Around this time of year, work gets a little overwhelming and the first thing I lose is my sense of fashion. Last year during this same season, after my work had been packed away for the day, I’d look over my appearance in the mirror and be puzzled. How could someone who shops so much look so disheveled? How many times could I wear the same too-casual corduroy pants to work in one week without feeling any sense of shame?
This year I came up with a plan of attack. Every time I sit down with a magazine, I have scissors in hand. When I find a look I like, I snip it out and add it to a little look book. My look book is a 4×6 slip-in photo album flip book. I slip the cutout from the magazine into the book and have it by my closet. The cutouts are fairly small, so I can usually fit one to three looks in a page. I typically lay out my outfits the night before, and when I’m feeling a little brain dead or indecisive, I grab the look book and try to recreate a look I admire.
My look book has become my fashion coach. Since I’m trying to replicate the looks, I’m noticing the shapes of the clothes, the lengths, and the pairings. Shopping is less haphazard. I am less afraid to try newer trends. Rather than going to the sunglasses and looking at them as compared with one another, I’m thinking of them within a larger context, as a piece of a larger look or as a part of a movement or trend.
I guess you could say my look book is my personal stylist.
