The Everyday Icon Style Podcast

Episode 157: Essential Wardrobe Tips for a Confident Professional Image

• Tiffany Howard

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Editing your wardrobe is the secret to unlocking a style that truly represents your personal brand. Imagine opening your closet every morning to a harmonious boutique that brings you peace and joy. I'll reveal why a streamlined wardrobe is essential for clarity and focus in your corporate life. We discuss how eliminating the clutter helps you see what you have at a glance, making it easier to mix and match outfits while identifying key pieces that might be missing.

We also explore the concept of a core wardrobe, which serves as the backbone of your personal style. By focusing on essential items that truly represent you, and build a strong foundation that supports a cohesive and harmonious look.  

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Speaker 1:

Ignite your style with the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. I'm Tiffany, your style navigator and confidant here to lead women in corporate America on the quest to discover their timeless style. Let's revolutionize your wardrobe, empower your confidence and embrace your inner icon. Are you ready to redefine your corporate chic? Then let's get started. Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by your wardrobe? I've got just the thing for you. Download my free guide Stylish, organized Wardrobe Made Easy and discover 10 simple steps to declutter, identify key pieces and create a style that's uniquely yours. Head to the description box of this episode to grab your copy to start your journey towards a more stylish, elevated and organized you.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to curating a corporate style that is authentic and aligns with your personal brand, the first and foremost step is editing your wardrobe. Now, many of you might wonder why is this so critical? I got you so. Today, we're going to explore three major reasons why this step cannot and should not be overlooked, and how it will set the foundation for your style development. If you're new here, hi, my name is Tiffany and I am the host of the Everyday Icon Style Podcast, and I am a big believer in that. Your closet is the key to developing your style. So that's why, for me, editing your wardrobe is crucial and should not be and will not ever be overlooked when you're dealing with me. So let's dive right on in today.

Speaker 1:

First up, it's clarity and focused. The first reason why editing your wardrobe is essential is that it brings clarity and focus. I want you to think about it this way Our wardrobes often become cluttered with pieces that don't often fit, aren't suitable for work or simply don't align with our current style goals or our professional goals. So by taking the time to edit, you're essentially clearing out the noise so that you're left with, I like to say, the nice melody, the nice music. So a streamlined wardrobe. It will allow you to see what you have at a glance, make it easier to mix and match outfits. This clarity helps in identifying gaps that need to be filled to ensure that every piece in your wardrobe serves a purpose and contributes to your overall style vision. Especially in a corporate world where time is precious and we don't have time all the time, having a focused wardrobe means you spend less time deciding what to wear and more time on what really matters, and that's your work, as always. So, with creating clarity and focus, it takes out the noise and it leaves the music. And I think Oprah put it best when she was talking about how, when you open the door to your home, your home should rise and greet you. Same is true for your closet. When you open your closet in the morning, it should give you peace and it should rise to greet you in such a way that you enjoy getting dressed in the morning and it's not stressful. When getting dressed and not just in the morning, but just in general and anytime it should be something that you begin to enjoy. Think of it as being your own boutique that you get to shop in every single day and you want to make it as harmonious and cohesive as possible.

Speaker 1:

Number two building a strong foundation. While editing your wardrobe is critical, it helps in building a strong foundation. So a well-edited wardrobe is like the backbone of your corporate style or of your style period. So by keeping only the essentials that truly represent your personal brand, you create a solid foundation upon which you can build and evolve your style. This is where your core wardrobe comes in. This is your solid foundation that you need to build, and in this core wardrobe you're able to mix and match things with ease. It's streamlined. You have everything from a color palette to the different types of silhouettes and styles of, whether it's t-shirts or blouses, trousers, skirt, whatever you want that kind of mix and match to be, because you get to create it. You're able then to build the rest of what I like to call the style pyramid, which would be, of course, having your capsule wardrobe, which is about 15%, and then, at the very tops, another 15% would be your trendy pieces. If you don't have a strong, solid foundation, it's always going to fall, it's always going to fail and you'll always be on this hamster wheel of trying to create a style. Your core wardrobe will always always have you, not how do I want to explain it? It will always have you, not. It will always have you dressed. It will always have you going in, having the items that you need and you're not flustered and worried about what the hell am I going to wear today? You won't necessarily even have to plan out your outfits for the week per se. However, having a strong foundation you're able to build upon and even if there are cracks in it, you can just patch them and keep on going. So I hope that kind of made sense, but maybe this part will.

