Fashion Math

I’m not really a math person. As a left-brained creative type, reading, spelling, and language have always been my favorite subjects. However, due to my anal-retentive control freak tendencies and a maniacal need for organization, I do appreciate formulas–as long as they don’t involve numbers.

This translates to my wardrobe accordingly: I like coming up with easy-to-understand combinations–recipes, if you will–for putting clothes together. For instance, trousers + fitted tee + blazer, or this pencil skirt + print blouse + cardigan + boots combo. It makes it simple to get dressed, but still leaves room to have fun with accessories (woo-hoo!) for interest.

Fashion Math really comes in handy when I’m deciding what to wear to work in the morning, especially since mai brane duz not wurk rite before 9am. Today’s equation was inspired by BOY by Band of Outsiders, and is really easy to pull off:

As with real equations, you can use different variables and get the same answer–in this case, the answer is looking good! Another plus (get it? Plus?) is that you probably already have most of these items in your closet, and if not, it’s easy to find inexpensive substitutes:

Left column: Shirt, American Apparel; Blazer, Urban Outfitters; Chinos, J. Crew; Shoes, Net-a-Porter Middle column: Shirt, Old Navy; Blazer, Pixie Market; Chinos, Bluefly; Heels, Steve Madden Right column: Shirt La Garconne; Blazer, asos; Chinos, Urban Outfitters; Heels, Zappos

How do you get dressed? Do you have a process or do you just throw caution to the wind every day?