Has anyone actually thrown out (donated/sold) all of their clothes?

[Suprima]

Please help!

Sick of my wardrobe- so many clothes and nothing to wear. No continuous style, a lot of fast fashion, a few nice designer pieces but not a lot to wear them with.

I am really struggling with my personal style. I would love to have a preppier, normcore look with my autumn colours but due to my body shape (Kim Kardashian albeit hairier with more insect bites) I end up looking a bit matronly in shirts and straight leg trousers.

This has caused me to embrace more of a sexier look (crop tops, high waisted jeans, plunging print dresses) which means I have a lot of fast fashion and I can look a bit trussed up compared to gamine, ethereal types. I know we don’t have to all look ‘the same’ but I just want to make sure that I have some lovely comfortable clothes that I can throw on for brunch, or look smart for afternoon tea. I have wasted so much money on Misguided and ASOS panic buying things for a night-out or an event, only to never wear them again.

I just want to get rid of it and start again, but I don’t want any regret. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of room to stash things to see if I want it in a bit.

Does anyone have any tips for a big clear out? I can’t afford to replace everything just yet- and even if I could, I don’t know what to buy! I’m also about 5kg heavier due to pregnancy (unfortunately without a baby at the end of it) that I haven’t been able to shift, so don’t want necessarily buy new jeans or fitted jackets at the moment.

Thank you for any responses!

It doesn’t sound like you know what look you want though? I think until you have that nailed you risk making the same mistakes again.

You could try a Marie Kondo type approach - try on every single piece of clothing and only keep what “sparks joy”. You might find you have more than you think.

Then maybe a personal shopper with John Lewis or something?

Just re read your post - just to add I’m sorry for your loss x

Sorry for your loss OP.

I kinda did this last year. I'd gotten fat and was WFH permanently. So a lot of my clothes didn't fit me anymore and what did was smart stuff for the office. So I got rid of it all. I did do a lot of online shopping in lockdown and took advantage of a lot of offers etc.

I had an idea of the looks I wanted though and was pretty strict about only buying items on my 'wish list' that I knew I would wear.

@Hobbes8

It doesn’t sound like you know what look you want though? I think until you have that nailed you risk making the same mistakes again.

You could try a Marie Kondo type approach - try on every single piece of clothing and only keep what “sparks joy”. You might find you have more than you think.

Then maybe a personal shopper with John Lewis or something?

I think I want…

3 pairs of jeans that fit well- Primark mom jeans suit me very well so this can be done cheaply
3 nice shirts/blouses/tops for day wear
2 sexier tops for evening- lace, satin, not Missguided polyester fare
2 day dresses in easy-to-care-for fabric
2 nice evening dresses that are neutral and can be accessorised well
Some good quality cashmere blend joggers (even a bloody tracksuit) to chuck on for dog walking/Sainsburys/the hairdresser

I have lovely leather shoes and smart coats in neutral colours, and good bags too- so this isn’t a problem.

I just basically want a minimal wardrobe of lovely things- not something bursting with fast fashion. I don’t have a lot of space so need to use it well.

Thank you so far everyone!

Ah ok it sounds like you know exactly what you want! Crack on then...

Yes I threw out most of my clothes once I had my colours analysed. It turned out I was wearing the wrong colours. I only noticed this after I had some photos taken and saw how wrong the colours were for me.

It was a painful process, to be honest, as it was a waste of money. But I much prefer my new wardrobe.

I did this on a smaller scale. I didn't get rid of everything but culled so much.

I got rid of 16 pairs of skinny jeans. So much was so out of fashion it was funny, I'm sure even the charity shops binned them.

I felt so free after! My wardrobe is so much easier to look through.

I am looking forward to feeling free!

Quite excited!