I've Taken Stock Of My Life (Sartorially Speaking)
Trans-seasonal outfit ideas, high-street versions of designer 'It' pieces, and the merits of a good wardrobe tidy.
Things on my mind this month - Slim Aarons inspired outdoor spaces, the Chloé jelly shoes I predict will be the It-shoe of the summer (and some affordable alts I’ve unearthed), some cool new independent brands, and a pink and white dress that could - nay, should - be Prada SS23 but is in fact… a high street find.
Greetings Spendthrifts,
I’m currently feeling very at peace.
Why are you feeling so at peace Otegha? I hear you cry, voices trembling. Well, I’ll tell you, my darling readers.
I am feeling at peace because… I sacrificed a good chunk of the long Easter weekend in service of finally doing something I’d been putting off for months (and indeed, what else is Easter for besides tackling long overdue household chores… celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?? Don’t be so Christian).
Friends, I carried out what I’ve literally just this second decided to call a Big Wardrobe Stock Take, taking every single thing out of my wardrobe so that I could re-organise it entirely. Yes, you’ve read that right - I spent a substantial part of the Easter holiday tidying.
Was it helpful that 50% of my clothes were already strewn around my flat? Oh absolutely! It was less a case of taking things out of my wardrobe, more picking them up off the floor and putting them back in it. Until the day I have the perfect walk-in wardrobe (or indeed any wardrobe - a friend has compared my search for a joiner both able, and most importantly WILLING to execute my curved wardrobe vision as ‘my Brutalist’), my ‘wardrobe’ currently consists of an industrial-strength hanging rail in my bedroom, two cupboards in the hallway, a few drawers under my bed and several boxes of miscellaneous ‘spillover’ dotted around the house. Oh, and also my shoe-drobe, which I love and is perfectly organised, but which only houses about half my shoes.
What this means is that I can’t actually see more than about 20% of my wardrobe at one time, which makes it hard to remember what I actually own, and harder still to put together outfits. As a result I find I often default to wearing the same pair of jeans and about three different tops on rotation for weeks on end, before I inevitably get bored of that combo (or let’s face it, things start to smell a bit) and dig around in my wardrobe for a new combo to carry me through the next couple of weeks.
To be clear, this was categorically not a cull, the benefits of which I have written about before - if I did another wardrobe cull so soon after the last one there’d literally be nothing left. No, the primary reason for doing this was to remind myself of what I actually own.
Especially now with the seasons changing, I realised I desperately needed to reacquaint myself with the options available to me, so I took the process extremely seriously. My rails are now categorised by item (long may that last..) c/o of some cheap rail dividers I bought online, and I also made a pile of things that need to be drycleaned or repaired (as well as a section of clothes that are a little more snug than they were last summer, but which I’m not yet ready to give up on - I put those to one side so I don’t factor them in when deciding what to wear).
I’m hoping this stock take makes getting dressed in the coming months easier - and if nothing else, it was a useful exercise to undertake before I buy anything new for spring/summer. I’m constantly on the verge of buying things before remembering I already own something identical, or that would at least work as a good substitute.
Still, there are plenty of spring pieces I’ve got my eye on right now, so this month is a big ole fashion-y dump - lots of transseasonal outfit inspo, some affordable high street alternatives for some of this summer’s ‘It pieces’, and a few independent brands I’ve recently discovered and love. I’m also looking at holiday wear as I’m determined to avoid my usual pre-holiday routine of running around like a headless chicken the day before I travel, trying to expedite delivery on things I should’ve ordered weeks ago.
Speaking of holidays, I was recently introduced to an app I’ve since become utterly obsessed with, using it to scout out cool spots I’d like to visit both at home and abroad, as well as slowly logging everywhere I’ve ever been (and liked), from London to Paris via New York and Marrakesh.
AmiGo is my new go-to for trusted travel reccs and insider tips - the best way I can describe it is by saying “imagine if Instagram were designed solely for finding (and sharing) travel recommendations” - that’s AmiGo.
