Utilizing Pinterest to Choose Outfits and WIWW Linkup

I will be linking up to The Pleated Poppy today with my weekly outfits, but I am also going to tell you how I have been using Pinterest to help me come up with new outfit combinations from my own closet. It is no secret that I love fashion. But at the same time, we live on a fairly tight budget. In the past year or so, I have been rethinking my wardrobe. I have A LOT of clothes! And I mean A LOT! But I have been trying not to buy as much as I used to, and instead to use what I already own to make fresh and stylish outfit combinations. I have also been trying to spend my money on more basics that I know I can wear with several different things.

Some people might not know this, but I keep most of my clothing for a very long time. People often tell me that I never wear the same thing twice. But I am just fooling them. I actually keep my clothes for a long time, and I wear them several times. But the one thing I try not to do is to wear the exact same outfit combination over and over again. Therefore, since I am mixing and matching items in my closet, it appears that I don’t wear the same thing twice, when in actuality, that is very far from the truth. I try to buy good quality clothes, but not spend a lot on them. I usually purge my closet twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. But since we have moved into this house, I have purged way more than I ever have. I have decided that I just don’t need as many clothes as I used to think I needed.

I am also addicted to Pinterest, and I have been using Pinterest on a regular basis to help me come up with interesting and fresh ideas for outfit combinations. I use Pinterest on a daily basis to help me decide what to wear. Strange much? Well, I promise you, if you want to mix things up in your wardrobe, use these tips and you will be addicted just the way I am! So here is the plan, I am going to show you my outfits for this past week, and in between pictures, I am going to give you my Pinteresting tips for utilizing Pinterest to help you get dressed.

I have had a board on Pinterest titled Fashionista’s for as long as I have been on Pinterest, and I still do, but until recently, I still wasn’t utilizing Pinterest to the best of my wardrobe ability. I was pinning everything I liked onto that board. But some of what I pinned were things that I liked, but unfortunately, I did not necessarily own anything even similar.

I decided I needed a new approach. I created a Board titled Outfits I Can Recreate, and I only pin things to that board if I know I own the things to recreate that outfit, or an outfit inspired by that pin. Make sense? The outfit above with the cream skirt was inspired by this pin.

Creating that Outfits I can Recreate Board was a changing point for me in how I utilize Pinterest. I started using that board to dress myself pretty much all of the time. It completely changed the way I pick out my outfits! Exciting stuff, right? Well, for a girl like me who has thoughtfully picked out outfits to wear ever since I was a child, it was life changing!

The above outfit was inspired by this pin. It is not the exact same thing, but can you see how the pin inspired my outfit? And the green cardigan? I bought it at a thrift store for $4! I love it too!

So, I had purchased this green cardigan at a thrift store and washed it so I could wear it. I needed some interesting ideas for how I could wear it. I turned to Pinterest. I clicked on search and typed in “green cardigan outfits”. And I got a plethora of different pictures of how other lovely ladies had styled their green cardigans. Genius? I think so!

The above outfit is a summery shirt and I layered a lightweight sweater underneath it. It has some turquoise running through it, so I threw on a scarf to bring out that color.

The above outfit was inspired by this pin. And just in case you were wondering, I bought these cute blue leggings at KMart. They are jeggings, I think. They have the look of denim, but aren’t denim at all. This was my first time wearing them and I AM HOOKED!

I don’t know about you, but most of the time I access Pinterest from my iPhone, and here is another useful tidbit for you. If you see a pin you like, and you click on it, it gets bigger and fills your screen. Next, take your finger and place it on that picture and move your finger up the screen. A small message will appear that says “pull up to see related pins”. So if you see an outfit you like, you can pull up on that pin and see other outfits similar to it! Double genius? Um, yeah!

The above picture is Miss 17 Year Old and our Swedish daughter. They both had to get dressed up on Sunday evening for different functions so I snapped a photo of them together. Two good looking girls, don’t ya think?

Basically, this is how I have been using Pinterest to choose my outfits lately. And I am serious when I tell you it has completely changed the way I choose outfits!

I still use my Fashionistas board to Pin things I love but don’t own, or things I would like to add to my wardrobe, or just dreamy clothing. But the first thing I did was to go through that board and repin all of the things that I thought I could recreate, to my new board called Outfits I can Recreate.

If I notice that I have pinned several similar item to my Fashionistas Board, then it might be time to consider purchasing that item, or something similar. For example, I have noticed that I keep pinning yellow cardigans. So since I seem drawn to them, I am sure I would use it a lot. I will keep my eye out for one when I am out and about. This red skirt outfit was inspired by this pin.

Another thing I do for outfit inspiration is to scour The Pleated Poppy’s WIWW Link up, and if I see something that I like, I leave a nice comment for that person on their blog, and then I pin the outfit I like to one of my boards.

If you are tired of trying to figure out what you are going to wear every day to look pulled together and stylish, give some of these tips a try. I think you will be very surprised at how inspired you will be to use your wardrobe in new and interesting ways! If you would like to see my previous WIWW posts, please click here.

If you try it, let me know! I would love to hear about your experience!Link Parties:

pleated Poppy
Get your Pretty On
Walking in Memphis in High Heels
Style Elixir
Because Shanna Said So
Life of the Party
Liz Marie Blog
The Shabby Nest
Mix and Match Fashion
Rain on a Tin Roof
Uncommon Designs
The Dedicated House