19. A little Arket try on..

The Brands we love create the feelings we are after in our clothes.

I have a real soft spot for Arket & COS.

The boxy masculine shapes feel modern to me and the mostly neutral colour palette is my happy styling place day to day.

The reality is the brands we choose to shop with matter.

My Styling boards show how individual and varied brands can come together to create the look and feeling we are after in an outfit and of course is how everyday outfits come together.

However, if you are feeling a little woozy about how you dress and want a great first step to building a better and clearer picture for yourself, it is good to get confident at choosing within really safe territory by leaning towards a couple of brands that really true to you.

After all, great brands have a style personality of their own that can be identified with.

Getting good at creating great outfits is a bit like going to the gym. You go to the gym and that first time, jeez, you can barely walk but over time, your muscles adjust, you see the goals more clearly and you begin to actually enjoy the work. When we feel bamboozled by the choice of brands and shops, and a little lost with how to sharpen things up for our style, we have to begin somewhere, take it slowly and build our styling muscle again.

I was in London this week and had a little time to have a little play myself in Arket mainly & a little in COS, which are two of my safe and favourite brands. I’ve linked all the items I tried.

Chequered Wool Blend Jacket £189 & Matching Wrap Style Wool Skirt £97. ( love a matching set. The quality of these pieces was great. I really loved).

Arket Relaxed Cotton Blend Jumper in Dark Grey £77. (This is one of the items I purchased. See below. Love the interesting texture & boxy shape).

Arket Mohair Blend Cable Knit Jumper £129. (So soft and lush. Comes in tan also).

Arket Rose Cropped Straight Stretch Jeans £77 (I liked these jeans, they are good on curves but I do find the denim a little too rigid for me personally. But I do like, have a number of clients successfully try and buy these).

Arket Quilted Shawl Collar Jacket £129 (They stocked this last year and I regretted not buying it. It is one of those practical everyday Jackets that feels a little elevated. Funnily enough I still haven’t bought it. I think it’s the colour I’m hesitant about. Would LOVE it in Black).

Arket High Neck Pile Jacket £129 (I had seen this online & wanted to see what it was like (as you can see I’m on the look out for an everyday practical Jacket. I liked but didn’t love. A little rigid when on).

COS Long Sleeve Mock Neck Tee-Shirt £35 (Liked the dark brown colour tone of this. Was a really nice top).

Arket Relaxed Cotton Blend Jumper in S/M £77.

Arket Black Leather Belt in S/M £57. This is actually what I went in to buy but wanted to check out the sizing. Comes in 2 sizes - S/M and M/L. The S/M is generous and is the one I went for. It’s a classic and great quality real leather belt.

Arket Oversized Long sleeve Tee-Shirt in S £29.

Brands make us feel a certain way. A new item is only going to bring that lovely ‘new’ feeling for a bit. Once it’s worn once or twice, then it is a question of how aligned this Brand feels for your style as to how long you will enjoy this item in your wardrobe. For me, if I buy a simple stripey top say in White Stuff, a brand that isn’t really me, then that feeling of alignment and feeling good in the item will only last until the ‘newness’ of the item wears off. Arket as a brand brings with it a feeling of effortlessness, cool, chic, undone…all associations and feelings I want to build for my wardrobe and style. But that’s just me. We are each different and need to work out what feels good.

Other Brands that I Love. Some other brands that bring me the same feeling as Arket are COS, Massimo Dutti, Zara, Weekend Max Mara, Part Two, Samsoe Samsoe, Whistles, Everlane, Dissh, Gerard Darel, Essential Antherwp & Pixie Market. Once you know what you are building, you will find the brand options open up.

We need to acknowledge how we shop & digest fashion has changed. And it massively impacts how confident (or overwhelmed) we can feel when shopping. Thinking about our personal edit of favourite brands is not just helpful, it’s really become essential. No longer do we just wander our high street. Our personal favourites can come from a mix of traditional high-street brands (Zara, Mango, Benneton, Massimo Dutti) boutiques we have easy access too in our nearby towns and cities, smaller niche brands (Thought Clothing, Varley, Asket, Poetry Fashion), higher-end websites that house a host of brands (wishlist brands!) (Net-A Porter, Matches, The Outnet) and brands we will never have access too unless we get confident shopping online (Pixie Market, Wiggy Kit, Studio Wylder).

Buying online will become more successful when you flex your styling muscle in-store too. Although I do mainly shop online now, I do it more confidently giving myself time for in store try-ons to keep connected to the brands I love where I can. There will never be a substitute for browsing in a brand’s store, touching, feeling and trying. The black Jumper I bought in Arket is possibly not a fabric I would have been drawn too online but the moment I saw it in store, it felt modern, unique and still chic.

Being Open when trying within the Brands you Identify with. I think it’s good when doing an in-store try-on to be open to trying on different variations of the item/ shape or style you are looking at. I think Coats is a great one in this regard. You might think you want belted knee length in black but when trying on, that longer line, oversized style might feel better when you actually give it a go.

Watch out this week for some Styling boards coming your way. I have been creating Autumn looks for some clients and will be sharing some of the looks and links this week..

If you enjoyed this post, please do share, it really helps me to grow this lovely community and thanks for reading!

Have a great week and drop any questions into the comments box below. Delighted to help.

Julie x