On this week’s episode, my internet-friend,
joins for a lively chat about the origins of the term Midimalist, how to stay on top of trends without losing your own identity, how Kelly decides what to buy, and her advice for anyone trying to build an authentic wardrobe.Enjoy!
Episode Transcript
Welcome
Welcome to Intuitive Style. I'm very excited to share this week's episode with you. I got a chance to sit down and chat with the creator behind Substack newsletter, Midimalist.
and her newsletter are such a delight to follow. She's always sharing actionable and insightful style tips, and she's always cheering up the comments section with just delightful commentary and praise. Without further ado, enjoy the episode.Maureen
Hi, Kelly. It's so nice to sit down and talk with you today. How are you doing?
Kelly
I am doing so good, Maureen. Thank you for having me on your podcast.
Maureen
I'm so excited. I know we've had plenty of virtual discussions over the last couple of months on Substack, and it's just really nice to learn even more about what you're doing with Midimalist and have a conversation around what it means to dress intuitively. Would you please share your first and last name and your pronouns?
Kelly
Of course. Kelly Williams. She/her/hers.
Maureen
So you coined the term midimalist, which to me it signifies you have a great sense of understanding of your personal style and also how your style relates to the rest of the zeitgeist. Could you tell us a little bit about midimalism and how you came up with this term?
Kelly
Yes, happily, my made up word that I've really taken to heart kind of started when I began thinking about style and really being intentional with my style. I loved Alison Bornstein’s three word method, and she kind of led me to Amy Smilovic of Tibi’s and Tibi’s acronym, CMC: “Chill Modern Classic” that I know she designs within. So I spent a lot of time really trying to figure out my three words, like banging my head against the wall, what are my three words? And and the way that I initially came to it was trying to look at myself and my clothes. But Alison talks about how at least one of your words is more of an aspirational word. So I started looking at influencers or individual outfits, photos that spoke to me from like an aspirational place. And I found that in each of those images there would be part of the outfit that was sort of minimal and maybe that was like in color or silhouette, but there was always something that made the outfit stand out. And again, it could have been color or silhouette. It could have been like a special piece that that took the outfit over the top. And as I tried to distill that, I was looking at we've got like the Moosgaard sisters on the one side who I did find really inspirational. And they're like, you know, these beautiful Scandinavian twins. And then I also look at like Leandra Medine Cohen, known for her sort of maximalist outfits. And to me, everyone that I really aspire to existed in between those two poles. So so then, you know, Midimalist came to mind. And as soon as I started to write about it and think about it, it felt like a real landing place for me and my style.
Maureen
That was such a great answer and just so fun to hear. And I mean, personally, the Moosgaard sisters and Leandra Medine Cohen, are just absolute style icons for me as well. So, you know, no surprise there that we have people in common. But, you know, I think it's so important to talk about our style influences because, to me, intuitive dressing is not a rejection of, external influences or, rejection of dressing like other people. It's really about how can we how can we take what's useful from looking at outside influences without trying to copy people or, sometimes that can be okay, but without losing sense of our own identity as we get dressed. So I just think that's so fun to hear kind of how looking at external influences really helped you understand yourself better. Could you talk a little bit more about, how you balance listening to your own style, intuition and then also being influenced by what's happening around you?
Kelly
Yeah. And you know, I'm glad you made the distinction of rejecting outside influences because I find that it's really helpful. So in general, I consume a lot of fashion content because I just like thinking about fashion and style, but I try to consume like a wide variety. YouTube videos, Pinterest images, obviously Substack and then a little bit of visual social media like TikTok and Instagram. I'm not on either platform like with a profile, but obviously I can see the content. And so I think the distinction that I've made for myself is to stay an inch deep and a mile wide in fashion so that I can kind of create a filter for myself. And I think what's happened for me in the past is that I'll get too deep into one person's style or one specific aesthetic, and then you can kind of lose your own thoughts and feelings about whether that's a piece of clothing or a trend, because you see this person do it or it fits your like preferred aesthetic, and then you're sort of lost and you've lost touch with to the point of this podcast, you've lost touch with your intuition of being able to say, Oh, wait, this part of it, actually, that doesn't work for me, but all these parts do or, whatever the case may be.
