Do you feel like the contents in your wardrobe don’t actually resemble how you currently spend your life now?
Feeling like your wardrobe is filled with clothes from a life in the past? Pre-covid, you wore proper shoes, dresses or tailoring. Now; your world and life doesn’t require you to dress the same way you once did. Plus, if it does, it’s perhaps once a week or even once a month.
Dress for the life you have now, not the one you had before.
My new motto feels so relevant right now based upon a number of conversations I’ve been having.
If you’ve got to rifle through clothes you’re not wearing, frankly it adds time to your day. It makes it hard work and a little demoralising too.
It reminded me of this article from the Daily Mail a few years ago reporting that women spend 17 minutes every day deciding what to wear and your past wardrobe won’t help.
Time to change things around and take some control. Let me share my own example.
Old ways of dressing
I used to work in the corporate world and had plenty of tailored suits and dresses which I loved. When I stopped working in that industry, these tailored suits didn’t feel appropriate anymore. I felt too formally dressed to meet clients for colour and style. Over time, I gradually got rid of them. The occasional dress I kept which I felt worked for speaking events and corporate clients. But the rest; I sold on eBay!
Clothes audit
If this all sounds rather familiar then it’s time to review what you’ve got and how you spend your time. I’ve made it easy to do this using my free wardrobe charts which you can download here.
Take a look at your clothes and ask yourself if you’re really likely to wear them again. Target the ones you’re not wearing or you used to wear all the time, but not lately. If you’re not, remove them and store them away for a few months to see if you miss them.
Should you find yourself longing for certain pieces, then perhaps it’s not the time to let these specific ones go.
But, if you find that they don’t fit, flatter or suit you anymore (think colour, style and shape) and they don’t work for how you spend your time now, then maybe it’s time to pass them on to someone who can enjoy them. Give them to a charity shop or a friend. Put them on eBay or vinted if they’re still in good condition. If they’re high end, consider the rental marketplace to lend them to others.
Can’t let them go?
The challenge in keeping items ‘just in case’ is that they take up space even when they aren’t being worn. Plus, how long do you hold onto them for? If you buy new things, you’re just expanding your wardrobe further and making it harder to get dressed wasting more time looking for what to wear!
That’s why the charts will help. You can assess what you have and how you spend your time. You can probably do it over a brew too as they don’t take long.
Mind the gap!
In my experience, when you skip this step, you’ll tend to have gaps in your wardrobe that you don’t seem to fill because you’ve not identified the garments you need. You’ll buy more of the same things you already have (probably what you’re not wearing) and continue to feel that you have nothing to wear.
Of course, you do have clothes to wear, but you’re just not feeling they’re appropriate for how you’re spending your time. That’s where the charts come in!
Use them to identify the garments that don’t work for your life right now that you can store away. (Use a suitcase, vacuum packed bag or spare drawer if you have one).
For the items you have left – are they really working? Are you actually wearing them? If you’re not then ask why not? Are they the right colour for you? Work for your style personality (it may have changed if your life has changed)? Do they fit and flatter your shape and proportions?
When you’ve done the charts and the assessment, hopefully you’ve been able to identify some immediate gaps you have. Write these items down or put them in your phone notes so that you can look for them on your next shopping trip. Try and be as specific as possible. So if it’s a jacket, ideally what colour(s) would you want? Is it long or short? Buttoned or zipped? Being specific will help you focus on getting something that you need rather than wandering aimlessly around.
Give it a go – it’ll help you get your wardrobe to be more YOU!
Should you feel you need more help with any aspect, don’t be afraid to get in touch for some professional help. I’ll be happy to help you with your colour, style, shape and overall image!
toni.carver@tlcstyleandcolour.co.uk
