Before You Buy It, Ask Yourself These 5 Questions

Before anything enters your closet, answer five questions: does it fit now, does it suit your real week, does it work with three pieces you own, would you wear it within a month, and would you buy it at full price. Anything that fails two is a return waiting to happen.

I have spent a large part of my career standing outside dressing rooms. What I've learned there is that most shopping mistakes aren't made at the register — they're made in the thirty seconds before it, when nobody asks the obvious questions.

These are the five I ask. They take about a minute, and they have saved my clients an enormous amount of money.

1. What do I already own that this works with?

Not could work with. Own. If you can't name two specific things hanging in your closet right now, you're not buying an outfit — you're buying an obligation to go shopping again.

2. Where am I actually going to wear this?

Name the occasion on your real calendar. "A nice dinner sometime" is not an occasion. Clothes bought for a hypothetical life stay in the closet with the tags on.

3. Would I buy this at full price?

A discount is not a reason. It's a feeling. If the same piece at full price wouldn't tempt you, what you like is the markdown, not the garment.

4. Does it fit me today?

Not after five pounds, not after alterations you won't book. If it needs tailoring, decide in the dressing room whether you'll actually take it in — and count that cost as part of the price.

5. How many ways can I wear it?

If the answer is one, it had better be extraordinary. Three or more, and it's usually worth having even if it's plain.

Why these five questions matter

Every one of them is really the same question asked from a different angle: does this belong in the wardrobe I already have?

That's the question retail almost never helps women answer — and it's the reason I'm building what I'm building.