Maureen
I mean, thank you so much for sharing that because I so relate and I think it's so easy to kind of glamorize someone that we think is stylish online and just be like, Oh, well, they've got it. Let me just do what they're doing. And it'll work for me. And, you know, for me, that's how I ended up having some, disordered relationship with shopping in the past where, you know, oh, this person is selling this thing and I'll buy whatever they're wearing and then I'll, then I'll look look good. And, you know, a lot of those purchases, were not cheap and then also didn't work out. And so that's how, you end up with kind of a revolving door of clothing if you're not careful. I love what you said about an inch deep and a mile wide. I'm going to remember that. That's a great way to talk about the the fashion space.
Let's get into your personal style a little bit more. So, you know, as I spend more time writing in the personal style space, rather than just consuming and becoming more and more interested in the why behind how people dress versus what people are wearing. Because as we've already talked about, you know, getting dresses is deeply personal. So in broad strokes, how do you decide what to buy and wear?
Kelly
Yeah, such a good question and I think very much a work in progress in this area. But so I think something that's foundationally helpful for me is that I make a really big budget. I got married when I was relatively young and so I didn't have any money. And and so I've always been a budget and then kept a wish list for as long as I can remember. And the how of my wishlist has kind of evolved, but I'm also a big believer in sleeping on something and waiting to purchase. So I tend to overthink everything, but I don't think I've ever regretted overthinking a purchase and weighing the cost of an item against my lifestyle, against how it fits within the larger context of my wardrobe. And I probably say no to like ten things for every one thing that I do. And usually an item that gets bought like fills a true hole in my wardrobe. And we could get into the nitty gritty of like a, a true need versus like what most of us experience, which is like a want, need and need, but it'll fill a true hole in my wardrobe or I just like, feel that visceral attraction. I can't get this off my mind kind of thing. And then a lot of things don't get purchased because maybe I'm unsure of the fit or the color. Oftentimes the cost is too high, so I just like, can't make the juice worth the squeeze. Like if I'm going to spend X amount on an item, I have to really feel like it's going to, like, do something for me, you know?
Maureen
Yeah. I would love to get into the nitty gritty of, of how you discern a need from a want. But this is a question I've been grappling with for a while, and I have a clear sense of, what my personal wants are versus my needs, but I'm having such a hard time kind of putting into words. So I'd love to hear from you. Like, do you have any way to describe the difference?
Kelly
Yeah. You know, like I said, work in progress, you and I, solidarity. Maureen, because I feel like that's a true issue that we're all sort of grappling with anybody who's like a consumer of fashion. Yeah, but I will say, like recently I started thinking about and shout out to Reeva left of tripping the Substack because she phrased it as like buying puzzle pieces for your wardrobe. And I really started to think about if something that I was buying gives me like a new piece of the puzzle, like a new a new thing that allows me to complete a picture more substantially. And so, for example, I have way too many pairs of jeans. So many jeans. I wear only a handful, but I like regularly. And then I have a couple that I sort of like rotate in and out of. And yet I will find myself putting. Pants and jeans on my wish list constantly. It's like a real problem jeans and then also like basic tees. I could buy a thousand little t shirts and I would have nowhere to wear them. And so I'm really trying in 2025 and I still keep my wish list, but I'm trying really hard to look critically at my wish lists like, well, does this actually like help you complete a new part of your puzzle or is this going to be redundant for what you already own? And, you know, time will tell if I'm good at that because, you know, there's still like at the top of my wish list is this like gray t shirt? And I'm like, I can't get myself to take it off my wish list. But I also know that it's it's going to go on the pile of t shirts that I already own. So like a work in progress.
