A Senior Wardrobe with All The Essentials

The senior lady of today bears little resemblance to her equivalent of fifty, even thirty, years ago. Getting older is no longer an idea that goes hand in hand with becoming less stylish. In fact, you only have to take a look at some of the senior female icons dominating our news reels - Carolina Herrera, Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda, for example - to know that beauty and style can actually grow with age.

While we'd all secretly love to have a walk-in closet the size of a standard family kitchen, full to the brim with the latest style choices in clothing, footwear and accessories, there's also something particularly refreshing about downsizing our wardrobe and investing in what's truly essential. By essential we mean comfortable and practical, yet stunning; a wardrobe that really accentuates the very best of us in a chic, understated and natural manner.

Wardrobe essentials for the senior lady

Throughout life, we make changes to our wardrobe that reflect something of our daily routines, our responsibilities, trends and tendencies, cultural influences, economic fluctuations and more. Our wardrobe is, without a doubt, a window into our lives; one that we want to truly reflect who we are and where we're at each stage of our lives.

As we get older, there's a temptation to hold on to clothes, shoes and accessories that we hold dear, but that can make life difficult if we have to move into smaller accommodation. For example, we may need to downsize our living conditions to save on costs or we might decide to move into assisted living accommodation to ensure our personal safety or to improve our possibilities of social interaction.

While a reduced wardrobe can make things a whole lot easier for us, there's no reason to cut-back on style. As such, what follows is a step-by-step guide to creating the most trusted capsule wardrobe for senior ladies, designed to stay chic and stylish with very little need for storage space.

1. Limit yourself to 50 items

Reduce everything you have in your wardrobe down to no more than 50 items. That includes clothing, shoes and accessories. The best way to make progress is to work your way through, section by section. Begin with tops. Move on to trousers. Then skirts, dresses, jumpers and nightwear. Leave shoes, scarves, belts and handbags until last.

The idea is that you make a truly honest assessment of the wardrobe items that you use on a weekly or monthly basis. If you catch yourself thinking how much you love that jumper, but you can't remember the last time you put it on, it probably means you're never going to wear it and so it doesn't really deserve a place in your wardrobe.

2. Ensure you have the everyday basics

Once you've reduced down to 50 items, you need to check you're actually left with a wardrobe that not only gives you everyday basics but everyday basics with style. The trick is to put each item on and look in the mirror. If you don't instantly like what you see, it's a good idea to swap that item for something else you'd previously discarded; one that actually suits you a whole lot better. You can even ask a friend to help you choose.

Use this trick to help you make style decisions as you make your way through the following list of everyday basics:

• Blue jeans
• Black jeans
• Long summer dress
• Shorter summer dress
• 3 t-shirts
• Dark-colored tailored trousers
• Loose-fitting summer trousers, as colorful as you like
• Dark-colored skirt
• Dark-colored blazer
• Light-colored blazer
• 2 shirts or blouses, long-sleeved
• 2 shirts or blouses, short-sleeved
• 2 lightweight cardigans
• 2 soft, fairly-fitted sweaters

3. Make space to include items that dazzle

Even as we age, there's no reason to say goodbye to glamor. Friends still have birthdays, we might receive invites to weddings and we may even find ourselves being taken out for a romantic evening every now and then.

In fact, even if we spend most of our days in regular situations, it's fun to add a little bit of sparkle to what could quite easily be a basic wardrobe selection. Accessories, in particular, are great for breathing life into a fairly standard ensemble. With that in mind, these are the special items you should also include in your capsule wardrobe:

• A lightweight tote bag
• A dressy black handbag
• A statement belt
• Chic reading glasses
• A statement watch
• Low-heeled shoes (the added height will give your outfit a lift without killing your feet)
• A multicoloured or multi-print silk scarf
• Bold-colored nail polish
• A pearl necklace
• A fake fur coat (for those really special occasions)

And there you have it. A reduced wardrobe full of stylish basics and sparkling additions to add that little bit of glamor to your day, even when you're relaxing at home with a good book.