Closet Clean Chapter 2

If you’re just tuning, in this is Part 2 of a 6 part miniseries guiding you through your seasonal wardrobe change-out, which is neither romantic nor sponsored, but I firmly believe that taking good care of what you already have is one of the least respected personal sustainability practices available to us, and so I’m writing this series alongside actually doing the swap myself at home.

In Part 1, we talked about Prep, and I hope you had the chance to gather up what you will need since then. This dispatch covers thinking about your ideal wardrobe for the season, and will require very little other than your discipline and imagination.

You will need to have unpacked your stored clothing and accessories for the incoming season, and to have access to your “seasonless” clothing, or what you wear year round.

Slight diversion - many years ago I mentioned the concept of “seasonal” clothing in conversation with an old friend, who adamanty claimed that there is no such thing as “seasonal” clothing, that all clothing should be worn year round. I get that this balance is different for different people, but I find it incredibly helpful to remove the distraction of super winterized sweaters, heat tech, down coats, etc during the summer and store them well for later use. Whatever floats your boat is what you should do, my rules are not prescriptive.

First, you need access to your agenda (even if it’s just in your head). Think of the parties, meetings, presentations, and travel you have coming up, and what you will need to have on hand in order to make those events less stressful. Contemplating what you’re going to require from your wardrobe in the coming months will keep you from needing to buy anything unless you actually want or need to. And by the way, this is equally as true is you plan on doing a lot of gardening (maybe you have a drawer of clothing reserved for being in the dirt) or if you have a lot of galas. This isn’t a fancy/not fancy thing, just a functionality thing.

Side note: not everyone knows what the next six months of their life will bring way in advance. Planning includes planning for the unexpected, so if you’re reading this and thinking ok loser some of us like to live spontaneously, I am telling you that can plan to be able to be spontaneous.

Next, think about your state of mind when you’e getting dressed. I am typically getting dressed in a short amount of time very early in the morning, so I know that my appetite for adventure and my general creativity level will be in the gutter. If the world was fair, I would get dressed at 10 am, long after everyone has left my home and my coffee has seeped in and I have taken a walk in the fresh air, but alas… this is not reality. So I plan around knowing I’ll be tired and cranky so that it’s not a miserable experience. This means putting thought in on the front end as to what actually does the work in your wardrobe.

Next, but also, related, is there something in your wardrobe that you have absolutely never worn, and causes you such dread and guilt over never having worn it that you are almost embarrassed to even make eye contact with it? If yes, and this item does not spark joy and creative vibes for you every time you open your closet, do not put it out. Assembling a lifetime wardrobe means that not everything you own needs to be on offer at all times. Give it rest, return to it another time, I promise you something is coming your way that will justify its existence, and when it does the dread will be gone.

The theory to this practice is that instead of focusing on what we are putting away, we are focusing on what we are planning to have available. We’re in the mindset of abundance and celebration, not restriction and goodbyes.

Now, with everything out and your next few months of life in your mind, it’s time to play! Here’s what I mean:

If you wear dresses or anything else in one-piece, put together an edit of the ones that will work for the weather ahead and that you’ll feel great wearing. If something does not fit you just right right now, do not include it. The only thing worse than having something totally useless or unworn staring you in the face every day is having something that makes you feel anything other that comfortable and beautiful. If it doesn’t fit right now and you don’t want to get it altered, get ready to store it for a year and revisit next year.

Now move on to your separates, which is definitely the most fun part of this process. Try things on! Play! Mix and match! The point of this part is to come up with an offering that is going to give you a lot of options, or at least to know what your options are so that when you’re cranky and tired and getting dressed in the morning (I’m talking to myself mainly), you don’t have to put much guess work into it. Photograph the outfits if you can! Save them to a folder in your phone so you don’t even have to think about it. Make the Clueless closet of your dreams.

This process sounds really decadent and useless and self-absorbed, but it will realistically take maybe an hour, and hopefully for you it’s a fun way to play and care for yourself.

The more thought you put into this now, the better you will feel about getting dressed later. I truly, truly hope that one day in the future I’ll have some leisurely peaceful mornings where I can have more fun in my closet and experiment on a daily basis with what makes me feel best, but the reality is that I am an extremely busy person with a ton of responsibilities, and I do not currently have that time. So I plan accordingly.

At this point your closet should be bare, and you can take everything you just played with and assemble it into a cohesive, easy wardrobe for the season ahead and start putting things into your closet. If it’s overstuffed, try to take some things out. Everything should be accessible, visible, and either folded or hung such that it’s not going to get wrinkly and weird before you wear it.

Everything you’re looking at should now be what you plan to wear. Around this, assuming you also have seasonal accessories (shoes, handbags, brooches!, fascinators!, scarves! I don’t know your life!), you can edit down these accessories to only have access to the things you will actually wear with what is available to you. No confusion, no dead ends, nothing you know you won’t wear.

One note: I thoroughly believe in getting dressed up. When I reference a fun, easy wardrobe, I am not relegating myself to flowy linen clothing with elastic waistlines and colorful sweatshirts - there’s nothing wrong with that style but it’s not mine. Your fun, easy wardrobe could be 100 Herve Leger bandage dresses, if that’s your style - the point is that they should be bandage dresses you feel good in, that fit you well, that you know you’ll wear.

Ok, you have a wardrobe now. The next step is going to be assessing what’s not in your wardrobe, and caring for the things you won’t be seeing til a later date. Once again the program is:

1. Prepare

2. Edit This Season’s Wardrobe (you’re here now)

3. Assess and Repair

4. Gift, Sell, Donate, Repair

5. Storage

6. Living With Your Things

See you soon, and good luck!

til then

Anja