Maureen
Yeah. I can just quickly share like the closest that I've gotten and see what resonates to us. So I would say that what helped me identify needs from once was ruthlessly cutting down the number of items in my closet at a time. So partially this was putting quite a few items just stored away in my closet and then over time actually decluttering a lot of these items. I think it's worth noting too that I did have some pretty big changes in my size, and so a lot of the things that I ended up parting with just didn't fit comfortably anymore, which made it a lot easier to part with them. Had they so fit, you know, maybe I would have a few of those pieces still because they were purchased with intention. But what I experienced from having a greatly reduced wardrobe was. You know, everything has to be a workhorse. Everything has to be comfortable. It has to be something that I can wash and wear, you know, at least once a week, or I can go a couple of times without washing. So understanding kind of what each garment needs to. Practically like how it needs to function is kind of half of it. And then the other half was like in a particular week, what am I wearing and how many of these items do I really need to go a week between doing laundry? I'm talking really specifically here because that's where the rubber meets. The road for me is like I'm doing one load of whites and one load of darks every weekend. And in between that I need to have enough things to wear for my real life. And so, you know, some people would say, oh, you only need two T-shirts. I completely disagree because for me, I'm wearing a t shirt every day with a different cardigan on top or a sweater on top. And so I need six or seven t shirts to make it through the week. And so. I guess the biggest thing for me was just changing the time scale on which I think about my clothes. I'm not thinking about how many garments do I need for a month. I'm thinking week by week. What am I wearing? What do I need? And then. You know, how many items does that actually require? And for me, right now, that's about 30 to 40 ish pieces and only a couple of bottoms and actually a bigger variety of tops and then a bigger variety of shoes. So, yeah, I'm just curious, like, what do you think about that? Do you think that having fewer pieces is required to come up with a wish list? Or is that just something that worked for me?
Kelly
Yeah. Well, so you bring up a really interesting exercise and and I'm not saying that this is the way that you approached it, but the idea of paring down your wardrobe to, fewer pieces. And then if we, like, actually physically moved the rest of our wardrobe out of our closet, it would be sort of interesting at what point we would bump up against this sort of need want that we're talking about. Right. Like, okay, so you pare down to the things that you really think, okay, this is the thing I wear all the time and I can really like make a wardrobe out of this. I saw and I followed your project. Three, three, three. And so I think that at some point in that for any of us, we would bump up against, like, oh, I didn't include like for myself, I have a really casual lifestyle so I could see me bumping up against. I didn't include a pair of trousers, but tonight I'm getting dressed up and so then pulling the trousers out of wherever, wherever we've stored the rest of our wardrobe and bringing it in. And I bet at the end of a week, to your point, we would have actually a very small number of pieces that we actually wore and needed, and we would find those pain points like you talked about with t shirts. Or like I said, if if somebody works in an office and they have, they're thinking, oh, most of what I wear is office wear. And then they realize that, Oh, would I like putting jeans on when I get home or whatever the case is? So it is sort of an interesting thought exercise in that way. And you live somewhere like I do where there's multiple seasons. And so I do think that there's also this constraint around weather that a lot of people have to face. Where I have we have really hot summers in Colorado and then we have really cold winters. And then obviously there's these like shoulder seasons where jackets are helpful and sweaters and stuff like that. And so I think when I think about missing puzzle pieces, I'm often thinking of the future season, right? So right now when I look at puzzle pieces I'm missing, I'm thinking about what I what constraint I felt in summer or fall. Also, because those items are on sale and I'm a budget are so I'm shopping those types of things. But usually I don't find that I'm missing anything in the season that I'm currently in, right? Like it's winter here, it's really cold and I'm like, Oh, I'm good, I've got sweaters, I've got jeans, I've got layering pieces, and no one could convince me that I need more winter clothes right now. And maybe in the summer I'll go. Yeah, but, Kelly, do you remember that you really wanted, like, a pair of more substantial boots that kept your feet warm? So there's that, like, hindsight advantage of being able to, like, see something as, Oh, I really could have used that when I needed it. And now enough time has passed that I could like thoughtfully make that purchase.
