How to Clear Out Your Closet
Update Your Wardrobe by Dressing for Your Body Shape
If you are one of millions of women who have a closet full of clothes yet still have nothing to wear, then it is time to detox your wardrobe!
This may well be a painful and emotional process but clearing out your closet can change your life! Just as detoxing your body can have a life changing effect, so can detoxing your closet.
Too often women hoard clothing, shoes and fashion accessories which they are never likely to wear again. If you are at the stage where you open the doors and still struggle to find something to wear, then as you examine each piece, ask yourself these 6 fundamental questions:
- Have I worn this within the last 12 months?
- Does it fit me now?
- Do I feel good when I wear it?
- Do I look good when I wear it?
- Am I comfortable in it?
- Does it hold any special sentimental connection for me?
If the answer is no, then it is time to purge your wardrobe!
The Benefits of Clearing Out Your Closet
Not only does clearing out your closet give you a huge mental lift but it also allows you to move forward in developing your own fashion style to enable you to feel more confident and self-assured. The main criteria is to clear the clutter and make space, and then develop a knowledge of how to accentuate your assets and play down your flaws.
Your new make-over is about downsizing your wardrobe and upsizing your life! Get rid of what neither fits nor suits you. You can then begin to build-up a new wardrobe gradually with (fewer) pieces which make you feel (and look) great and in colors and styles to suit your body type. Whether you are big or small, tall or short, dressing with style is not about size, it is about dressing for your shape!
Step 1 – Do Your Research on Women's Fashion
- Read up on the multitude of women's fashion advice that is available here at Suite 101 so you have a better idea of what styles and cuts flatter your body type. Get to know your body shape by analyzing your figure – are you wide-hipped, big-busted, flat-chested, short or thick-waisted? There is a plethora of fashion advice available for pear-shaped and apple-shaped women and any other shape you care to mention.
Step 2 –Purge Your Wardrobe
- Remove all your pieces from the closet and ask yourself the above questions. If necessary put them into piles termed "yes, no and maybe " to help clarify your mind. The more ruthless you are, the more space you will have to build up a better style wardrobe. Be honest with yourself – if you haven’t worn it in a year, what are the chances of you wearing it again?
- Don’t hang on to things in the hope that you’ll lose weight. Concentrate on what pieces, colors and cuts will slim your silhouette now, by learning fashion style tips and tricks. If you do eventually lose weight then that is the time to reward yourself with some new clothes, rather than try to squeeze into the old ones. A possible exception to this is your wedding dress or another outfit that hold sentimental memories. It’s okay to keep these, providing they instill positive emotions and not negative ones!
Step 3 –Seek Honest Advice from a Friend
- Enlist the help of an honest friend or family member you can give you a truthful opinion as to fit, color and suitability. This can actually turn out to be fun as you try on all your clothing and both reminisce about memories, having a good laugh at some of the older styles and women's fashion trends.
Step 4 –Dispose of Unwanted Items
- Dispose of all your unwanted or unflattering items by giving them to a charity or thrift shop, or sell them on eBay or in a yard sale. This will make you feel good mentally or possibly raise a few dollars to put towards a few pieces for the new you!
Step 5 –Treat Your Clothing with Care
- Treat clothes you decide to keep with love and care. Store them correctly when placing them back in your wardrobe and cupboards and use them as the starting point for your fashion makeover. Change your perspective and consider accessories as just as much a part of your wardrobe as your clothes. A simple shift dress or classic black pair of pants can be lifted and revolutionized with a great on trend bag or some look-at-me shoes!
Step 6 – Create a Brand New You
- As you build up your closet include key pieces that are classic, versatile and timeless. Combine this with a few fun fashion outfits which are right on trend and continue to update your fashion accessories in the colors of the season; whilst keeping a backdrop of go anywere, anytime staple garments.
- You do not need to spend hours in the gym to wear clothing styles that will make you look slimmer. Do some research by reading one of the many great books on the market. The Little Black Book of Style (Nina Garcia, Collins 2007); The Body Shape Bible (Trinny & Susannah,Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007);Trinny and Susannah Take on America -What Your Clothes Say About You (Collins 2006) or Colour Me Confident – Change Your Look Change Your Life (Veronique Hendersen and Pat Henshaw, Hamlyn 2006).
Quality Not Quantity
Remember that your wardrobe makeover should be more about cut, color and style, and quality rather than quantity. It is better to have twenty very wearable and versatile items hanging in your closet than a hundred unwearable pieces, stuffing it to the brim.
A smaller wardrobe of wearable outfits also give you a lot more positive mental space in your closet and makes packing for vacations and business trips so much easier. If clothing and colors co-ordinate together this enables you to travel light.
