Shopping Your Closet

Any time I get into that slump of feeling like I have nothing to wear, I ‘shop my closet’. Depending on the time of year and my mood, I can do this in two different ways (together or separately).

1. Closet Edit: A fully blown closet edit means combing back through every piece in your wardrobe and deciding what goes and what stays. Two main deciding factors in determining what to keep vs ditch are 1. have I worn this in the last full year (changing seasons being considered) and 2. will I wear this in the next one to two years. Well-made basics always make the cut as they will stand the test of time and provide staples for your wardrobe to build upon.
2. Re-organizing: ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ I am a firm believer that if you cannot see everything easily, you will forget about it. With is being summer now, I don’t need to see my sweaters. So my re-org at the moment would include moving sweaters and knits to a less visible area so that dresses, tees, etc. can move into a more prominent position. The same goes for accessories (shoes, jewelry, bags).

If you get through those two projects and see gaps in your closet, then by all means, shop! However, I find that doing this gives a better sense of what you actually have (for example, I found a chic white blazer in the back of my closet that I haven’t worn in years!) and should allow you to determine what exactly is missing. It gives you a to-do list, in a sense, to use when you shop. Let’s be honest, how many times have you jumped in the car for a spur-of-the-moment shopping trip and come home with a hodgepodge of items that you’re excited to wear but either don’t fit within your existing wardrobe or look all too similar to something you already have?

You can do a complete revamping of your wardrobe any time! Unlike New Year’s when we make our resolutions and change for the new calendar year, your style can change at any time and YOU get to make the decision on when that is. Whether you have a major life change (a new job or move to a new city) or just a random Saturday where you wake up feeling like it’s time for a change, take the opportunity to make your wardrobe fit for what you want to project to the world at that point in your life.