Gok Wan’s ultimate wardrobe workout
The TV super stylist explains to ELIZABETH ARCHER how to reboot your look for summer, bag brilliant bargains and feel amazing for the rest of the year
WHEN lockdown restrictions were eased, styling superstar, TV presenter and fashion guru Gok Wan couldn’t wait to shop until he dropped.
“I have not stopped shopping. It’s been incredible. I feel like I’m living again,” says the 46-year-old, who lives in West London.
Gok was awarded an MBE for services to fashion and social awareness in 2020. What he doesn’t know about dressing well isn’t worth hearing. He also knows about bagging a bargain along the way.
So if you want to shake up your look for the season ahead, follow Gok’s tips on how to give your wardrobe a workout.
Trust yourself
Trusting your own taste is key to looking your best. Think about it – if you were choosing a new sofa or wallpaper, you wouldn’t ask every single one of your friends about it.
But although we trust our taste when it comes to our homes, with fashion we get nervous. It’s important to wear clothes that we love, with confidence, and care less about what other people will think.
Do your research
Research is one of the biggest parts of my job as a stylist. If you don’t know what’s available, and how to draw on different decades when it comes to your style, then you’re guessing about what works together. But the beauty of being able to shop online is that you’ve got the entire high street at your fingertips. Why not become your own stylist and create mood boards of things you like?
Get the basics
Don’t neglect the basics in your wardrobe. You’re likely to wear a T-shirt more than a ballgown, so it can be worth spending a little more so it fits well and is good quality.
Know your spending limits
It’s important to stay within your budget. When I’m shopping, I use a traffic light system. If you know you’ve got £200 to spend on an outfit, for example, then think of £200 as a red light – once you reach that, you will stop shopping.
Otherwise it’s going to start feeling uncomfortable and shopping should never feel uncomfortable.
Set yourself an amber zone of £175 or £150.
Then decide on a green budget, perhaps £125 or £100.
Aim for green. If you hit amber, you’re still safe but then if you hit red, it’s time to stop.
Be sales savvy
Thanks to a year in lockdown, we’re seeing lots of sales at the moment. Indeed there are many fantastic offers to be found, so you should keep looking for those bargains.
But remember – because of the nature of sale shopping, if you like it you need to snap it up. Once that product is gone, it’s gone.
Choose separates
Instead of buying an outfit solely for a specific occasion, think about how you can make it work in different ways after the event. Choosing separates is a great way of ensuring you wear the same pieces again and again, mixing them up in different ways each time.
A full-length dress is always going to be a full-length dress. You might be able to throw a jacket over the top, p, or change g the shoes but essentially it’s one piece. piece Whereas if you’re buying a jacket and a pair of jeans, you’re yo going to be able to w wear those again and again in different combinations. combinatio
Know you’re not alone
If you’re yo struggling gli with body bo image and a self esteem, it can help to look for statistics about body confidence online. Did you know, for instance, that 99% of women would change at least one thing about their body?
Once you’ve found a statistic you relate to, then think: “OK, well I’m part of that community but so is almost everybody else.”
Then when you go to the pub for the first time, if there are 100 people in the beer garden, you know 99 of them are all thinking exactly the same thing as you about their body.
Think ahead
Working out what to wear can be stressful. So why not rehearse your outfits? On a Sunday, I rack up all my clothes for the week. Then I take pictures on my phone, so each day I can grab the outfit I planned without worrying about it.
If you don’t have the time to plan ahead, then whenever you put on an outfit and feel really great, take a photo and make an album in your phone of different looks.
Next time you’re struggling for something to wear, flick through that album and pick one.
Love the skin you’re in
You can’t dress your body unless you know what you look like so you have to accept your appearance.
It doesn’t come easy – I know from past personal experience – but it is important.
Be bold
Don’t be afraid to take some risks.
We’ve been in a very controlled space for the last year or so, so maybe it’s time you broke some of
your own rules. Maybe it’s time you said: “I’m not only going to wear dark colours” or “I’m not always going to cover up”.
It might not be as scary as you think.
It’s important to set a budget red light and then stop when you reach it
■ Gok Wan is an ambassador for eBay’s Brand Outlet, which offers up to 70% off designer and high street clothing brands