in the past week. Takeaway: A lightweight packable puffer is my friend. I would really love a midi-length one next year.
I wore trousers (7 pair) a total of 54 days. The most worn ones got ten wears or so, the least worn, a wear or two. I tended to wear the newer ones more often.
I wore jeans (7 pair -- 2 of which are new last week, 2 of which I've just retired) a total of 63 times. Wear patterns are similar for these -- I wore newer more often, by and large, than older.
Takeaway: I will wear dressy trousers to work from home more or less as often as jeans, if I own suitable pairs. And I like to alternate.
Knitwear and shirts got far fewer wears each -- I do like variety here and so that doesn't bother me. The most worn items were worn upwards of 10 times; the least worn, a time or two. But most of these are seasons old -- I have certainly garnered (or will amass) 30 wears over their history in my closet.
That's my winter, in a novel! How about you? What were your MVPs this winter, and were there any surprises? Did you learn anything new about your style? Will you make any changes?
