What influences your decisions to buy clothes?
Are you a planner or an impulse shopper?
If you’re a planner, you start out with a shopping list of things you need to complete an outfit, or a general idea of what you’d like to wear to an upcoming social event. Then, you go shopping in local stores or online with purpose and a goal in mind. And, when you find the piece(s) you’re looking for, the excitement and feeling of accomplishment is very rewarding. It’s a real high!
If you’re an impulse shopper, you just enjoy the hunt for hidden treasures! You probably walk into stores and wait to be drawn to a certain color, style or fabric that excites you, without much consideration for what you have in your closet to coordinate or where you will wear it. You’ll figure all that out later…the joy is in finding something that lights you up inside for the moment. Here and now.
There is no right or wrong way to shop. I’ve done both, personally. Most of the time, I’m a planner, because I’m a busy professional with little time to wander through stores just waiting for something to jump out and grab me. I’m usually shopping for a client so I’m looking for particular colors and styles. So, when I go shopping for myself, it’s with a purpose and goal of finding a certain piece.
Shopping impulsively is allowing things to beckon you from the outside. In other words, stores spend great effort enticing you with fabulous fashion colors and alluring fabrics placed in the front of the store that beckon you to buy. You may or may not consider whether you need the piece, how well it coordinates with your wardrobe or even if it’s your signature style. You’re being DARED to buy it!
On the other hand, shopping with a goal to fulfill a desire, round out a capsule wardrobe with just the right piece, or replace a beloved piece that wore out, is the other way to shop for things that call from your soul. Shopping with a plan taps into your inner desires, and may give you a better chance of finding what you really need. I teach women to get in touch with what calls from their souls and I call this “Signature Style.” When you dress in your signature style you connect with your instinctual self, to the soul of the feminine which is natural for you.
I use the analogy of a smorgasbord when it comes to shopping. This is how it works:
Imagine a smorgasbord laid out with cheeses, fruit, salads and roast beef, and another table with green enchiladas, carnitas, rice and beans, and mounds of avocado. Another table has curries, noodles, seafood and rice, and many, many things for table after table after table. Imagine that you survey it all and you see certain things that appeal to you. You remark to yourself, “Oh, I would really like to have one of those and one of that, and some of this other thing. You’re being led from table after table, allowing your senses to impulsively fill your plate with joyful food.
You may be filling your plate with new and different foods you’ve never tasted before. You may be piling your plate with things you don’t necessarily want, but the food is so colorful and smells so good, and the longer you gaze at it, the more compelling food becomes. Your plate ends up a cacophony of flavors that don’t necessary harmonize with each other!
Shopping in the big discount department stores is like a huge buffet — I tell my clients that shopping in stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and DSW is advanced shopping. There are rows of enticing, colorful, and affordable clothes that you don’t necessarily need, but the longer you stay and sample the racks, the more compelling the clothes become. Before you know it, you’re walking into your house with bags overflowing with clothes that will hang in your closet unworn. Sure, the hunt for hidden treasures is fun and exciting, but did you buy anything you’ll actually wear?
Did any of the clothes you just purchased connect with your instinctual self?
Consider another way of connecting to your soulful, signature style
When I’m providing my Personal Shopper Services as well as with my own shopping, I find that the more clarity and focus I have on what I really desire for my client (or myself), the more the items show up on my buffet table. Some would call that synchronicity, and some would say that preparation + opportunity = LUCK! What shows up is what I really want and need.
So, before you go shopping next time, ask yourself, “How do I want to feel in my clothes? What is the style that expresses who I am, and makes me feel natural and comfortable in my own body? What types of clothing make me feel beautiful and confident? What am I hungry for? What do I want to find in my smorgasbord?”
Basically, you want to connect with your signature style to FIND what you desire. In the end when you find it, your soul will be satisfied.
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