Tag Archives: edited wardrobe

style clinic: how much is enough?

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I have two closets worth of clothes, grouped by season, and I don’t even know how to start weeding things out or how much clothing a person actually needs. I’m a clothing hoarder, finding it difficult to get rid of things that could potentially be useful, although I’ve done a couple purges lately. Still, my main closet is overflowing and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed.

In a perfect world, I’d like to buy fewer, better clothes and have them be from more sustainable sources (so less mega cheap stuff made in less than great conditions). If you have any advice on how best to purge, how many clothes a person actually needs to have a functional wardrobe, and how to build a professional business wardrobe from scratch (I own one suit) on a student budget, I’d be most grateful.

-Sian

Let’s start with the First Truth of Closet Editing: More is not better. Options are great, but when your closet is bursting at the seams with pieces you’re not wearing, that’s a bad thing.

Tough love, you all. That’s why I’m here.

I understand the urge to hang on to things just in case; I also understand the reluctance to part with something that you’ve worn and loved. But no one in the history of the world has ever said, “Hey I’ve been invited to dinner at the White House/to appear on CNN/to have a drink with that cute guy from accounting — I think I’ll wear that dress from five years ago, the one that’s too tight and has the big stain on the hem!”

You know I’m right.

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how to hand wash anything, in 5 simple steps

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I love everything in my closet; I try to make a point of not buying anything I can’t see myself still wearing in a year. Or two. Or, in some cases, 15. (I have a cashmere twinset that I bought in 1997. Still wearing it! Go me.)

In order to make things last, I hand wash a majority of my wardrobe — everything from pricey pieces, like my cashmere sweaters and washable silk blouses to super cheap shorts and tees. Why bother? Because no matter what the price point of my clothes, I want them to last as long as possible, with no shrinking or fading or excessive wear and tear.

#getdressedThese shorts do not do in the washing machine. Ever.

Things I make a point of hand-washing: Cashmere sweaters, bras, anything I don’t want to accidentally shrink, anything that would need to be ironed if it went in the washing machine (hand washing leaves things less wrinkled).

Things I do not hand wash: Running clothes, underwear, basic workhorse tees, anything belonging to my husband and children (although my husband’s fancy pants cycling kit doesn’t go in the dryer and he sends his dress shirts to the laundry because they do a better job, of course). Swimsuits — mine and theirs — go in the washing machine, in a lingerie bag, but get line dried. My jeans also go in the machine, inside out, and are hung to dry. Everyone else’s jeans? In the dryer, baby. Always.

(The dryer actually does the most damage to your clothes. Where do you think all that lint comes from? It’s your clothes, slowly disintegrating! Which is just sad.)

I typically do my hand-wash laundry once a week, often early in the morning when no one else is awake yet. It takes me maybe 40 minutes to launder everything I wear during the week. Here’s how I hand wash, in five easy steps.

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should it stay or should it go?

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I’m attempting to edit my closet. What do you do when you wear an outfit (in this case a summer cotton sundress) and people give you compliments, but at the end of the day, you think: well, that was decidedly just an ok outfit? Keep or toss?

~ Tricia
Scalloped Stripes Dress -- Anthropologie

Here’s the thing about a really tightly edited closet: Every single piece should be something you genuinely love and want to wear. This means that no matter how cute other people think the dress is, if it leaves you feeling meh, it might need to go.

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