Too many clothes, nothing to wear!

[Notcontent]

Ok, so that's not quite true, I do have things to wear.

But I feel like I have too many things and that having so many things makes it difficult to put together outfits and I seem to only wear a small fraction of the things I have....

Problem is that in the past I have done some huge clear-outs so taken individually, most of my things are very nice - I just don't seem to wear them.

I thought that maybe I should try not to buy anything new for 12 months and then at the end of the 12 months treat myself to a few new items that actually go together... I think one of my problems is that I sometimes impulse buy and also buy things in charity shops - and I end up up with a bit of a jumble of stuff...

Any advice?

Waiting to hear it!!! You are me!

I think there is an app that helps you put outfits together. I think you take pictures of the clothes and then the app puts them together? Cluise it appears to be called :)

Take a pile of your favourite clothes (ie the wash pile) admit that this is what you will wear most. This is the core wardrobe.
Sort into tops and bottoms. Festoon around room so you can see them.
Frisk the lovely but not worn stuff. You need to make the core wardrobe up to about 8 bottoms and 20 tops.
Do you think you should wear dresses? If so choose 4.
Make sure you have tights to go with skirts and dresses.
Try and get some element of coordination.
Hide the rest in boxes under the bed or suitcases.
Repeat in 3 months.

I have a few suggestions:

Pull out all of the items you don't wear and decide whether or not to keep them. If you keep them, try and find items either in your wardrobe or buy something that will work.

If you do buy new items, buy ones that are versatile enough to work with other items in your wardrobe.

I try and stick to a palette of colours that work together. I've diagnosed myself as an autumn, so stick to those colours.

Dress for the life you have, not the one you want. I'm attracted to party dresses, but I don't go out much. Now, I go for casual dresses, which I can dress up if needed.

Thanks - some great advice! yes, I think I need to be more ruthless and let go of things which might be lovely but which I just don't wear.

Chanie - I used to do that - I would buy dresses, etc. without thinking where/when I would actually wear them.

I don't know if this is of use to you but I have two 'wardrobes': work tops & trousers and weekend/going out. In the work one, I have one pair each of plain navy, tan and black cigarette trousers and all the work tops match one of those pairs of trousers.
For weekend/going out, I nearly always wear grey or charcoal jeans and all the tops I have match those jeans. I have a handful of dresses but don't wear them that much. Have kept them cos I like them
If I put on a top and it's doesn't feel good, then it goes in the charity bag. That way I try and keep my wardrobes paired down. I saw an IKEA vid (I think) where the advice was to try one of your tops on every day and if if feels good put it back in the wardrobe and if not put it in the charity bag under the bed. In a matter of days / weeks you'll have cleared out stuff you honestly will never wear.
What definitely simplified things for me was sticking to one or two base colours like navy or tan and basing everything else around that. Another poster above mentioned the same about colour schemes. Be brave and get rid! Maybe you can sell some stuff so it doesn't feel too painful chucking out nice things.

Rath that's good advice. I too have too much though have bought a lot less lately. I don't follow fashion much anymore which helps. I do have shirts with too tight cuffs, tops a bit tight, jeans not comfy etc. I need a big go through but whenever I have a clear out I tend to reward myself with a few new bits

I generally buy a lot of dresses, casual and more dressy, I have loads of tights and all my shoes and boots go with my dresses. For winter I put a polo neck under them. I obviously have jeans too which I just pop a jumper on with it tshirt. What you need to do op is empty your wardrobe, try everything on, if it doesn't suit, fit or you just don't like it then get rid. Don't hang on to things for no reason, then get a pen and paper and note down what you need to make certain items work, e.g. Black jumper, belt, vest top. Go out and get these bits then your wardrobe will be revamped with everything wearable!