Our favourite tips to get your wardrobe in order, and to get you to fall in love with it again! From moodboards, to the ‘NO’ pile, consider this your nudge to allocate some time this weekend to be the boss of your own style.
This is no easy feat – set a whole day or even a weekend aside to make time for your new wardrobe. Make things interesting and invite the girls around for a wardrobe cleanse night where you sip wine and make it fun!
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This is for your dream/ ideal style you want to portray. Look through pinterest, magazines, influencers you follow/ look up to that have a style aesthetic that appeals to you. This will help you gain clarity and inspiration. Focus on things you do and don’t like about your style and elements you’d like to retain or change. Having clarity before embarking upon a cleanse is key.
Sturdy bags: to transport unwanted items to their new destination
Tape measure: Measure shelving and hanging space. Don’t forget a notebook to jot down your closet’s measurements.
Full-length mirror: Decide what to “keep” and “let go,” and make sure your mirror can accommodate your entire image.
A catch-all basket: Collect change, papers, rubber bands, hair clips, that $20 in your old jean pocket (score!), and assorted receipts in pants pockets. Do not stop in the middle of organizing to put these items away; put them aside for now into this catch-all basket.
Remove everything from your wardrobe, giving you plenty of bare space. Keep the sturdy bags handy and start setting aside any unwanted items.
Do you really need it? Be brutal. Anything you no longer wear goes on the “no” pile.
The best way to start decluttering your clothes is to take it all out; and start to organise the items into piles that make sense: i.e. shoes, outerwear, evening wear, and more. Figure out what you have and how many you have. Now, make some decisions. If you have 18 pairs of jeans and only wear 2 of them, start culling! Sort again into piles: “yes” , “no” or “not sure.”
Many of us fear decluttering because we love to hold onto things we “may need one day” or “used to fit” or “may be in style again one day”. The questions you need to ask yourself when you are “not sure” are; do you love it? Do you wear it? Does it work with the moodboard you have created of your dream style? If the answer is “yes” to all three- perfect, keep it!
If not- this is when the girls come in. Get real ‘Sex and the City’ and make some signs for them to hold up- get the drinks out and enjoy yourselves! Perhaps you are all doing a wardrobe cleanse together and you can all bring your “not sure” piles over- you may even find hidden gems in each others “not sures”!
Whether it’s giving your items to local charity store, a friend or relative, or an organisation like Dress for Success – which provides women with quality workwear, skills and employment confidence – donating is a fulfilling prospect. Or, of course, there’s resale: a smart way to make the most of your pre-loved pieces (never regard them as “unwanted”).
Sites like Depop, Iconic – Airrobe, Vestiare Collective, provide all the tools you need to shift your goods for cash – they’re also wonderfully user-friendly. Rental, too, is an option. The Volte is a super easy rental platform you can upload your own pieces onto for others to rent.
Wooden clothes hangers are a must (no wire or plastic hangers) and, if you’re short on space, some additional storage. i.e. cute shoe racks, a chest of drawers, wall hooks etc.
Now that all the clothing you own is out of your wardrobe, use this time to take a few pictures of key pairings of pieces that you can refer to when outfit planning. We recommend trying the clothes on taking a mirror selfie so you can see yourself in it for a quick and easy reference! Add these to your moodboard- or a folder in your phone named; Wardrobe.
Also watch this space for our very own YSE offerings of this! Coming soon.
Think about your favourite boutique store and mimic this when re-organising your wardrobe. Everything is organised by colour, category, season and folded to perfection. We recommend firstly organising clothes by groupings, and then by fabric.
Gather swimwear, long-sleeve shirts, work pants, dresses, button-down shirts, jeans, shorts, etc., and decide the best place to store each item as a group (e.g., hang pants in the closet, fold and stack t-shirts). Working with groupings will help you figure out how much space you need and the best way to store each type of item.
Then make sure that certain fabrics are stored correctly. Delicate, crease-prone materials, like silk, lace, chiffon or satin, should be hung. Linen garments, too, are best hung-up to prevent wrinkles (if you’re short on space and need to fold, some suggest turning linen inside out).
Stretchier pieces that could deform if they’re suspended for too long should be folded. Weightier pieces, including knitwear, should be carefully packed away, too.
Dresses (except knitted or stretchy designs), blouses and dress trousers should all be in your wardrobe, while jeans, jumpers and T-shirts will all live happily in drawers.
Reserve the front and middle of your wardrobe for clothes you wear most often. If you have to get dressed for work each morning at 7 a.m., make sure your work clothes are at the front of your closet. You should store lesser-worn items like formal wear and out-of-season clothes toward the back and on the upper shelves. These may even hang on a wall hook as you are now so organised and can pull the items out the night before!
Use a conscious approach when adding any missing pieces to your wardrobe. Invest in pieces that will stand the test of time, made of quality materials and something you can see yourself wearing for many years to come. Try to stick to a one-in-one-out policy. This will to keep your newly-organised closet neat and tidy, and encourage you to think long and hard about which pieces really deserve a spot in your wardrobe. In the words of the late, great Vivienne Westwood: “Buy less, choose well and make it last.”
