As Josh and I are finishing up work with our latest client, she's been on my mind daily and has turned out to be my inspiration for this latest article. This particular client has a very interesting story as she came to us looking for someone to help her re-build a wardrobe that she'd spent 30 years carefully compiling, only to have it lost in a fire a couple months ago. She's been amazing to work with and it's brought me personally so much joy to witness us being able to help her feel optimistic about a very sad and frustrating situation.

I got to thinking about what if that had happened to me? Where would I even start? That's when I thought this may be a very interesting exploration as it seemed it would be a way for me to communicate to my readers what I think are the must-have foundation pieces for a woman's wardrobe this fall. I'm not going to lie, this article took me a solid day to pull together as I only let myself choose 20 items, and of course I wanted to find the "best" available. I'm putting best in quotes because what I think is the best is not going to be universal among all of my readers. As you'll see I've "chosen my battles" a technique I've written about in other articles. I chose to spend more money where I think it's important to do so, less in categories where I know you can still achieve the same classic and high-quality look while spending less.  A couple more things: 1. I did not give myself a budget to work within, I simply chose what I think is the best available online today for the 20 different key pieces, and 2. I did not cover things like undergarments, athletic attire, etc. I just stuck to work and casual wear essentials.



After all of that, what did I choose?
1. Black pants (works with blazer to make a suit)
2. Trench coat
3. Pearls
4. Tank top
5. Pencil skirt (works with blazer as well)
6. Long, refined cardigan
7. Black pumps
8. Black blazer
9. Dark blue denim
10. Statement belt
11. Printed blouse
12. T-shirt
13. Tall boots
14. White button-down
15. Handbag
16. Casual cardigan
17. Dress
18. Hoop earrings
19. Black denim (that I would hem to the ankle)
20. Flats
(*Please see downloadable word doc for product details and links to purchase)

How much would this all cost to buy? My choices ended up tallying at about $8500.00, which may sound crazy but when you're starting with nothing and you are in a financial position to make some educated decisions about where to spend your money, this is what I would recommend this season. I would love to read what some of your lists/choices would be if you are up for the challenge! Please send them to me at and if I get enough responses I'll report back in an upcoming article.

Jennifer Bakken is a San Francisco based wardrobe consultant.
For more information: cabinetdenvie.com.