Getting serious now!
Action Item: “Clean out your closet!”
- What is the oldest or the most treasured thing in your closet? oldest? maybe a long-sleeved H&M shirt that I wish I had a billion more of. Most treasured? Those silk garments I mentioned in my last post! Here’s a photo of the purple dress (the only time I’ve ever worn it!)
- What is the item you wear the most? Why? Boring old black skinny jeans and button up shirts. It’s my uniform, the necessary mix of casual and professional for the tech company I worked at (until very recently, but now I have to come up with a new uniform!). But it’s a silhouette I feel comfortable in as well.
- Are there any “investment pieces”? How did that work out? Not really. Maybe a pair of Levi’s I bought a few years ago? They were the first jeans I bought after giving birth to my first child and (mostly) getting back to a stable size. They’ve fulfilled their duty well! But now they’re pretty well worn and I try to avoid wearing them.
- Does anything still have the tags on it? Why? Nope. I take so long to make a purchase, I’d never keep something unless I was ready to wear it right away.
- How much is handmade, hand-me-down, or has some other personal meaning? Maybe half and half between made-by-me and RTW.
- How does what’s in your closet align with the mood board you made about how you would actually like to dress? In what ways are they the same/different? It doesn’t quite align, but it’s getting there. I need more solid-colored basics. I have too many pieces that would go really well with a neutral-colored something (shirt, pants, skirt, etc.), but then I don’t actually own those pieces. I also don’t have enough “elevated casual” pieces that I would feel comfortable wearing on the weekend without feeling too much like I’m projecting “tired mom”. Ahem, even though I am probably tired and I’m definitely a mom, I want to project style and confidence!
- How do the colors align with the color palette you made? They’re pretty close, but yeah, also pretty much the same note as above. Too many accent/statement pieces that make me think, “This would look great with a plain black shirt” and not enough actual plain black shirts.
- How do your clothes align with your lifestyle and climate? I need more layering pieces. I’m having trouble dressing for the weather and I don’t want to always just throw a sweater over my sweet cami or fun blouse, so I need (need, okay not really but you know what I mean!) some stylish jackets, layering blouses, outerwear, etc.
- What percentage of your closet feels like YOU? ouf, tough to say, but I’m getting there. There are several pieces that honestly, I only wear them because they’re there and they’re good enough but I don’t feel like myself in them, so I’d like to work on getting those out and replacing them with pieces I love more.
So I’m clearly more of a a “I’ve let my wardrobe fall to pieces, I’m not investing enough (money/time/care/thought)” kind of gal, not a “I bought too much stuff that I don’t end up wearing” kind of gal. I went through my clothes and tried separating pieces into yes, no, and maybe piles. Usually I keep my wardrobe pretty trim to begin with, but I found that I hesitated over how to characterize a bunch of pieces. I don’t want to say they’re “no’s” because I wouldn’t say they definitely don’t work for me, but I wouldn’t say “yes” because I hardly reach for some of them.
I can already see some very obvious patterns about what’s working, what’s not, and where the holes in my wardrobe are though. My underwear drawer needs some very serious love! And somehow I’ve amassed a collection of sleepwear that consists of lots of grubby old shirts. Even though it’s just for sleeping in, I avoid reaching for those as well. And my day-to-day wardrobe will need some rethinking since my day-to-day life just changed a whole lot! (Keeping it more of a secret now, but I can’t wait to show you guys what I’m working on behind the scenes!)
Like Karen mentioned on the Slow Fashion October Instagram posts, I haven’t yet taken any actions with clothes, so for now the no and maybe piles are just sadly waiting on my floor. I suppose this is good to give them a time-out; if I don’t end up reaching for them, I’ll know for sure that I don’t want them. What about you, do you clean our your closets regularly? Are you following along with this action item for Slow Fashion October?