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All of us in the boutique have reached that ‘certain’ age when you’re not really sure what ‘your’ look is these days. If I had a £1 for every person who said they don’t know where they fit anymore – they don’t want to dress like their daughter but they don’t want to look like their mother either, I’d be rich. For years we’ve been happy with how we look and comfortable with our favourite look. Then the dreaded ‘M’ word arrives in to our lives and when we look in the mirror we don’t feel the same about the reflection that’s coming back at us as we used to. There’s the obvious body shape changes, but it’s more than that, we feel like a different person and many of us feel lost. It’s time to move on to the next chapter of your life and embrace a whole new look.

I’ve been asked to help many women who are becoming quite depressed about it all and look at themselves in the mirror having no confidence in what they are wearing.  It doesn’t help that when you go shopping it’s impossible to find that elusive look.  We end up buying bits and pieces from all over and still the perfect wardrobe evades us.  We still look in the wardrobe every day and struggle to know what to wear.  Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone, some of us are born with a style all of our own and instinctively know what to put on to look good.  If that’s you well done!

Since I’ve owned the boutique we’ve mainly concentrated on special occasion wear with a difference but I’ve always wanted to come up with the perfect capsule wardrobe for ‘mature’, but still very much ‘alive’ ladies!  If you don’t know what a capsule wardrobe is then please read on, I assure you it will be a moment of epiphany once you realise how it works.  I liken a capsule wardrobe to having a store cupboard of baking ingredients and each day deciding what cake to bake so I hope you don’t mind me using this as a way of explanation.

So how to start, well you have your base items (flour, sugar, eggs, butter) or in this case jackets, trousers, jeans, dresses and skirts.  Next pick 3 colours for the base items (if you want to know which are best for you read my blog on colours).  Black, grey, navy, olive green, white, brown or burgundy are all good colours.  These colours tend to appear in the shops year after year so it’s easy to add to your base items should you need to.  Look for well fitting, well-made items in a good fabric.  These need to last you for a while.

Next it’s time to turn the cake in to something special!  Add whatever you want, cherries, nuts, frosting, hundreds and thousands!  Seriously, now’s the time to pick the rest of your wardrobe that will go with your base items.  Consider your base colours and decide what colours will complement these.  Use these colours to buy tops, jumpers, shirts, that will look amazing with your base items.  Add scarves and jewellery & accessories to pull the whole look together and add a modern up to date look.  Remember to layer up for the cooler months so have a selection of shorter and longer tops for wearing underneath.

Last year we were lucky enough to find a designer who has created the perfect capsule wardrobe for those of us who still want to look trendy but mature and sophisticated as well.  Welcome to NAYA!  Their capsule wardrobe is built around a few key base items and then their stunning tops, jackets, pullovers and shirts complement everything.  The look can be dressed up or down depending on where you’re going.  So if you want to see what should be in your perfect capsule wardrobe check out this collection for ideas.  Happy shopping!