Thursday 20 December 2012

The 10 Item Wardrobe - How French women create a chic and minimalist wardrobe

There are many approaches to creating a chic and minimalist wardrobe and one of my favourites was recently written about by one of my favourite fellow bloggers - Jennifer L Scott  on her blog "The Daily Connoisseur".

Jennifer is from California, USA, and in her early twenties, spent a year living in Paris as a student. She lived with a French family, in their chic apartment in one of the wealthiest parts of Paris - the 16th Arrondissement. Whilst there, she was able  to observe first hand how French people live and has recently published a book based on her observations - "Lessons from Madame Chic - 20 stylish secrets I learned while living in Paris".

One of the 20 secrets that she shares is an insight into how a French woman dresses and the type of clothes that she has in her wardrobe. Madame Chic, the mother of her host family, only had 10 items of clothing in her wardrobe at any one time.  She had a Winter wardrobe and a Summer wardrobe, both consisting of about 10 items.

For anyone looking to reduce their wardrobes and create a chic and minimalist wardrobe, I think the French 10 item wardrobe idea is a great place to start. Below are Jennifers YouTube clips in which she shows us how to create the 10 item wardrobe. She was also interviewed on TV recently and shows how she creates the 10 item wardrobe. I have included that clip too.

I think her idea is great and have adopted this approach myself. I now have 10 items in my wardrobe for everyday wear and find that I have plenty of clothes to wear.  Her idea is perfect if you are a stay at home mother, work from home or are retired.  If you work in an office full time, you could split your wardrobe into 7 items for work and 3 items for the week-end.

I have adapted Jennifers idea slightly and also have a small and separate wardrobe of special occassionwear, which are three complete outfits - an outfit for a summer wedding, a black outfit for a funeral, and an outfit for a party.

Here is the link to Jennifer's TV interview:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/11/14/how-to-live-with-a-10-item-wardrobe-with-tips-from-author-jennifer-l-scott/

Here are Jennifers YouTube Clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK6hQ9HOwJ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9SW_E5qsM

I hope you have enjoyed reading about this approach to creating a minimalist wardrobe.

You may be interested to read my other articles, which are listed on my Home Page