Building a wardrobe of thirty pieces that always work

This piece for HubCage collects the advice that holds up in practice.

A small wardrobe that fits together removes the daily problem of having nothing to wear. Choose two neutral base colours and one accent, then collect pieces in those colours: a few good trousers and skirts, several tops, two jackets, one coat and three pairs of shoes. When everything matches, any combination picked half-asleep still looks intentional.

Buy fewer, better things and look after them: wash cool, dry flat, mend early. Keep a short list of gaps and only shop for those, ignoring sales for anything not on it. A wardrobe built this way over a year or two costs less than a season of impulse buys and gets out the door in the morning in two minutes.