Maureen
Yeah. I think you bring up a good point. And I think this is something that I use to come up with my wish list, which is like paying attention to when I'm getting dressed in the morning. What am I reaching for that isn't there? And it sounds like, some of this you do in hindsight, but there must be mornings when you, you know, are getting dressed and there's those boots that you're talking about in summer. you're reaching for those, but they're not there. Those are the things that I would consider like those needs. Right. It's like when I had five t shirts and it's day five and yes, I could wear my jumpsuit, but I don't really feel like wearing that today. That's what I would say. Okay, maybe I need 6th t-shirt and or, maybe I'm getting dressed for dinner with friends and I don't want to wear a t shirt right now. I want to wear something a little bit different that might indicate to me, Oh, well, actually, I'd like to have a V-neck long sleeve top that brings a little bit of variety into how I'm dressing. those kind of things that I'm reaching for but don't have, that's personally how I'm trying to make my wish list. And it's actually to me, I most often make regret purchases when I'm buying for the season ahead because as diligent as I might have been with noticing those needs in the past season when it comes to buying it, when it's not the right weather, I'm forgetting about, you know, how maybe I want another maxi dress or a mini skirt, but when it comes down to it, if it's sweaty, you know, I that doesn't actually feel good on my body when summer comes around and I, I personally find I make better choices when I shop for the season that we're currently in, which, of course, you know, has its own drawbacks as far as like being able to get it or, you know, feeling rushed to purchase it. But anyway, just different approaches, it sounds like.
Kelly
Totally. Yeah. No, it's and it's really interesting because we all do approach shopping so differently. And I have friends who do impulse shopping better than me and I say better because like I can hardly go to a physical store and walk out with something anymore because I'm like, Oh, I really need to think about this purchase. And so, yeah, everyone's so different in the way that we build our wardrobes is so different. But you know, to, to the point of this podcast, it, it's sort of interesting the way that like as long as you are following your intuition and being really honest with yourself, then there's really no wrong way to shop, in my opinion.
Maureen
Yeah. Yeah. And collecting data about your own behavior and your own preferences. Right. And you know, to your point, it sounds like you have data on yourself that, you know, making impulse purchases is not something where you feel comfortable and that is totally valid. Like if if shopping online is something that you have more success with or, you know, going into shopping in a store with a list is more successful for you. To me, that's intuitive shopping, right? It's it's taking that data about your personal preferences and ignoring all the people online that are saying you should only shop in store you should only shop online, you should shop by link in bio. You know, at the core you've decided based on your own data, your own preferences, what, works for you and just going for it. And I think that's that's what we're here for. I love it. Talking a little bit more about your style. How has your style evolved over the years? Have you gone through any memorable phases?
Kelly
Yeah. You know, you mentioned a story earlier that really resonated with me because and so my style evolution was really heavily influenced by having kids. I had three babies in three years and once I was finished nursing my youngest and sort of like being able to like own my body as my own again. I remember feeling so lost in my style because I had been following a few influencers on Instagram like a little too closely and then just like mindlessly buying their recommendations. And naturally, these women did not have the same lifestyle that I did. They weren't having babies. They were recommending things that were great for them but did not work for me. And so that was a a memorable phase in the sense that I learned so, so, so much about myself. And and I'm really grateful that there was this collective shift toward minimalism and quiet luxury after I had kids, because fashion felt like it was focusing on buying good basics, good foundational pieces for your wardrobe. And and so I did that right. I bought jeans that actually fit me. I bought nice neutral tops and knits. I really think that anyone experiencing a life change, like you just graduated from college or you just had your kids, you're moving, you're going through menopause, all of those life changes, we have to give ourselves the grace to kind of start from scratch in our wardrobe. And and actually, it would be in those phases that I would tell anyone, like take a step back and really think about what is good for you in your lifestyle, because it's pretty rare that someone on the Internet is, is living the same life as you and they're recommending from their lifestyle. But it might be really different from your lifestyle.
Maureen
Yes, lifestyle. And also perhaps physical preferences on how you would like things to fit. So on that topic, how does body awareness influence the way you dress? Perhaps this is a new term to you, but basically body awareness would be, you know, do gravitate towards any specific textures or fits that, feel comfortable or safe on your body.
