If you find yourself constantly being late for work or social outings with your crew because you’re always fighting with the contents of your closet—this post’s for you! It is absolutely possible to go to your closet, pull something fashionable out to wear, and be done in less than 15 minutes, but it takes some pre-work. Check it out:

1. First things first, clean out your closet. If you haven’t seen the floor of your wardrobe since the Clinton Administration, you’ve got some work to do. Go here for info on how to sort things out. Remember that fashion is not about how many pieces of clothing you own–it’s about putting together great outfits. And the less you have in your closet, the easier it will be to plan out your outfits.

2. Limit the amount of clothing you buy that has to be ironed to look good. This means button-down shirts, anything made of linen and certain items made out of cotton (unless you pull them out of the dryer and immediately hang them). I am a lazy girl through and through and do not own a single item that needs to be ironed—why? Because I hate to iron…lol. Call it a side effect of wearing a uniform from kindergarten through my senior year in high school and having to iron my uniform daily, but I will not miss ironing my clothes. For my day job I wear a lot of suits. The jackets get dry cleaned while the dress pants are washed in cold water and hung to dry and never need ironing. For the weekends I wear a lot of denim and sweaters in the winter—both of which can be pulled on quickly without ironing.

3. Adopt a uniform. Don’t get scared–after 13 years of wearing a uniform to school do you think I’d actually suggest you wear one? By uniform I mean put together a collection of no-fail outfits. If you’ve been reading this site and following the tips for your body type as well as my advice to buy things you really love and that you can wear a million times, chances are you have several items in your closet that can be worn a zillion different ways. Having a closet that has essential wardrobe basics helps.

4. Let your accessories tell a story. Say all you can muster out of your wardrobe is a pair of well-fitting jeans and a fitted tee. Let your accessories take you from Gap ad to wherever you want. Go punk rock with a spiked bracelet and killer platform boots. Or go boho with a scarf and cute flats. Your options are limitless.

5. Visualize how you want to look first and then go in for the outfit. This is best done either while you’re hitting the snooze button for the umpteenth time in the morning or the night before.

If you’ve got those 5 tips down, you’ll shave time off of getting dressed everyday.

Want a quick and stylish wardrobe addition? Try a chain link necklace!

They look great as statement pieces—just let them be the only statement in your accessories or be prepared to look “busy”. Pick coordinating pieces that are simple and understated.

Check out some options in both gold and silver and in a range of prices:

More Kenneth Jay Lane…

Take a cue from the boys when it comes to fashion inspiration.

(click images to enlarge)

I just love how some menswear styles are put together—love them even more in my wardrobe…lol. If I had my way, everything my daddy wore in the 70s would be my total digs. I wouldn’t need to buy anything else save for some killer platform pumps and loads of eyeliner and bright lipsticks.

To rock the look avoid literal translations of a man’s style from head to toe. Instead take elements like sharp tailoring and structure and add feminine elements throughout.

More Asos…

Photos spotted at The Fashion Bomb and Style.com

Check out this post from The Style and Beauty Doctor vault. Fall is right around the corner—don’t fall into the credit card trap to finance your wardrobe additions.

So we’ve seen the return of luxury dressing at many of the New York Fashion Week shows–leather and fur will have their rightful spots in wardrobes across the world. But how do you pay for this stuff if you don’t exactly excrete currency? Well, with some smart budgeting and wise savings, you can have a fab wardrobe for next fall. Here’s how:

1. Bring Your Own Brown Bag. The days of spending $10 and up for just lunch everyday are OVER. If you aren’t culinary-inclined, google some quick lunch recipes and brown bag it. A trip to the grocery store can afford you enough food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack for a whole week with what you might have paid for just lunch only. What you save needs to be tucked away into a savings account.

2. Open a Special Wardrobe Savings Account. No, I don’t think banks are actually offering “wardrobe” accounts, but you need to have a savings separate from all your other money so you don’t commingle your funds. Many banks offer something called a holiday club where you can put away small amounts of money every week or so and you can’t touch the money until October when they transfer it into your checking account or send you a check. If you store $100/mo from now until October, you’ll have $1,000 to spend on upgrading your wardrobe whether you choose a few big-ticket staples or a bunch of smaller-ticket ones. That’s only $25/week. You can do it!

Also check out online savings accounts (check the bank’s FDIC credibility before you hand over your green) that tend to offer higher yields and make it less likely for you to wipe your account clean at an ATM.

3. Sell Your Back Stock. If you have a closet filled with clothes you never ever wear, jazz them up, grab a camera, and pawn them off on ebay. One girl’s trash is another girl’s new Louis Vuitton bag.

4. Get Your Girls’ Support. You lean on them for everything else, right? Let them support you in your financial goal (and even help keep you in check when you slide).

You can also do a savings club with your girls through a susu. In a susu all parties are required to pay in a certain amount of money over a period of time usually on a weekly basis. Each week one person collects all the money everyone hands in which can amount to a really good sum. Let’s say for instance you and 10 trusted girlfriends decide to do a susu and each of you puts in $200. When it’s your turn to collect, you’ll get $2,000. Yes, you have to basically put in $2,000 to get your $2,000 but if you’re not a savvy saver, this is a great way to start.

Image Source

How do you save? Tell me in the comments!

Here’s the shoes in question:

And while these are pretty unique, there is a lot you can do with them:

More Arden B…

For more outfit ideas, go here.

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If you have a style or beauty question, contact me!