Today is a grab bag of personal style advice, thrifting passion, capsule wardrobe strategy, and a simple but stunning dress makeover.  Enjoy!

Already Pretty had a great post a few weeks back with several very practical approaches to figuring out your personal style in a way that lands you a streamlined closet that feels like you.  Whether you use a celebrity or real-life style icon or simply your own favorite outfits for reference, she’ll walk you through taking notes and translating it to your every day.

My favorite food for thought from this post?  “Defining your personal style is more about elimination than procurement: you are very likely to require a purge, but less likely to require a shopping trip.”   I like the idea that the core of who you are, stylistically, is already in your closet…but not gonna lie, once I identify that core, you will find me at the thrift store hunting for a few more pieces that play well with said core.

Meanwhile The Spirited Thrifter wrote this post reflecting on her blogiversary, shedding light on the above dynamic – namely, why I am not likely to ever stop thrifting even once I achieve closet nirvana (ahem):

Thrifting is therapeutic for me.  I’ve built a better wardrobe, most of my pieces spark joy and have staying power in my closet, but that doesn’t stop me from going thrifting because something in the process is soothing, for me anyway.

And when you find something you’ve been hunting for a long while, the victory is sweet!

Yeah, pretty much ditto.  This is why we’re kindred thrift spirits.

Her words describe exactly where I am: mostly satisfied with my wardrobe but still in love with the process and always open to a thrift upgrade or a unicorn or a Holy Grail.  Also, I’m committed to evangelizing my thrift love via thriftstagramming, and that requires content which means (you guessed it) trips to the thrift store.  Plus as Already Pretty mentions in her post, our personal style is always evolving (see out-of-left-field velvet top I thrifted last week) and thrifting is a great way to accommodate that both in terms of inspiration and budget.

Okay, another personal style tune up post – this one at Not Dead Yet Style.  It’s got inspiration for closet cleanout prompted by a move, plus a great link to de-pilling your knits. (Brace yourself for an “I Shaved My Sweaters and You Can Too” post on here at some point.)

Capsule wardrobe alert! Becoming Gezellig shows us her own personal method for building a capsule wardrobe – with photo illustration!  You may recall the last time I featured her she had tried her hand at building a capsule wardrobe using The Vivienne Files’ One Piece at a Time method; here she offers an alternative that centers on building outfits first and adding pieces to the capsule as components of those outfits, instead of adding pieces and then building outfits from them, if that makes sense.  It’s a good practical method for those who want a hands-on approach or to figure out a bunch of possible outfits before committing to an edited closet.

Last but not least, reader Ginna (see our conversation on what we spend on thrifting here) recommended to me Sally of Charity Shop Chic’s elegant repurposing of a too-short thrifted cocktail dress into something longer and more versatile.  Ginna’s right that it’s a very simple sewing project for those of you who sew (or want to get into sewing) – I think you could even do this one by hand.   Charity Shop Chic (“charity shop” being the British equivalent of thrift shop – which I guess makes our blogs cousins??) is a wonderland of thrifted alterations and I like to wander the archives, eyes glazed over at the tricky bits, daydreaming about having her stellar sewing skills.

Happy weekend, Thrifters!

PS: a fun bonus – a street style photographer for Elle wears a Go Pro to document exactly what it takes to get a great shot during fashion week. It’s fascinating from both a style and a photography standpoint.