Kelly
Yes. all of my clothes have to lead with practicality because I have youngish kids. My kids are getting bigger now. But for a while when I was kind of building this foundational wardrobe, I prioritized being able to sit comfortably, like on the couch or on the floor, being able to cook food without a sleeve, getting in the way, to be able to like pick my kid up and carry them on my hip without it making my shirt right up or twist around or my dress, you know, also now it's too short. But I've never been someone who wears a lot of sweat pants. So I work from home. I will not see a solitary soul in the day except for my kids. And I will still opt for denim because getting dressed in a full outfit, like, really makes me feel like I did something for myself. So and so when it's specific styles, it's usually that I want to feel relatively put together, right? You saw my outfit today when we started this. I'm just wearing jeans and a knit, but I've opted for an actual knit sweater instead of a sweatshirt. And I opted for denim instead of leggings and not because they're better for, the way I look, but because they're better for the way I feel.
Maureen
I love that. I love it so much. Just hearing you say that, you know, getting dressed feels like you're doing something for yourself. I mean, that's what intuitive style is to me, is being able to identify. What works for you. And you know, I think somedays for me that's the same like putting on a pair of jeans that are comfortable enough to to work from home and all day. That sometimes feels exactly to your point, like, oh, I'm ready to take on the day. It's in alignment with, you know, how I'm feeling. And then other days you know, that that does feel accessible and maybe a pair of like, you know, nicer leggings that I could also wear out of the house without feeling that I'm missing that self-expression element that I would be looking for. I think is so important and deciding whatever that means for you on your best day or on a not so not so great date. I think is really important.
I also loved hearing you talk about, you know, finding pants that you can sit in. I don't know if you ever went through this phase of having a lot of pants that were punishing, I know, with the skinny jeans era and I know a lot of people are very comfortable in their skinny jeans I am not coming for you, but I know when I wore them I would often get stomach aches and feel just really uncomfortable or, you know, buy a pair of pants that really fit me comfortably because they made my butt look better or whatever. And I right now I'm absolutely loving buying pants that may to some people be considered too big, but to me are just right because I can sit in them and not feel uncomfortable.
Kelly
Well, totally. And I, I am so grateful to, you know, this fashion universe and the space that we're in right now because there's all these different silhouettes of pants that we are like we're kind of open minded toward, right? There have been fashion seasons where it's like low rise denim is the way to go. And if you're not wearing that and you're wearing mom jeans and, you know, that's sort of labeled as uncool or like you said, skinny jeans. And right now it feels really freeing to get to choose like really any variety of Jean that you want to wear. And I'm so grateful that we are normalizing, buying maybe a bigger size right there. It feels like from a trend perspective, we're all okay saying I sized up in these jeans or whatever and that's freeing because as a millennial, I grew up very attached to the number that was like on my size, right? Yeah. And, and I was, I still wore my pre kid jeans after I had kids, still wore them for like probably two years. And to your point it was punishing. It was so punishing to myself and really unfair to poor Kelly, who just wouldn't go to the mall and buy new pants. And so truly, the I mean, the last time that I like really, really shopped in a mall was going and saying, I'm going to buy pants that fit me today. I'm going to go to the store and I'm going to try on, you know, four different sizes and figure out which size actually fits me. And I'm going to buy it and I'm not going to care what the number is. And so, yeah, so, so, so grateful that we are existing in this time when it feels like there's just a greater variety. We're not trying to squeeze everybody all these round pat or square pegs into round holes, you know.
Maureen
Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. And I love to talk with you a little bit about trends. I know being in kind of the minimalist space, I know we're kind of both in that space. In between, I hear a lot about like timeless dressing and avoiding trends. And, you know, my personal take is like, I'm glad there are trends. If there weren't trends, there would be no, no. Now, we wouldn't be able to have this like wealth of different parts to choose from, for example, or, you know, what, if the thing that was the trend at the moment was, was something that just inherently didn't work for us and we weren't able to find things that were in stores right now that that met our need. But we could find it from, you know, the thrift store or, you know, just to me, like a trend really helps us, helps over time, bring freshness and variety and not getting stuck in and one particular time. So I'm curious for like your take on trends and how they relate to to dressing timelessly, if at all?
