The mysterious art of wardrobe management

[OublietteBravo]

Has anyone perfected the mysterious art of wardrobe management? Because I certainly haven’t, and I’m looking for tips.

Currently I swap from summer clothes to winter clothes around October, and then from winter clothes to summer clothes around April. I manage to motivate myself to iron about once every 18 months . I mostly ignore anything that needs to be dry cleaned as that’s just too much effort. Oh, and I’m really bad at getting rid of clothes and shoes. Even though I’m really good at buying new clothes and shoes.

I’d like to get more on top of my wardrobe. But how?

Seasonal swapping sounds good.

Dry cleaning is bollocks - if you have cold wool and delicates cycles on yr machine, use those and some wool/silk washing liquid. If you're not wearing the clothes anyway, might as well give it a try! I have loads of wool and silk etc, and never ever use the drycleaners.

Re chucking stuff out - have you tried the Marie Kondo thing of holding them and seeing if they really spark joy for you? It sounds ridiculous, but it does actually help me give myself permission to move on from things (imagining that they'll be used by someone else who'll get joy from them really helps!).

I'm joining you @OublietteBravo because I aspire to be one of those capsule wardrobe, put together women!

I am really good at buying stuff! If there was an Olympics for it, I’m in the Scottish team for sure. I really should be more circumspect however. I don’t tend to swap stuff round as Scottish ‘seasons’ are somewhat blurred weather-wise. I dry clean occasionally but it is amazing what can be done with a gentle hand wash. I don’t iron, but do have a hand held steamer which is amazing. Always wished I could look amazing with a capsule wardrobe, but can’t make it happen…!

I don't buy anything that needs dry cleaned in the first place.

I kind of swap stuff around eg cords and black jeans go away as soon as it looks like it might be shirts weather and I have obviously summer stuff like sleeveless dresses at hat go away too. At present we have an empty spare room so wrong season stuff goes in there and I have a storage box under my bed for winter jeans ( and chinos in winter).
I was useless at getting rid of things having huge guilt about the money spent but recently I've cleared out masses and sold on eBay. I've set low prices to get rid of things to someone else who will love them

I used to iron everything but no longer, bought a hand steamer from eBay money so I can steam essentials eg linen.
I store most stuff on hangers ( including jumpers, I've not had an issue) or fold stuff up. At the moment I cannot close my t shirt drawer so that needs a cull.

Dry cleaning: only for stuff like suits and coats and my wooden funeral dress!

Woollen obviously

I aspire to be one of those "capsule wardrobe" people, with a capsule for each season. But I'm crap at it! Instead I have a higgeldy piggeldy wardrobe with too much of some stuff and not enough of others.

If this is going to be a thread about capsule wardrobes I'm out (no offence just not my thing). But what I'd like to be better at is predicting which pieces are going to be worth putting away - and I don't mean for a season, I mean for a few years, 10 or 20 years even. There are the obvious pointers e.g. if it's trashed or doesn't fit any more but if it's decent quality and just looks a bit dated or if I'm bored with it - that's where I make mistakes.

@BabycakesMatlala

Seasonal swapping sounds good.

Dry cleaning is bollocks - if you have cold wool and delicates cycles on yr machine, use those and some wool/silk washing liquid. If you're not wearing the clothes anyway, might as well give it a try! I have loads of wool and silk etc, and never ever use the drycleaners.

Re chucking stuff out - have you tried the Marie Kondo thing of holding them and seeing if they really spark joy for you? It sounds ridiculous, but it does actually help me give myself permission to move on from things (imagining that they'll be used by someone else who'll get joy from them really helps!).

Agree with everything here. The Marie kondo thing especially as she points out that it’s ok to chuck something that you wear all the time but doesn’t spark joy (you wear it because it’s convenient) and keep something you love even if you haven’t worn it for ages.

I have a wardrobe app (style book) that I started using after Christmas. I’ve fallen out of the habit so need to catch up again but when I was using it I felt great in my clothes every day.

Before moving I realised I had more clothes than I could ever wear, plus a lot of stuff I kept but never wore. I was keeping stuff for years that I would fit into "one day"
I read marie kondo, anything I didn't like or didn't fit at all went. I tipped it all on my bed (first tops then dresses etc) and really thought about it.
Now I have room for an all season wardrobe. I have a small bag that really warm jumpers or very light clothes for summer go in. Then it's not too much to change over, changing it around used to take me ages and I put it off. If it needs ironing I do it quickly before wearing it, but anything that needs a proper iron I didn't keep as I didn't feel it was worth it.
I challenge myself to wear everything in my everyday tops, dressers and bottoms, and if I don't wear it it goes. It's much easier and it's easier to shop for clothes because I know what I need or is missing.

I get rid of stuff by trying to imagine that they are going to have a new happy home with someone else, then I don't feel bad.

@Sooverthemill love the wooden funeral dress 😂

This is the thread for me. I have a serious clothes problem. I can't find the clothes I want to wear because I have so many that 'will do' and I find those first.