I think one of the reasons the app is so useful is because it’s selective. Right now it’s invite-only (although you can skip the waitlist with my code OTEGHA) which means you get curated, discerning personal recommendations from people with great taste - photographers, artists, stylists, me😁 - instead of random strangers on TripAdvisor. Lots of my favourite IG fashion follows (e.g.
, , and Julia Sarr-Jamois to name just a few) already have profiles on the app.So - no more writing down travel recommendations in the Notes app, or taking screenshots that will inevitably be lost to the annals of time. AmiGo is 100% going to change the way you travel and help you discover new spots in your own city - prepare to be as obsessed with it as I am.
#amigopartner - I worked with AmiGo on a paid Instagram partnership but I love the app enough (and think you will too!) to feature it here as well.
BTW - if you know you’re attending a wedding this summer, NOW is the time to plan your look to avoid a last minute outfit panic. I shared some advice with How To Spend It vis-à-vis my approach to summer wedding outfits, and the brands I rely on to see me through wedding season).
THE SHOPPIES
Some transeasonal outfit ideas from my Saved folder:
Because if you leave the house without a jumper you’ll freeze to death on your way home, but if you wear one during the day, you’ll sweat through your clothes on the Central line. The solution? Knot an oversized jumper around your shoulders - I love the way Telesha Anderson has tied hers here.
I’ve been meaning to buy a pair of camo trousers for, ooh I’d say the past decade now, and yet somehow just never get round to it, but if there’s one person who can motivate me, it’s Rihanna.
I screenshotted this from
’s Instagram because I thought it was such a good styling trick for making boat shoes a little more ~interesting, right down to the specific shade of blue she chose.
Really into these Trigg shorts, though a pair of regular cycling shorts will do just fine.
A perfect take on one of Carrie Bradshaw’s most iconic looks c/o
.
Love a pair of racer shorts for summer - the grey SC103 pair in the photo above are available in navy too (also shout out to Maimoun’s exquisite curation, it’s one of my favourite e-tailers for discovering under the radar brands and where-did-you-get-that pieces). I’d wear this look with a heavy trench or leather bomber until the temps hit the 20s.
Okay this isn’t so much a transseasonal look as a straight up holiday one but something about this look from the new Burbs summer campaign really grabbed me - maybe it’s the Rosie Huntington Whiteley of it all. Regardless, I am now jonesing after a Burberry check bikini to layer under a tank top on the beach this summer. Here’s said bikini + the matching briefs (I think the lichen colourway is a bit more refined than the traditional Burberry tan but do you), and those excellent swimming goggle-esque sunnies, which I feel are key to the look.
What’s in my basket for Spring:
Paid subscribers will recall that in my February newsletter I declared my intention to make this summer ‘the summer of the pedal pusher’, and promised to road test these Swedish Stocking capri leggings the second temperatures allowed (verdict: a great inexpensive option if you’re after a stretchier, more forgiving material).
That said wearing them made me realise that for me personally, my preferred version of the Capri pant/pedal pusher trend is a little shorter - above rather than below the knee, which probably means they’re technically not even Capris. That realisation came courtesy of the Tibi SS25 runway look below - an elongated short (or cropped Capri… is that even a thing?) feels a little fresher and more fashion-y to me right now.
In fact, everything Tibi is doing this season feels so fresh and exactly how I want to dress day to day. It is my greatest frustration and a cause of deep spiritual malaise that Tibi isn’t more widely stocked in the UK (though Farfetch and The Outnet both carry select pieces) - I am convinced my entire wardrobe, nay, life would improve if it were.
I’ve waxed lyrical about my love of their founder and creative director Amy Smilovic’s
approach to personal style countless times in this newsletter, but looking at their latest collection it occurred to me that part of what makes the brand so wearable is both the styling (their e-commerce photos always give me new ideas on how to style my existing wardrobe) and their unusual colour pairings. Unsurprisingly, Amy now has a Vogue column called Colour Math, in which she shares unexpected yet approachable ways to style a trending colour through her signature mix-and-match lens - this month it’s butter yellow.