Kelly
Yeah, absolutely. I, I will like gladly admit that I am a total trend follower. I like trends. I like the way that you, as you put it, trends kind of allow us to like open our eyes to something that we might not have considered before. Right. So like a couple of years ago when sneakers became fashionable and we're talking like the sambo's. Right. And I was. It was. Such a eye opener for me that someone who's always I've always kind of identified more on the feminine side of dressing. And also I'm seeing girls on the Internet wearing like these great maxi dresses with a pair of sneakers. And I thought, Oh, like that. That's really cool. I like the tension that's in that outfit between the masculine and feminine. I also like that sneakers are a really comfortable shoe option, but I don't have to go full like sport mode to wear any. So I like I ate it up. I remember I got a pair of adidas and I was like, this fits so well in my wardrobe. I feel really like I'm able to self express in a genuine way, even though they were trendy and it was hard buying a pair of handbags at the time because obviously half the internet is telling you to do it and the other half of the Internet is telling you that if you went out and bought some because you are such a fool, because it's just a trend. Yeah. And so I love having one finger on a pulse of trends because it really does let you dip your toe into something that you may not have realized was for you. Right. That even this conversation that we had around denim shape, the shapes of denim. I was a skinny, skinny jean girl. And then when shapely denim, you know, different silhouettes, barrel cuts, horseshoe came out, I thought, mm, I don't know about that, but I did buy one pair just to kind of like get my toe in and I really loved wearing them. And so I collected another pair and, and I liked using them to contrast these in between these days that I was wearing slimmer denim. And now I love that my wardrobe contains both or not that there's two silhouettes, but like that it contains a multitude of silhouettes. And you know, we talked about having a pared down wardrobe and there's so much good in that. But I also really to be the devil's advocate, I also love being able to have a wardrobe that contains, you know, a good barrel like denim and a good straight denim and a good wide leg. Because, I don't know, it could be that like on a day to day basis, you're feeling a different thing. Or it could be like seasonally where you're like, You know what I am? I all I want to do is put on those wide leg pants and you do it over and over. And my advice to anyone is like, don't get rid of the denim that you're not wearing anymore. I mean, size with standing, comfort with standing, like tuck them away somewhere else if you really think you're not going to wear them, but don't get rid of them because trends do come back around, as we all know at this point. And it would be nice to have it and not have to go out and rebuy it.
Maureen
Totally. And I think you just kind of hit the nail on the head with exactly what this podcast is about. You know, I think I used to have this perspective of like, okay, I really want to write online and be in the fashion space, but I just don't really feel comfortable, sharing what I'm doing as kind of the the law of the land or trying to to assert the, you know, the way that I get dressed as the way that other people should. And I think that's for many years kind of how fashion influencers and, magazines kind of were were positioned as, you know, quote unquote, experts. And, yes, there is certainly expertize involved with, finding the right brands or finding high quality pieces or really knowing what is coming up trend wise and being able to kind of to be on top of that. And I'm not negating any of that at all. But for me, taking the time to share what works for me and also acknowledge that that is personal. And you know, my choice to only wear full length pants feels really good to me and I have no desire whatsoever to come online and tell people that they should only wear full length pants, but really just share that like it's okay if you want to do that, it's okay if you want to have a multitude of pants options. And really by sitting with ourselves and, and seeing ourselves as separate from that, we're in relation to people online. I think that's how we, we understand ourselves better and can make space for like our personal preferences and just and just be okay with them and, know that disagreeing or having your own way of doing something doesn't mean anything about anyone else, right? Like you and I can dress differently and love and respect the way that the other person dresses. And and I think that's kind of where we're moving towards. I think I hope as the fashion space is like mutual respect and understanding. And yeah, I just I think that's where we're going and I hope that's where we're going.
