How do you save and organize inspo images?
Still figuring out my taste, but getting better at identifying pieces and fits that I like. I want to start saving reference images, but figured it would be good to have a system in place.
How are you all saving images of fits that you like? Does it all just get dumped in one folder? Is it on Instagram? Or do you have a way of organizing it?
18 Replies
Hi @papa! For better answers, include:
- Reference pictures
- Budget in numbers
- Specific measurements
- Openness to buying secondhand and/or online
- Location: country/continent is fine
- Timing/urgency
i just got a bunch of screenshots and saved images in a folder on my phone
I use pinterest, more or less in one folder
i’ll occasionally divide stuff into vague themes like ‘winter westernwear’ and such but most of the time just my main board or whatever pinterest call it
The best/least helpful answer for this is “whatever method will get you to actually use it”, so just make sure you’re considering that when you evaluate this stuff. There’s all kinds of answers with lots of pros and cons but the best system is the one that fits your preference, so try a few out and see what sticks.
Most common solutions I think are to use your phone’s stock photos app, or a social media option like pinterest or instagram. I use a convoluted series of tubes and wires to save it to Obsidian but I don’t recommend this unless you already know what Obsidian is.
I used to use a folder on my phone but I've been liking mood.site lately cause I can just kinda let my eyes glaze over and look at all the images at once to find the common threads in my inspo
mood.site
moood - Create Beautiful Mood Boards
Create and share visual mood boards with drag-and-drop simplicity
Tumblr mainly because i've been using it for 14 years at this point so you can see how your taste develops and build up a nice archive
also is the best for digging because people uploaded more niche stuff compared to pinterest
i tattoo the best ones on my forearm
are your forearms huge or do you not have much inspiration
I have one big Pinterest folder that I’m scared to look at because it’s very disorganized.
I post inspo here regularly and share it to a private discord so I have it catalogued in a way that’s more bite sized.
Also dumping everything in G photo albums is a valid option :harold:
I started with pinterest and now i use pinterest and then from that pick my favorites to put into are.na
mostly use one big pinterest board. Used to use a few sub-boards but found it was unnecessarily splintering things, and it's more useful to place everything in one board.
Something I make a point of doing is not only pinning interesting fits or fashion photography - resulting in an inspiration board that's abstracted from my wardrobe - but also pinning specific garments and accessories I currently own or am considering purchasing. Mixing them in with the inspiration helps clarify and make connections between what I am doing and what I might want to do, between what I have and what I'm looking to buy, etc.
For when I want to organize things more intentionally, e.g. to post to #inspiration , I'll download stuff from the board and bring it into pureref (a cool lightweight but powerful, free tool) to arrange visually.
For bringing together and making one:
Used to do Pinterest then got for annoyed at clicking everything.
Used to do folders on my pc / OneDrive sync on mobile
Have used Miro (interactive whiteboard) for other design stuff. Might be an option for you.
mixed option as I sort through pics (Pinterest, IG, phone/laptop storage/OneDrive sync all have their pros and cons)
i do have a private discord solely to forward posts which is feeling like a good mix of efficient and useful, since one could add numerous subsections and threads
Private discord honestly an underrated option, i would maybe caution that discord has been like insanely lenient with data retention policies, more than I would expect, so I would make sure you have an evacuation plan in place in case they ever decide to start deleting old images/files. but aside from that, good organization systems possible with it.
google photo album with 3k imagss
I have a pasteboard in a Figma file, it has both inspo pictures and my wardrobe in it