Founder of A Well-Rounded Wardrobe

A Little Bit About Me

I love any excuse for getting dressed up, but I also believe there’s not much better than slipping into my favorite comfy clothes and curling up with a good book and a cup of hot tea or coffee.

My secondhand Prada pumps are some of my favorite shoes, but I look forward with pleasure to wearing my old, well-loved Timberland work boots every fall/winter and they are probably my most-worn pair of shoes.

I love the thrill of finding the perfect secondhand or vintage item and my beloved vintage Dior wool coat will always be one of my favorite finds.

My favorite style icon, hands down, is Audrey Hepburn – I don’t know that there will ever be her equal for grace, elegance, and sophistication, and I will forever be obsessed with her.

The Story Behind A Well-Rounded Wardrobe

I think my love of style started when I was very young, watching movies from “the golden era” of Hollywood… you know, the movies with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Katherine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Vivien Leigh, and so many more.

Even now, as an adult, their films are the ones I rewatch the most and I just cannot get enough of the style that epitomized those movies. There’s just something about women’s style from that era that seemed so effortlessly glamorous, so timeless, classic, sophisticated, and feminine.

I mean, could there be anything better than every single outfit worn by Grace Kelly in the film To Catch a Thief? Or Katherine Hepburn as Stacy Lord in The Philadelphia Story? Or Audrey Hepburn’s countless iconic style moments from films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sabrina, Funny Face, and Roman Holiday?

Movies like these have been a source of style inspiration for years and have given me a love for wearing feminine dresses, blazers with peak lapels, perfectly tailored trousers, and classic trench coats.

However, as much as I love those styles and types of clothes, I really made a mistake when I tried to model my style and my wardrobe solely on those types of items without taking into consideration that my day-to-day activities required something much different. For several years, I purchased so many things with a fixed idea in my mind of what my style “should” be and what it “should” look like, and then tried to mold myself around what was in my wardrobe, rather than the other way around.

In addition to being influenced by films from the ‘40’s and ‘50’s, I watched so many style videos from online content creators and read so many style books that told me how to create the perfect wardrobe, which pieces to buy that were going to completely transform the way I dressed, which pieces to avoid, what colors to wear, what colors to avoid, why capsule wardrobes were the best/only way to go, why you shouldn’t limit yourself to a capsule wardrobe…you get the idea! Information overload!

I realized that I was trying to listen to and apply all of it, all at once, even though some of it was completely contradictory, and it left me feeling overwhelmed and dissatisfied with what I had (sound familiar?). I decided there had to be a different, better way. I wanted a wardrobe that was full of items that made sense for me and my lifestyle, items that I would wear on repeat, and items that would last for years and years.

So, I started over, and began researching and learning what makes a high-quality garment, why fabric content is important, how to avoid impulse purchases, and a number of other things that really changed my approach to creating a wardrobe that reflected my personal style and worked for my lifestyle. I started eliminating items from my wardrobe that I knew I would never wear and began to slowly, with intention, add new items that could be worn and styled multiple different ways with multiple outfits.

I began to value quality over quantity and learned that not every single piece has to be a “wow” piece. I was honest with myself about the items that made the most sense for my lifestyle and, rather than continuing to purchase one-time-wear items, I started investing in items that I knew I would wear over and over.

Now, several years after changing my approach, I have learned and embraced what my personal style really is, and I’ve created a versatile, practical, functional wardrobe that includes items that work for every facet of my life.

It is a well-rounded wardrobe that balances beautiful, special items with practical, functional items that make sense for my everyday life. The variety in my wardrobe almost amuses me — it ranges from Prada pumps and feminine dresses to Timberland work boots and paint/grease-stained overalls. And yes, I wear all of those pieces regularly — just not all at the same time!

There are definitely parts of my wardrobe that are still a work in progress — there are always new things to learn, new ways to style an old piece to make it feel new — but I feel like I’ve come such a long way from where I started and have discovered so much along the way.

Getting to this point has taken a lot of trial and error… there have been a lot of lessons learned and mistakes made. Despite having access to more style information than I could ever possibly use, so much of it felt conflicting, confusing, or even irrelevant to my lifestyle. And so many of the women that I know and have talked to about this have felt exactly the same way.

Which is why I decided to create A Well-Rounded Wardrobe — this is a space where I combine all of the information I’ve absorbed and all of the lessons I’ve learned over the last decade into a resource for women who, like me, have been left feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or confused by the amount of information available to them and want an easier route, a shortcut to creating a great wardrobe without a lengthy trial-and-error process.

This space is for anyone who wants to understand what makes a great wardrobe, wants to create a wardrobe that works for them and their lifestyle, or wants to make the most out of their wardrobe, regardless of their personal style preferences or where they’re at in their style journey.

If you want to learn more about how to create your own version of a versatile, practical, functional wardrobe, check out my digital audio course, Creating A Well-Rounded Wardrobe.

If you’d like to stay connected and have well-rounded wardrobe content sent straight to your inbox, you can subscribe here. You can also follow me on Pinterest where I post weekly tips on style, shopping, wardrobe decluttering, and so much more.

I hope that by browsing through my writings or exploring my resources, you find the answers to all of your wardrobe questions and gain the confidence to create your own version of a well-rounded wardrobe.

Amber