After the holiday season, I’m sure many of us got some things crossed off our fashion wishlist. Or, if you are like me, you wait in anticipation to use your compilation of Christmas gift cards to take advantage of the off-season sales that begin to flood the malls.
While receiving gifts can allow you to stock your new year’s closet, I like to use this time of year to give the gift of less clutter to the person who needs it most — myself.
Taking the saying “new year, new me” quite literally, I try my best to cleanse my fashion palette and do some strategic self-planning to trend-spot my wardrobe for the following seasons.
Shopping editor, Remy Farrell, writes for Who What Wear, “After years of working in fashion, I’ve realized that the key to shopping timelessly is a mix of core neutrals, seasonal fabrications and nods to trends… a well-balanced wardrobe will contain versatile basics — say, cosy knits for winter and cooling cottons for summer — and of course, the buzzy, trending pieces that we see on the runways and in street style.”
Intending to fulfill some sense of balance and feel less buried amongst my clothes, here are a few fashion essentials for 2024 to keep in mind when doing some spontaneous post-holiday cleaning.
- Always a need for “The Classics”
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Don’t underestimate the value of basics.
Nothing beats your go-to jeans and simple white button-up. Substack contributor Emilia Petrarca, who writes under the user ShopRat, told Glamour, “It’s just too expensive to take risks on pieces that you might not like five, ten years down the line. Timeless pieces are perhaps a better investment.”
Unlike last year’s Y2K pop-princess versus quiet luxury debate, designers this year are opting for simple design and creative fit on the runway. 2024 runways suggest simplicity in design and creativity in fit, which may be smart additions to your new year. We can pull examples from the new and improved Tom Ford-esque Gucci Spring/Summer 2024 collection or the most recent The Row Ready-to-Wear collection.
“Someone who dresses in a very simplistic and chic manner, such as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, will continue to be a big inspiration. I also think that restraint will become more and more alluring,” wrote another Substack writer, Jenny Walton, better known by her online name Jenny Sais Quoi.
This is not to say that we should tailor ourselves to a year-round wardrobe of neutrals and joyless minimalism, but rather, find some future-focused, elevated basics that can keep your style as timeless as possible.
- Boots that last a lifetime
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Shoes are typically my weakness each year. While I tend to get overwhelmed with countless styles and new collections, I am always happy to find something versatile enough to wear all four seasons.
With the release of the viral Miu Miu moto boots in 2023, if a biker boot is in your closet already, you’re in luck, as it’s one of the most predicted trends of the new year. And if you haven’t got a pair, go out and get some.
As I absolutely despise my clunky winter boots, I am so happy to now have flattering shoe silhouettes as options to keep my toes dry, legs warm, and me on trend.
- super chic flats
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Forget wearing heels to the club. Look for flats to keep your feet comfy and fashionable while you drink, dance, and on your expedition back home at the end of the night.
Aside from the Adidas Sambas — that I have yet to find available in my size — I am here to wear my dainty ballerina flats out on the town!
The ugly, not ugly, politics of UGG boots may sway people’s opinions on where it’s appropriate to wear the slipper-like shoes. However, as a fellow Canadian writing this, I understand that sometimes the weather doesn’t allow for your ideal shoe choices. Simple solution: choose your UGGS. I can’t think of anything better than having pillowy fur-filled shoes to keep me cozy.
If I’m feeling a little fancy, I plan on slightly expanding my shoe addiction to include some versatile kitten heels that can provide a little height without making me walk barefoot up my driveway from the Uber.
- the party dress
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While I usually prefer to hibernate in my room most winter nights, on the occasion when I do have plans, I want to push myself in the new year to dress to impress and not throw on the same all-black outfit I wore every night out in 2023.
Knowing myself, I will most likely still choose all-black, but my goal is to elevate it slightly by finding an interesting design or fit that gives me that little bit of change I need — taking inspiration from recent collections from the David Koma Pre-Fall Show, Alaia 2024 Ready-to-Wear or Simone Rocha for Gaultier Haute Couture 2024.
- A Pop of colour for some funsies
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I have made it a personal goal for 2024 to start having more fun with clothes, and hopefully, a little pop of colour will inspire me to put on a cute outfit in the dark and dreary winter weather (which seems to last a full six months in Toronto).
According to trend predictors, that being my FYP on TikTok, red increasingly seems to be the colour of the year. From cardigans to tights to nail polish, adding a bright colour like red can give an extra edge to your style without being too overwhelming.