Audit 001: Fashion Philosophy, Favs, & Color Stories

at the intersection of style, audit, and data analytics

Recently at a work happy hour I broke out my favorite ice breaker question: what would your shitty superpower be? I.e., something positive but not all that useful. I like to say that mine is always knowing the outfit vibes for the function, without having to ask.

other examples

For those who know me from Substack, this may not come as a surprise. I clearly spend a lot of brain power analyzing style and how it interacts with culture. However, you may not know that my regular person, secret identity is 🧚~**~Data Science Analyst in Internal Audit~**~🧚

Navigating this double life can be trying at times. But after reading Xue’s Outfit Audit, I realized— I might as well simplify things for myself, fuse my two skill sets, and do a style audit.

how i see myself from 9-5

~**~ this post may cut off in email so read in app or browser! ~**~

Content

A good audit has a clear and consistent methodology so here’s mine:

1. Style philosophy & thoughts

2. A few of my favorite things

3. Color stories

4. Wishlist

5. De-influencing

Style Philosophy & Thoughts— skip this section if you prefer visual content

Ethos? Like many of us Substackers, I’m constantly refining my style philosophy. After spending an egregious number of hours thinking about what and how I wear, here’s where I’m at today:

1. The ‘right’ answer is always somewhere in the middle.

   

   heh, not what i’m referring to though

   This applies to everything, whether it be questions of how much to consume, how closely to follow a style philosophy, or how accurate somebody’s viral Substack take is.

   Kelly Williams
   encapsulates this idea perfectly with the concept of Midimalism.

2. Use style words to figure out why an outfit might feel off.

   True to my Midmalist roots, I don’t believe in strictly living by 3 words, but I do find a lot of value in them.

   Allison Bornstein
   , who coined the Three Word Method, explained this perfectly in a recent post:

   “Defining things can be a powerful tool for understanding and teaching. While getting dressed is meant to be creative and expressive, it can be challenging to understand what you like and why, unless we apply language to articulate those preferences.”

   Just as naming one’s feelings can help you process them, assigning words to your style can help you better understand it. When I put on an outfit, and it feels like it’s missing something I look to my style words: cozy, flirty, and clean (these are a work in progress). Often, I find my outfit lacking that flirty, girlish and bold element. So I add a little bow or an exposed ankle. Other times I throw on a ‘slay fit’ only to feel icky and unconfident halfway through the day. Then I realize I’m missing ‘clean’. I’ve thrown too much shit together, and the whole is less than the sum of it’s parts. Time to simplify. I am now better able to understand why I feel good or bad about an outfit, and adjust my ensembles/purchases accordingly.

   

   I like to joke that a picture can say a thousand words, but that a really good word, can say a million.

3. Collect and reflect on your personal style data.

   Regularly reflecting on my style has been revolutionary to how I approach dressing. However, a good audit uses both objective data and analytics, as well as subjective, expertise-guided judgement. Collecting and analyzing data has facilitated reflection and made my style audits even more valuable.

   @Future employers, this may or may not be an advert for my value-add as a data expert with stellar intuition.

   A brief guide to self-style analytics:

   • I record the outfits I wear in both pictures and words, as well as how I feel wearing them. Excel, remove.bg, and Miro are my best friends.

   • I periodically organize and categorize images I’ve screenshotted or saved to Pinterest. Then, I try to pinpoint exactly what speaks to me and any unifying themes in the photos. Similarly, I regularly cull my mood board, removing images that no longer speak to me.

   • I keep a timeline to assess the evolution of my style and thoughts. E.g., I always date my outfit logs, and I create monthly wishlist + purchase collages.

   Looking at data helps draw your attention to what you might normally skip right over with pure-intuition. Intentionally organizing and cleaning your style data helps you filter through the mess of data we process daily, and pinpoint the most insightful nuggets. Data analytics refines the diamond that is your already immaculate style intuition to shine brighter and with more clarity.

4. Absorb from the people around you.

   You can learn a lot from reflecting on your own style, but you can learn even more from other people— especially those close to you. I frequently siphon fashion inspo and philosophies from my parents, friends, boyfriend, etc. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. As long as you don’t make it weird.

   Despite how much online fashion content I consume, I find that it’s the everyday, in-person stuff that really sticks with me. My truest style influences are not influencers, celebrities, and Paris Fashion Week runway shows, but rather my IRL peers.

5. Do trends in a way that works for you. My current optimal strategy is to experiment with trends primarily in the form of accessories and colors. Why?

   1. Accessories tend to be cheaper and/or physically smaller investments. E.g., my hair ribbons, CBK headbands, jewelry, my $30 cow hair purse, sunglasses, and tights.

      

   2. Accessories often get more wear than other clothing items. Shoes, for example, I beat the shit out of every season. Thus I need to repurchase shoes more frequently than say, shirts. Investing in trends in the form of footwear makes sense, given that I have to buy them more frequently anyways. E.g., my silver sneaks, boat shoes, zebra/cow hair, and jellies.

      

   3. Accessories stand out. Jackets essentially envelope your entire outfit minus your hair accessories and shoes (another accessory!).

   4. I buy pieces I know I love in trendy colors, patterns, or textures. E.g., I always wear turtlenecks in the fall/winter so this season I scouted grey, brown, and sparkly eggplant ones to keep my outfits feeling fresh and of the now. Other examples of this strategy include my aforementioned shoes in trendy hues and textiles.

6. Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.

   

   a wise woman once said…

   If you have basics you love, you can more easily and confidently try new things. But also, know which basics work for you and which don’t. For example, I love Levi 501s and neutral tops, but I don’t own a single blazer or trench coat.