It has to change, it just has to!

I love the wooden dress too.

I'm not good at this either. I do try to put away things out of season, but it's the casual more wearable stuff which gets put away. My wardrobe is still heaving with pieces too nice for storage but also too good for my actual lifestyle.

Love to shop though.

Oh yes, the famous but unttainable capsule wardrobe

Where, when you actually need to look put together, you realise the key pieces are in the laundry basket...

Another one who swears by Marie Kondo. After reading her book I got rid of 60% of my clothes that I had been hanging onto for a range of ridiculous reasons, and it’s SO much easier to keep on top of now.

I finally went through my entire wardrobe (over the course of a few weeks) trying on everything. Oh my, motherhood and lockdown have not been kind to my figure - it's as if my entire skeleton has grown. Anyway I found that a huge amount is now too small, so I've packed them away under my bed for now. I'm not ready to get rid, and who knows, a miracle may happen and I slim down one day. But now I have enough room for clothing for all seasons. Feels good, even though I'm sad about not fitting into all my lovely small clothes, though tbh many of them are from another time in my life and don't suit my lifestyle now; which is kind of sad too, but only a passing sort of sadness, I'm very happy with my current lifestyle.
I haven't done ironing or dry cleaning for decades lol.

I don’t think I’ll ever get to capsule wardrobe status. In fact, I don’t think I actually want to - I like clothes too much. I’d like to try and make the most of what I already have - rather than constantly buying more clothes (especially as we’re about to spend £££ on extending/renovating the house).

@Floisme - I’ve definitely got rid of clothes and subsequently regretted it. But, like you, I don’t know how to identify the ones that should stay even if I haven’t worn them for a couple of years.

I think I’m going to have to accept a certain amount of clothes that need dry cleaning. My job involves going to hearings - the type of formal clothes you need for that are inevitably dry clean only.

That said, I wish it was possible to filter out clothes that need dry cleaning when internet shopping. Why isn’t there a filter for this? I’ve often wondered.

Absolutely not a capsule wardrobe kind of person ( would like to be though) but I use Stylebook too and notice what I wear ( jeans, tees etc) and I really like the cost per wear thing but does. I have fairly recently started buying premium jeans and love them and the cost per wear is lower than some of my M&S ones because I love them so much. So using Stylebook has shown me what to get rid of. I have no fantasy other life, my life needs extremely practical clothes I can move and dash around in. But I'd like to look after what I have

Ps 'wooden' is kind of appropriate really

I started using Stylebook and it's definitely helped. On Sunday I uploaded all my handbags...then looked at the app and realised I had over seventy 😳 which is obviously ridiculous.
Straight away I sorted out a dozen to get rid of.
Then, yesterday, had an email offering 50% off handbags. In the past I would have bought one or two, thinking I couldn't miss such a bargain. Because of the Stylebook app I knew I didn't actually need another bag, so resisted the temptation.
I could really do with offloading another five bags but didn't want to go mad chucking things out then regret it later, baby steps and all that.

Next weekend I'll do the same with my shoes.

For storing seasonal clothes I use large ziplock bags from Lakeland. I know all my jumpers and sweatshirts are in them at the moment, so it will be easy enough to swap them with my summer clothes when it gets to Autumn.
They do get a little creased but I don't mind ironing.

I am NOT a capsule wardrobe person, but I am a seasonal switcher. I keep things like jeans all year round, but swap out knitwear for summer dresses, for example.

My tip would be before doing the changeover, pull out anything you didn't wear at all/wore very little in that period, and ditch it. Obviously there are exceptions. I have a beautiful red and cream fairisle knit from French Connection which I have worn for years as my "Christmas jumper", and while not in heavy rotation other than in December, I'd never get rid of it. I'm not a fancy-outfit person, but if I had wedding type clothes they would be another in that category.

Re dry cleaning, when I used to go to actual work I wore wide-leg cropped wool trousers from Cos often, and have several pairs in the same style. I would air them on the washing line after every wear, then dry clean once each term, essentially four times a year. That only works if you don't spill stuff on them, sadly!

I know MN hates this, but I do iron. I don't enjoy doing it, but I do think things look better. If the item in question might end up creased in the wardrobe and need done again before wearing (god forbid) then I hang it on the back of the door in the spare room instead. My DP works from that room at the moment and his colleagues have commented on his lovely midi dress collection!

I hang my clothes in colour. White to black, left to right. Vest tops, short sleeved tops, long sleeve tops, thin cardigans and jumpers, thicker cardigans and jumpers. Makes life so much easier when getting dressed. Far left I have skirts, dresses, shorts, trousers and jeans. Far right after all the tops are my jackets. My shoes are in vertical hangers. DH moved the shelf and rail higher and we now have cube storage underneath as well. I don't put away clothes seasonally. Not with the British weather! I have just taken out a massive pile of clothes that are now too big though so I have more room to see what I have.

@Procrastatron is it literally an app to help organise ones wardrobe?