Wardrobe Essentials, Volume One

One of the things I'm striving towards in my never ending quest for the "perfect wardrobe" is to minimize clutter in my closet. Instead, I want to pack it instead with workhorses: items that can be worn many ways with a variety of pieces. Consider how easy it is to style a shirt that can be worn with a number of shorts, pants, or skirts, rather than one that only looks good when half-tucked into a high-waisted pencil skirt. If I'm not in the mood for that pencil skirt, I'm not going to wear that shirt - thus reducing my number of options for my daily outfit.

My goal, then, is to come up with my list of "Wardrobe Essentials". These are different for every person, and depends on what YOU like to wear and what looks good on you! I rarely wear heels but wear my ballet flats to death. Thus, many pairs of flats are on my essentials list, whereas someone else might only need one pair!

Here, then, is my tentative list of shoe essentials.

Black ballet flats - exact
Brown ballet flats
Nude ballet flats - exact
Black pumps
Black wedges
Brown wedges
Black gladiator sandals
Brown gladiator sandals
Black riding boots - exact
Black motorcycle boots
Brown riding boots - exact
Brown flat boots
Brown heeled boots - exact
Casual sneakers (Vans, Converse, etc) - exact, exact, exact
Running sneakers

There it is, short and sweet! I obviously like to have quite a few more "fun" pairs to mix it up a bit, but I am making an effort to slowly purchase all the items on my list. A strong foundation is the starting point to any good wardrobe, in my opinion, and for me this list of shoes is just that! I want to start with shoes I can grab and go when I just need a basic item to pull together my outfit.

It is also worth mentioning that I am a strong believer in quality over quantity! As a rule, I am not a big fan of faux-leather, especially for my shoes and purses. I want to buy something once and have it last for years, not re-purchase every six months. With my boots, for example, I only have five pairs. However, all five are real leather, well made, and investments that I know will last years to come! They may have a higher initial purchase price than a cheaper, faux-leather pair from Target, but over time will provide many more wears.

I plan on editing this post over time as I find these shoes to fill spots on my list, as well as with the ones I've already found! Until then, tell me about your shoe essentials - my list can always use some additions :)