Kelly
I hope so, too. And I and I have to say, like Substack has been a truly special space for me to cultivate that muscle that you're talking about of like, Oh, I can love that for you. And it not necessarily be for me because I think that there's a greater multitude of people posting their outfits or their thoughts and feelings about fashion. And and I found that I'm able to appreciate everyone's outfit as it is on them, but not necessarily feel like, oh my gosh, I have to go try to figure that outfit out for myself.
Maureen
Yeah, yeah. I love that. So I just heard some fantastic advice on keeping the pants. Totally agree. Is there any other advice that you would give to someone trying to build a wardrobe that feels intuitive and authentic to them?
Kelly
Yeah, you know, I thought about this a lot, so I will say that for me, as I as I mentioned, like it was really important for me to build a foundational wardrobe. And so Irene Kim on Substack has an amazing three part series about like building a foundational wardrobe. I highly recommend starting there for anybody who is is building their wardrobe. But assuming that someone has all of the building blocks in place, I am a big fan and we touched on this earlier. I'm a big fan of observing what you like and others and then trying to distill it down. There's so much advice right now and like trusting your gut and don't consume fashion media because it's unhelpful for you. But I actually think that like watching a coworker or a neighbor or someone that you see at the gym every day, seeing what it is about their outfit that speaks to you and I think is is helpful, and as you said, it taps into that intuitive feeling. And I went through intuitive eating as a course in different seasons of my life as I've struggled with disordered eating and something that they're really big on is like being able to be in touch with, with what you're feeling and what you're thinking.
And I have since kind of expounded on that to say like, well, what would fulfill me physically versus fulfill me mentally, right? So like I might be full of food, but mentally I kind of want to eat a little bit more and that would fulfill me mentally. And so I do think that there's this really crucial component when you're building your wardrobe of like what fulfills you physically foundational stuff and then what fulfills you emotionally. And that's where you just really have to master seeing other people's stuff going. I notice that they wear really feminine tops and I don't have a lot of feminine tops in my wardrobe, so maybe I'll. I'll experiment with the feminine touch.
And then there's just such smart people on the Internet who have broken down the style of fashion icons. And so you can use those as a study in clothes, right? Alison Bornstein has done the three word method for a bunch of popular celebrities or people who are like classical icons like Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. And I think that it's helpful to listen to someone else talk about style and see how they break down style and then go, Oh, what actually resonates with me about Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen is the fact that all of their clothes are oversize. Huh? I didn't I didn't know that before. And now I know that. And now I can look for oversize pieces for myself.
So, yeah, I mean, I will sing the song that it's a great it's it's helpful to be on the Internet when you're trying to figure out your style, even though that seems a little counterintuitive. And in some ways I love it. I mean, full circle to just go back to my first question about what is Midimalist and and how, for you that was understanding your preferences as you found them through other people and understanding like, oh, this is the thing that I'm drawn to about that and why or or how that plays out for me might not be exactly how it plays out for them, but I'm still, you know, learning from them and understanding that maybe my space is a little bit different.
Maureen
Totally, yes. Well, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much for everything that you've shared as per usual. I'm just in of the kind of self-reflection and an awareness that you have around your style and how you turn that into really cool outfits, too. So thank you again. And where can our listeners find you?
Kelly
Yes, please come find me on Substack. It's the only place I really exist on the internet. But my Substack is Midimalist and I'm a major fan of the chat because the people in the Midimalist chat are just like so kind and supportive. And if you are on your fashion journey and really like trying to figure it out, you like there's just a million cheerleaders in the minimalist chat who will tell you you look awesome today or try wearing these kind of shoes. So it's the best.
Maureen
I love it. I second that you've really created a great community in that chat, so kudos to you for for making that space for people. Well, thanks so much, Kelly. And any thing that Kelly just referenced in this call, make sure to include links with the episode. And with that, I'll say goodbye.
Closing
Well, that was super fun. Thank you again to our guest,
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