Speaker 1:

So with the foundational pieces, they are classic, they're versatile and they're items that can be dressed up or down and it's going to depend on the occasion. You want to think of them like your tailored blazers. You want to think of them as, say, if you have your good pair of jeans, you want to think of them as your staple pieces, but not necessarily your staple pieces. So, if you like, I'll use this as an example. So I like the really lightweight knit sweaters that would be part of my foundation, but then as a like the crisp blazer, that would be more so in my capsule portion, the blazers would be part of my foundation. So the really nice knits, lightweight knit sweaters and blazers would be part of my foundation. But then things like the not graphic tee, but say, like your crisp white shirts, that would be more so part of, or even like a black pant, that would be more so part of, or even like a black pant, that would be more so part of the capsule portion. But at least with the foundation you will always literally have something to wear and I want you to remember a strong foundation in your wardrobe translates to a strong foundation in your professional image. So once you have the foundation down pat, everything else will just be icing on the cake.

Speaker 1:

Next, it's enhancing confidence and efficiency, and I talked about this in last week's episode as well. Editing your wardrobe is a must, because it enhances both your confidence and efficiency. There is a psychological aspect of dressing well that's often well. It's always I'll say always overlooked. I'll say always overlooked. When you know that every item in your wardrobe fits well, looks good and aligns with your personal style and image and brand, it will boost your confidence.

Speaker 1:

And confidence is key in the corporate world, because how many people do we know that don't know what they're talking about, but they have this confidence about them. It's because of how they're dressed. Most cases, it's how they're dressed. Most cases, it's how they're dressed. It gives them that extra confidence. That is what we need to do as well, but the only difference is is that when we're speaking, we're able to speak with authority of how and what we know, and we're confident in that. So sometimes we know what we know, which which is correct and right, but we may not have the confidence to always speak up. But dressing and being authentic and aligning with your personal brand may help you with that being able to speak up and present what you have to say in such a way that they're going to be like oh, I think we need to listen to a little more of what she has to say that comes with confidence. So, when you see people even when people knowing what they talk about all of that boils down to is confidence you can actually find confidence in with what you wear, because it's going to make you feel comfortable, because it is an extension of who you are.

Speaker 1:

Furthermore, an edited wardrobe makes your daily routine actually more efficient as well. So imagine having a closet where every piece works together seamlessly so you're able to go in and shop your closet every single morning, which will reduce the time and stress associated with getting dressed in the morning and we all know this you may get up at the last minute and you're like what the hell am I going to wear today? And you're standing there for like 10 or 15 minutes because you can't see everything. You're trying to think to yourself where's that purple top at? Where are those pants at? Because you don't know. You want to be efficient, so it will help you and allow you to be able to see everything that you have and you'll be able to just go grab and pull what you need without having to think as much. Because when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you perform better. And it's simple yet powerful equation, because the most underutilized tool that we have is how we dress, and if we incorporate that with our knowledge and our credentials, that is a powerful combination. So, with these three compelling reasons on why editing your closet is crucial in the first step of developing an iconic corporate style, it will help by bringing clarity and focus, building a strong foundation and enhancing your confidence and efficiency. This step will set you up for success, both in your personal and your professional life both in your personal and your professional life.

Speaker 1:

So I hope you enjoyed today's episode of the Everyday Icon Style Podcast and I hope you learned something new today. If you did, or you know someone who would benefit from hearing this episode, please share it with them. And also, if you enjoyed it, please also leave a review as well, and don't forget to subscribe. And if you are looking for a way to help create your organized and stylish closet, I have something for you. In the description box below, I have my 10 simple steps to creating a stylish and organized closet that will help you get ready and help you build the closet that you deserve and desire. So, with all of that being said, I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day, stay healthy, stay safe, and I will talk to you guys next week in the next episode.