As a student of life, I’m on a continuous search to improve my technique. I love to explore how others do my job: it reinforces what I already implement and gives me insights from another professionals’ perspective. Meg Biram has a thriving business in DC as a blogger, photo stylist, writer, and creative collaborator. She’s been working on a book, The Life Edit, which has just been released in electronic form and physical form. It’s part workbook and part self-analysis. Meg instructs you to do some homework in order to define your style, and then lays out a five-step process to overhaul your wardrobe. Hers is a very thorough ‘self-help’ approach to eliminating the clutter out of your closet.
Many of Meg’s tips are familiar to my own process. When every list you read about closets talks about hangers, there’s a reason. Buy new hangers! I use the “Huggable Hangers” from the Container Store. Not only do the clothes stay put, but it sets the stage for order and consistency. I also like to have clients do a bit of self-analysis so they are in touch with how they dress. The Life Edit has some great questions to guide you through what you use and feel best in, which then sets the bar for all future purchases. To ensure you don’t deviate from your goals, Meg has outlined some tactics to keep you from making poor decisions. My tried and true technique is “the walk away.” Leaving a piece on the rack allows you to be more thoughtful and less impulsive.
One startling image I have is what Meg shared about her own wardrobe: she would rather have 10 items she loves than 30 that are fine. Thankfully I have made The Life Edit purchase and will be ‘self-helping’ my way to a lighter collection this winter (stay tuned as that may be a fun future post!). She’s right – fewer pieces allow for clarity of mind and room for more meaningful moments in your life. Her closet ideal is one where all of the clothing fits, the colors all enhance, you love every item and the hangers match!
Another take away I will share that I use with my own clients is finding your style muse. Meg suggests utilizing Pinterest to identify the women whose style you admire and feel you can emulate. There is a step-by-step process that shows you how to set up a variety of boards that can then become places where you “hold” ideas for the pieces you are looking for, and then check this against what you feel drawn to buy. Would your style muse purchase this item? How would she wear it? Staying within the boundaries of what needs to be replaced or is missing from your wardrobe will keep you from purchasing trendy items that are on sale or “a great deal.” Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. All of those “affordable” pieces add up.
Where The Life Edit really resonates for me is in a philosophy of choices. We all have free will to invite what we want into our lives…friends, ideas, places we live. These choices define us and what we don’t like or value may change over time. It’s up to us to take a moment and reevaluate occasionally to make sure we are on the path that feeds our soul. Now the best part…Meg has given Alexandria Stylebook readers a limited time 15 percent discount on The Life Edit. Just enter the discount code STYLEBOOK15 at checkout for either the electronic or physical edition of this valuable resource.
What’s more, I’ve now been prompted to choose another book that Meg referenced and quotes in her forward, The Rhythm of Life, by Matthew Kelly.
"Everything is a choice. It’s a hard lesson, because it causes us to realize that we have chosen the life we are living right now. It is perhaps frightening for us to think that we have chosen to live our life exactly as it is today. Frightening because we may not like what we find when we look at our lives today. But it is also liberating, because we can now begin to choose what we will find when we look at our life in the tomorrow that lie unlived before us."
How’s that for starting the week strong? #MotivationalMonday