I take my wardrobe for granted… guilty as charged… I neglect it, walk right past all the hours of thought and the legwork that I have put into collecting favourite pieces.

I am so often tempted by what is ‘new’, forgetting that what is ‘old’ can be exactly the same… and dare I say it… better…

Sorting out the wardrobe and streamlining the best pieces is probably an art that is not practiced very often.

I don’t know about you, but I find that I am very habitual when it comes to dressing.

If  ’this goes with that and that goes with this’ I repeat the pattern and wear what is easy and what I know works well together. I get lazy… and so does the clothing in the back of the wardrobe or at the bottom of the drawer…

I love accessories… yet I stick with the same couple of scarves and trot the same handbag out day after day… it’s not that I don’t have choices at home…  It’s the same with the shoes… the same pair get worn over and over again…

I won’t rummage in the closet for a new look… I blame the fact that I don’t have time or that I am too busy… yet I will spend hours looking online or browsing in the stores for that perfect new piece.

Creatively it is so much easier to start afresh than revisit what is outmoded… in our minds at least.

How do we ‘shop’ our own closets?

Become re-acquainted with your clothing… Know what is in the wardrobe. It is surprising what we forget…

Take everything out… cupboard by cupboard, rack by rack and drawer by drawer… Re-arrange the sweaters, the tees, the blouses… the belts, bags and shoes…

Try it on… even the pants that haven’t been worn for years… or the blouse that you were never sure about. We change and our tastes change… maybe those items are now back in fashion… or perhaps we look differently at them… and in them….

Mix up colour combinations. Start seeing the brights with the all black… or if colour is your ‘go to’… try an all black ensemble…. or search out your neutrals…

Swap the prime positions in the closet… so that what was on the back burner… for ‘another day’… becomes front of house… Those shoes that were being saved for a special occasion… make today that day… (I am so guilty of that one… )

Check out favourite fashion magazines and online sites… find the look… and then shop your own closet… I tried that the other day when I was writing about pencil skirts… I found one that was entirely neglected… totally forgotten… and just what I was looking for…

Most of us love a good shop… we just need to remember where to look… xv

images via les dressings on Pinterest

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I decided it’s time for some new energy…

Time to shake myself up a bit… Look at things differently… Smarten myself up….

Live life more elegantly… less rush… more enjoy…

Be less habitual…  Act more impromptu…

This is the week to…

Wear a new print blouse… get my new leopard from L’Agence out and about…

Plant the courtyard in our new London peid à terre… 

Dream of wearing caftans… especially the ‘Kabibi‘ tie-dye…

Fill the house with peonies…

Celebrate comfort… wear my colourful flats… especially these green ‘kitties’ from Charlotte Olympia…

Wear bracelets on both my wrists a la a Coco Chanel… A pair of Givenchy Faux Pearl cuffs would be just the thing…

And friends… make more time for ‘Friends‘…

This is my week… Tell me what’s on your agenda? Will you shake it up? Change it about? Are you feeling energetic? xv

les fleurs on Pinterest

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(all images via my boards on pinterest)

DJ does the best fashion edit…

My Design Chic loves a great interior…

Dear Lillie is a total temptation with her Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles…

Fleaing France knows the brocante…

Something to make you think… A Daily Plate of Crazy from the fabulous D.A Wolf…

Something for the Kindle… Our House Is Not In Paris… a simple memoir… a story of pushing boundaries, aiming high and, most of all, taking risks…

Something for You… Rodin Olio Lusso Facial Oil… total indulgence in a bottle…

Happy Sunday… See you next week… and as always, thank you for being here… xv

p.s

i think you all know by now that google reader is finishing at the beginning of july… if you prefer to read french essence by reader i suggest you join bloglovin or feedly… they seem to be the most popular at the moment..

If you prefer you can receive my posts by email… Subscribe here…

Spoil Him

you know you want to…

Horta Wine Glasses… for his table…

Pablo Canvas Espadrilles... love a man in espadrilles with the backs pushed down…

Illesteva Sunglasses… super cool and suits all face shapes… channel is Steve Mc Queen…

Etro Floral Swim Shorts… so he is holiday ready for you…

How To Host A Murder… the most fun to be had at a dinner party…

The Manual For A Stylish Life… much wisdom for the modern man

Nike Free 5.0… colour his athletic world…

Kiehl’s Skin Rescuer… pamper him…

Robin Rotenier Button Cufflinks… for that dash of European glamour…

And to make you smile…  a little parenting from The Cosby Show…

Some of the greatest fibs ever told by your children… ‘I forgot’… ‘I’ll pay you back later’ …  ’It was like that when I found it…’

Rings true for me… xv

french essence homme on Pinterest

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After my recent weekend in Paris, I decided that I must get into a skirt more often…

French women seem to wear the pencil to perfection. I admire the way they accessorise it for day and for night… and there is something about a pencil skirt that puts a little sexy into the walk.

Pencil skirts look better with a curve, more feminine, more womanly… and I am all for encouraging the curves…

Will you wear a pencil skirt? xv

Pencil Sharp

joseph leather pencil skirt   belstaff studded silk georgette blouse   equipment washed-silk shirt    jimmy choo fedora sandal

fabulous pencil skirts from the outnet… sizes are limited… and brush silked shirts from iris &ink

the best tank tops… shopbop

fabulous totes… all on sale… the outnet

love the michael kors python…

p.s

i think you all know by now that google reader is finishing at the beginning of july… if you prefer to read french essence by reader i suggest you join bloglovin or feedly… they seem to be the most popular at the moment..

If you prefer you can receive my posts by email… Subscribe here…

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