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Julie Watson is a fashion maven based in Chicago. Check her out at juliewatsonstyle.com.

Here’s the skinny on rejuvenating your wardrobe: work from the base up. The architecture of your collection is comprised of a base layer of essentials, a second layer of novelty style essentials and a top layer of trend.

Think of it as a pyramid made up of three tiers.

The 1st Tier: Essentials
Essentials are the base of your collection and should be 50 percent of your assortment. These are the key pieces that ground your wardrobe, and are the items to invest in. Focus on quality and construction. These pieces are going to be your wardrobe’s foundation for multiple seasons, so spending more here is worth the investment for the longevity they will provide you. Some examples of essentials are a perfect black suit, a timeless cardigan, a crisp white shirt, a black skirt, a pair of trousers, great fitting jeans and a little black dress. Essentials are both timely and timeless-that is what makes them essential!

The 2nd Tier: Novelty Style Essentials
Novelty Style Essentials (NSE) are the punctuation of your collection and should be 35 percent of your assortment. These are the pieces that add spirit and flavor to your wardrobe. Here you should begin to layer on more color, print, pattern and silhouette detail. This level of the pyramid focuses on your top half: sweaters, knits, blouses, jackets in addition to dresses. This is your opportunity to express your style personality and have fun. Examples include a tweed blazer with velvet trim, a plum sweater with a ruffled sleeve and neckline, a bold floral dress and a striped tuxedo shirt.

Versatility is the key: the secret to picking the right NSE is to make sure each item can be incorporated with the grounding elements of your Essentials. To function as the second layer of your pyramid, NSEs need to connect to the base in order to build a strong collection.

The 3rd Tier: Trend
Trend items are the icing of your collection and should be 15 percent of your assortment. This is the place to have fun and experiment with new ways of expressing your style personality! Trend can be interpreted subtly or literally, and what’s trend for one person may not be trend for another. If you have a fashion-forward style personality, you will take even more risks experimenting with trend. If you have a conservative style personality, your version of trend may simply be an unexpected seasonally relevant color, unusual texture, or unique sleeve detail. Be careful about spending too much on items in this tier, because trend items have a relatively short lifespan. If you’re watching your budget, invest in essentials first, novelty second and get trend from a “fast fashion” resource. Great stores like H&M, Zara or Forever 21 have of-the-moment interpretations of what’s happening on the runways at a fraction of the cost. Shopping with them can be a fun, relatively inexpensive way to keep your third tier updated without breaking the bank!

Remember…It’s All About the Right Balance!
If you’re staring at a closet full of clothes feeling like you have nothing to wear, your collection is probably unbalanced. Without this three-tier architecture, an unbalanced collection comes tumbling down! If it’s too top-heavy with trend, you will wind up wasting money reinventing your wardrobe season after season, year after year. If it’s too heavy in the middle with novelty style essentials, you’ll have a wardrobe that is filled with “piecey” items that don’t work together to make strong outfits. If it’s too light on the bottom you won’t have enough clean pieces to ground your bolder trends and novelty style essential items.

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