the 80/20 wardrobe
a minimalist/maximalist style formula
Recently, a statement narrow belt had made its way onto my Q2 wardrobe planning list. I’ve been thinking about belts as “waist jewelry”1 partly because we’re currently in a peak belt moment — the higher rise of jeans and pants means either more shirt-tucking or a cropped/form-fitting top, all of which channels the focus to the waist. I’ve never been a belted jeans/pants person, but this season I’ve come around to how versatile they are for transforming and adding some X factor to plain wardrobe pieces.
Bags tend to be the highest profile accessories and often get all the attention, but smaller accessories like belts and brooches are really getting some (long overdue!) love. Guys wearing brooches on the Oscars red carpet and bejeweled rookies at the recent NBA draft pick2 have really helped revive the styling potential of the long-neglected lapel. The more I thought about this, the more I realized how the statement belt and brooch (not just trend pieces, IMO) highlight the role of accessories in my riff on the Pareto Principle — what I’m calling the 80/20 minimalist/maximalist rule.
The idea is threefold.
First, consider the Pareto ratio — namely, you have a wardrobe of mostly minimalist, evergreen staples (the 80%) that you transform and remix with a selection (the 20%) of maximalist accessories. Maximalist accessories can be a ‘30s rhinestone brooch, a vintage belt with a sculptural buckle, a pair of baroque pearl earrings … you get the idea. Because the accessories are small in relation to the rest of the outfit, they add a jewel box flourish while still keeping the overall look streamlined and not OTT.
Second, Pareto is utilized as a styling approach, namely that 20% of your wardrobe (ie the one-of-a-kind, ‘look closer’ showpieces) help amplify, pull together, and extend the wearability of the majority (the 80%) of the rest of your wardrobe.
Third, we apply Pareto as a wardrobe spending strategy: 20% of the purchases in any given year are planned, considered splurges, which will then elevate the 80% of the lower-to-mid-priced pieces.
I finally put all this together after noticing a recurring pattern in my own shopping/wardrobe usage over the years. I generally tend to buy more punchy accessories and stick to mostly neutral, minimal styles when it comes to clothing. This shopping/styling strategy helps my wardrobe withstand the tides of changing trends while still creating space for current, fun experimentation.
Best of all, shopping for compelling accessories and the occasional ‘wow’ piece often leads me to vintage and secondhand discoveries that are sustainable, budget-friendly (yet almost always high quality), and more interesting than what’s currently in stores.
Is there a maximalist inside every self-described minimalist, at least part-time? Speaking for myself, maybe!
Ultimately, this 80/20 minimalist/maximalist approach will hopefully combat that quandary that we’ve all come up against — that unfortunate ‘Pareto Fail’ — that women tend to only wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time.
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What are your favorite accessories lately? Are you Team Belt or Team Brooch?
Claire also wrote about belts as jewelry recently. Yes to a bejeweled waist!
NBA players have really great style, y’all. On a related note, Eleanor wrote a great piece on the evolution of the NBA tunnel fit.
Ooooo! Genius!
I am thoroughly team brooch this week. On my to-do list for tomorrow is to go through my collection of costume brooches that belonged to my grandmothers to add some sparkle to a classic, decades old a-line black dress I thrifted from my mom’s closet.
Besides that, I appreciate the 80/20 approach. Lots to think about!