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Tips for Navigating a Style Transition

Feel like you’re in a style rut? How to update your wardrobe when your lifestyle, job, body, or sense of style changes.

Posted in: Seamwork Radio Podcast, Style & Wardrobe • March 13, 2024 • Episode 184

You’ve likely gone through at least one major style transition in your life. If you haven’t, heads up, it’s coming.

Style transitions can be frustrating, awkward, and maybe even painful (hello, puberty). But they can also be an empowering way to update how you present yourself to the world. You feel more like yourself—comfortable and confident about what you're wearing.

In today’s episode, Sarai and Haley talk about how to navigate a style transition.

They cover the signs you might be in a transition, give you some tools for examining that transition, and some actions you can take to evolve your style alongside your life.

Below are the show notes for this podcast episode and a brief summary of what's covered, followed by a full transcript.


Tips for Navigating a Style Transition

Determine the cause

The first step is to figure out why you might feel out of touch with your style. You might feel frustrated, bored, stuck in a rut, or confused. Describe what you are feeling.

Here are some questions you can ask.


  • When did you start to feel this way? Did it come on suddenly, or has it been slowly building over time?

  • Are you experiencing any major changes in your life

  • Have you moved recently?

  • Are you in transition with your lifestyle, work, body, or physical activity?

Figure out what feels inauthentic right now

The next step is to figure out what part of your style feels inauthentic right now.

Maybe you don’t need a total overhaul. It could just be one aspect that’s not working for you.

You might need some new colors or a few new outerwear pieces, rather than a total makeover.


  • What specifically feels wrong about your clothes? When you get stuck getting dressed, whats’ going through your mind?

  • Are you feeling physically uncomfortable with the way your clothes fit and move on your body?

  • Do you enjoy the colors in your closet, or are you finding them hard to wear?

  • Do you have enough pieces to mix and match to create outfits?

  • Where do you see gaps in your wardrobe?

Start making a new mood board

Next, start to curate the image you want to express with your clothes. If you have a core style Pinterest board, edit it, delete what doesn’t feel good, and add things you feel excited about.

If you don't have a core style mood board, create one!

We have a video and article that show you why it’s so helpful and how to create and maintain one.

If you're working digitally, make a physical mood board

Creating a digital mood board is convenient, but it helps to have a physical guide when you’re going through a style transition.

Hang your mood board in your sewing space or, even better, in your closet. Then, you can begin actualizing your new style direction as you make sewing plans and get dressed in the morning.

Create a clothing purgatory for garments that aren’t working right now

When you spot problematic clothes as you get dressed, put them in purgatory. Get a bin, a drawer, or even a bag, and tuck away the clothes that don’t make you feel your best.

You can keep them in limbo for six months to a year, then go through them right before you find them new homes.

Here’s a tip: It helps to wait for a year so that you are thinking about clothes in their current season. You might feel inclined to declutter your winter wardrobe during the summer heat, but you can be more objective about them when you’re actively wearing them.

Update your sewing queue to include a few things you're excited about

While you’re in the midst of your style transition, find a project that really excites you. Prioritize it so that you get some momentum.

You can find a quick, satisfying project, like an accessory or a T-shirt, or you can start to dive into something more memorable. Working on a project that excites will provide the energy you need as you concentrate on refining your overall style.

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