
I've been working on this post for ages, and am excited to share it with you today. The point of it is to show you how you can increase the number of outfits in your wardrobe by switching things up using accessories and shoes.
I've chosen these 15 items out of my wardrobe. They were all inexpensive - the total cost of them was NZ$120 (about US$99 / £62 / R994). These 15 items span seasons and can be dressed up or down.
I've included two jackets (one denim, one brown corduroy) and a black waistcoat:

Five cardigans:

Three tops (one blouse and two t-shirts):

A dress, two skirts and a pair of jeans:

Although they are not all neutrals, all of the tops go with all of the bottoms. In fact, they make over 100 combinations! But a lot of the combinations can look repetitive or boring, and that's where styling comes in.
By styling each combination in different ways you can create different outfits.
Choosing a combination = putting an outfit together
Adding accessories like scarves, jewellery, shoes, tights, belts and hats = styling an outfit
Imagine if you took the 100 combinations and styled each one in three different ways. Suddenly your 15 items of clothing have provided 300 outfits!
This is especially useful if your body is changing, particularly if the changes are temporary, for instance during pregnancy, on a weight loss journey or if you are gaining weight. With more accessories you actually need fewer clothes.
Accessories are generally inexpensive, widely available, and will fit you even if your body changes. Jewellery can be picked up during sales or on eBay, tights are available in all sorts of patterns and colours, scarves are mostly just pieces of fabric and are easy to make, I buy almost all of my belts on eBay, and if I can't find a particular colour of belt that I want I've used ribbon from the dollar store.
To illustrate I thought I'd show you 25 combinations, each styled in different ways to make 75 different outfits. Brace yourself for 100 photos of me.
Combination 1

Outfits 1, 2 and 3

Combination 2

Outfits 3, 4 and 5

Combination 3

Outfits 7, 8 and 9

Combination 4

Outfits 10, 11 and 12

Combination 5

Outfits 13, 14 and 15

Combination 6

Outfits 16, 17 and 18

Combination 7

Outfits 19, 20 and 21

Combination 8

Outfits 22, 23 and 24

Combination 9

Outfits 25, 26 and 27

Combination 10

Outfits 28, 29 and 30

Combination 11

Outfits 31, 32 and 33

Combination 12

Outfits 34, 25 and 36

Combination 13

Outfits 37, 38 and 39

Combination 14

Outfits 40, 41 and 42

Combination 15

Outfits 43, 44 and 45

Combination 16

Outfits 46, 47 and 48

Combination 17

Outfits 49, 50 and 51

Combination 18

Outfits 52, 53 and 54

Combination 19

Outfits 55, 56 and 57

Combination 20

Outfits 58, 59 and 60

Combination 21

Outfits 61, 62 and 63

Combination 22

Outfits 64, 65 and 66

Combination 23

Outfits 67, 68 and 69

Combination 24

Outfits 70, 71 and 72

Combination 25

Outfits 73, 74 and 75

Whew! If you made it this far you must really be interested in styling! Now that I've justified my shoe and accessory collection, I'm not sure how I'll be able to justify future clothing shopping trips ;)
I'd love to see your styled outfits, or hear about which ones you liked in this post.
