The Insider Issue 5 | Page 40

W BONUS e’ve all been there. The early morning panic of what to wear today, whilst running late and the despair of looking into a jam packed wardrobe but having nothing to wear! If this is you, uniform dressing could help and make you more efficient. But how? When you think about Steve Jobs, you think about black turtle neck jumpers, blue jeans and New Balance trainers. Same with Mark Zuckerberg, who once famously told an interviewer that he owns 20 versions of the same grey t-shirt. But it isn’t just limited to the tech space. Barack Obama owned several versions of the same grey suits (as apparently did Albert Einstein). Why? To pare down their decisions and enable them to focus on tahe important stuff. This uniform approach to dressing has become a lot more mainstream of late with the growth in popularity of capsule wardrobes, but what does uniform dressing look like? And how do you do build one? Here are our 5 easy steps to nailing it; 40 Don’t feel you need to take it to extremes. You don’t need to go out and buy an entire new ward- robe, but you might need to add a couple of new items to your existing one to make it work harder for you. Focus on shapes that work and stick to a colour palette of between 6 to 12 colours to help you mix and match more. Employ the #30wearsrule pioneered by Livia Firth and brought to life by bloggers such as Orla Sheridan (@ orlasheridanstyle). Before you buy anything, particularly higher cost items, always ask yourself, “am I going to wear it a minimum of 30 times?”. If the answer is no. Back it goes! 5 ways uniform dressing can make you calmer Do a closet detox! Get rid of any- thing that doesn’t fit you anymore, is uncomfortable to wear/makes you feel self-conscious, is tatty looking or that you haven’t worn for at least 8 months. Store anything out of season in a box for retrieval at a later stage and for more expensive items that don’t quite fit, get them tailored if you can’t part with them or sell them via apps such as Vestiare Collective, Dressup Market or EBay. Issue 5 • March 2018 • The Insider Build a uniform to fit your life. Focus on what you need to get out of your wardrobe. Are you largely office based? Field based? Home worker? Look at where you spend most of your time and invest in clothes to suit that. No point having a wardrobe full of power suits when you spend most of your time working from home. Balance. Create a balanced closet made up of key pieces (think multiple wears), state- ment pieces to add variety and neutral basics such as a classic white shirt which can easily be dressed up or down. Accent colours can also translate through to your makeup. From a pink nail to a red lip. Don’t forget you can get 25% off Fuschia online through Bonus in the member area. You can invest in basics such as this white shirt from TM Lewin using your 15% online discount code. To find out more you can buy The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees (5% off using your member discount on Kennys.ie) The Body Shop Complimentary facial or makeover in stores nationwide – plus save €5 if you spend €25 or more in store. Follow Orla Sheridan on Instagram to find out more about her #30wears challenge. Issue 5 • March 2018 • The Insider 41