October Loves

Call me Maria because I’m about to serenade you with a few of my favorite things to wear as of late.

1. Messy double braids. $0. A subtle, no-buy celebration of back to school for those who have aged out. Also perfect for compulsive hair-behind-the-ear tuckers and/or people with sensory issues.

   

   get equestrian & prep on a budget!

2. Silver drop earrings. Marshalls. $15. Also pictured above. These Bottega droplet dupes have finally arrived at your local discount store. Don’t you just love a good trickle down effect?

3. Chocolate brown boat shoes. Thrifted. $3. Quite similar to the Miu Miu ones despite being 1/300th of their price. Relentlessly classy. I’ve been loving these as a casual foil to my wool trousers.

   

   brand: b.o.c.

4. Chopstick updos. D Cuisine Chinese restaurant. $0. Don’t be like other girls, stand out from the claw clip mafia with this elegant x quirky hair accessory collab.

   

   apologies for the demonic pic, but hey it is Halloween season

5. Sky blue button down. Thrifted. $5ish and you too can look straight out of a gender-bent Dead Poets Society.

   

   brand: Michael Kors

6. Grandma’s necklace. Grandma’s house. $~3 hrs spent organizing Grandma’s closet.

   

   also, mixing metals in general

7. Theory wool trousers in ambiguous dark shade. Nordstrom Rack. ~$100. Cozy, warm, sleek. Because you can’t tell whether they are brown, black, dark grey, or olive green— they go with everything!

   

8. Tortoiseshell sunnies. Nordstrom. $15. Got so chatty with the checkout lady that she wrapped up her own prescription glasses and tried to give them to me instead of the sunglasses. They remind me of CBK’s but with an AWP twist.

   

   that’s Audrey Wohl Pettigrew to you

9. Shearling jacket. Depop, nee: Mango. ~$100. Don’t own your own homestead with Swiss sheep? No worries, you can just dress like one.

   

   major hero piece energy

10. DIY hot chocolate. Target. ~$15. In the era of optimizing every little thing, I thought I’d share my similar approach to food. I am a perfectionist, especially when it comes to what I eat. I refine the entire process from grocery store to mouth in order to create the optimal consumption experience.

    Mindy’s does hot chocolate best, but if you don’t have $15 for 1 cuppa, try this instead: 2 Cadbury milk chocolate bars, 1 Ghiradelli dark chocolate bar, Horizon Organic or Organic Valley whole milk, and Coarse salt. Chop chocolate bars into small pieces and bag, along with more salt than you think. Warm mug of milk in microwave. Add spoonfuls of chocolate mixture as desired. Makes ~10 cuppas at ~$1.50/pp.

Mindy’s dupeeeee

Color Stories

I’ve always appreciated colors and the way they interact with each other. Possibly because I was indoctrinated at a young age:

a classic novel, i’m a thought daughter frfr

Or because I find colors to be a great low barrier to entry, more sustainable way to experiment with trends. Either way, I frequently use color combinations to guide my outfit choices.

Here are a few color stories I’m currently savoring:

Olive green + Sky blue

Brown + Grey + White

Black + Black + Black

Wishlist

AKA those persistent little buggers that I just haven’t been able to shake recently.

1. I refresh the COS wool coat new arrivals page every day to see if they have re-released their yearly version of this:

   

   b/c after 2 years, i’m finally ready to spend $400 on this bebé

2. Donna Karan cashmere mist deodorant. I would like my armpit de-stinking to feel more luxurious and Reddit says this is the way to go.

   

3. Miffy/Melanie art-inspired key chains. I’ve been eyeing these for so long but have yet to commit because it feels frivolous.

   

   aren’t these utterly precious?

4. Not your average ballet flat. If I’m gonna do ballet-core, I wanna fully commit to the bit and get a satin, square toe shoe. But also, I feel like they’ll get dirty easily (especially this Apricot color way). Plus, I already own sooo many shoes.

   

5. A monogrammed comb from the Officine. I’ve officially been influenced. And ok maybe it doesn’t need to be monogrammed.

   

   my thin hair does hate to see a windy day coming, so it would be useful…

Things I’m Glad I Passed On

Let’s end with a de-influencing segment because if I’m gonna talk about everything I love, I also need to mention everything I don’t love that I either passed on or regret buying.

• At the thrift & in my cart:

  • trench coats— functionally useless IMO and not my style

  • cardigans— I already have a dark grey, a light blue, and a white one

  • RL plaid pj set— I already have enough pjs that I love

  • NB 550s/Adidas Gazelles— I have no desire for a new sneaker anymore w/ so many current cool shoes circulating my wardrobe

  • Timberland boat shoes— I like the $3 pair I thrifted more.

• At my home & in my car:

  • white thrifted lug sole winter boots. $15. Too white. Recently found a pair of cream/tan Vince ones that I like way more.

  • thrifted metallic Sperrys. $5. Again, I like my chocolate brown boat shoes more and will be donating these.

  • any kind of home decor. I always forget how much I hate unnecessary clutter.

  • pink maxi slip dress. ~$3. I don’t love it, and I tend not to wear dresses unless I capital L Love them. Keeping in the hopes that it grows on me.

  • silver jelly shoes. ~$3. I like the periwinkle ones I found a week later more.

  • black Hunter mules with orange fur lining. I was tempted because— Hunter boots! For only $10! I forgot that I don’t particularly like orange or mules. These have since been returned.

  Moral of the story? Patience is the name of the game. Waiting almost always pays off when it comes to fashion. I like to remind myself that you’ll never be in a rush to buy an item if you’re only buying things you intend on having forever.

P.S. I’d love to know what your shitty superpower would be!

xx Audrey