If you’ve ever stood in front of a wardrobe full of clothes convinced you have absolutely nothing to wear, you’re far from alone. According to fashion creators Brooklyn Ellis and Josh Alex Young, the problem probably isn’t your wardrobe. It’s decision fatigue.
Ellis and Young are the first guests
on This is a Fashion Show, a new podcast from New Zealand Fashion Week in partnership with Viva, hosted by stylist and creative director Sammy Salsa.
Speaking on the podcast, both Ellis and Young agree that feeling uninspired is often less about lacking clothes and more about having too many options competing for attention.
Ellis says she combats the feeling by regularly editing her wardrobe rather than endlessly adding to it.
“I get a bit of decision fatigue, and I feel like my wardrobe can be a mess sometimes. Then I feel like I’m looking at it and I’m like, ‘What am I looking at?’ I often declutter my wardrobe after every season to try and nail it down to my few favourite pieces, and then I feel like that makes it easier.”
Young admits he’s guilty of hanging onto clothes “just in case”, but says experimenting is often the best cure for a style slump.
“If you’re feeling uninspired, you’ve got to experiment with it. The amount of times where I’ll put on clothes and I’m like, the challenge is wear something I’ve never worn before, like a combination that I’ve never worn before.
“Does it look good most of the time? No. Looks horrendous. But maybe I’ll find a little combination that works,” says Young.
Balancing trends with personal style can be another hurdle when facing the daily decision of what to wear. But while social media can make every micro trend feel essential, Young says it’s worth remembering our feeds don’t always reflect reality.
“The best thing about a trend is that it’s not real. We see so much. I’m chronically online, I love a bit of a doom scroll, but you realise that all the stuff that you’re constantly being fed and that you’re seeing, you step out into the street, it’s a totally different story.”
Instead of rebuilding your wardrobe every season, Ellis sees trends as something to layer onto an existing sense of style.
“I like to think about it as my personal style is the foundation, and the trends are kind of the fun little accents that come in here and there. You’re not really changing your whole style every single time a new trend comes up. It’s more just adding things in that you love.”
How content creators decide which brands to promote.The trends both creators are backing ahead of New Zealand Fashion Week. The value of knowing where your clothes come from.
This is a Fashion Show is hosted by stylist and creative director Sammy Salsa, and brought to you by New Zealand Fashion Week in partnership with Viva.
Celebrate 25 years of New Zealand Fashion Week, on from August 17-22 at Auckland’s Shed 10. Tickets available here.