By Lauren Boughner
Kara Lane was intrigued when she heard that the average woman only wears 20 percent of her clothing. So she decided to write a book about it, recently releasing “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Style & Clothing: A Step-by-Step Process for Creating the Perfect Wardrobe.”
“The CPA in me made me check that out, and I looked at my own closet,” Lane said. “What led me to actually write it was that I couldn’t find a system that worked, and so I decided to create one.”
The Carmel resident spent 600 hours researching, doing interviews, observing shoppers, requesting quotes, reading and writing before she began to market her book.
“I’ve always been an avid reader and loved learning new things,” she said.
She discovered that, “We’re better off buying what looks good and feels good on us.” Her system has 10 simple steps that allow a woman to create her own checklist of her personal fashion priorities, and this helps her eliminate choices when shopping for what she needs.
“There’s so many things people want to do other than pick out their outfits,” Lane said. “They can get on with their lives and do more important things than worry about what they wear.”
Lane said that this process has worked for her own wardrobe.
“I need fewer clothes. And the clothes I have are better,” she said. “I get more compliments on them, and they are more versatile.”
She enjoyed talking to owners of boutiques in Carmel as research for her book.
“I try to make it a point to include people from Carmel,” she said. “I definitely have strong ties to the community and have lived here for quite some time.”
“The Smart Woman’s Guide to Style & Clothing” is available on Amazon, in bookstores and as an e-book. For more info, visit karalane.com.
