How many items of clothing is “normal”?

[youredeadtomesteven]

Hi all,
I’m drowning in clothing most of the time yet once washing is done and clothes are somewhat put away, I seem to just wear what I’ve just washed yet have seemingly mountains of clothes that I love but never seem to allow myself to wear.

I started thinking about getting it all onto the bed one weekend (from wardrobe, clothes rail, drawers and suitcases) and was discussing my idea with my DM who said I’d likely get overwhelmed with this and seemed shocked when I estimated that I likely had at least 50 items of each category (eg 50 bottoms, 50 T-shirts, 50 jumpers/cardigans, 50 dresses)

I have work clothes/outfits but find myself wearing the same stuff a lot, then on weekends wearing the same old stuff and I don’t feel good about myself/my appearance in part as a result of this.

How many items of clothing is normal (if there is a norm!) and how many of each category?

I have nostalgic clothing and all variations of styles and types.

Is 30 of each category too many or not enough?

With shoes, I have less than 20 pairs as I just don’t find shoes all that interesting nor inspiring whereas my DM has at least 100 pairs of footwear.

any ideas/advice/help/guidance welcomed!

A uniform for my every day life sounds like the confines of a prison to me 😂
I would be so so bored.

Same! But I think everyone is different.

I have a colleague who always looks amazing and clearly cares a lot about clothes but she always has the same silhouette - she then varies textures and accessories rather than wearing different cuts. Very difficult to how I approach it, I like varying cuts and styles more

I don’t think you can have too much necessarily, but wardrobes and drawers filled with clothes is a waste.

dHet everything out and try it all on. If it doesn’t fit or isn’t flattering clear it out. Is anything quite worn or past it’s best? If so, clear it out. Have a play with what you haven’t worn for a while, do you have at least two or three things that go with each pair of trousers / skirt? Take pictures of different outfits.

I have a good sort out twice a year to pack away summer or winter clothes. It’s a good opportunity to review and sort what I have and stops my wardrobe bring stuffed to the rafters. I need to do it soon actually, I had to stop myself buying something yesterday as I thought I might have something very similar packed away!

I follow the 333 method - i only ever have 33 items in my wardrobe at any one time and review it every three months (April, july, oct, jan).
I also stick to a fairly broad colour range so everything goes with everything else.
I exclude gym kit and jewelley but include handbags, footwear and coats.
The out-of-season stuff is stored seperately.

OP I think your question shouldn’t be “How many clothes are normal?” as what different people are comfortable with varies so wildly. Instead, “Why do I not wear the clothes that I own?” And the answer to that will help you decide what to keep and wear, and what to get rid of.

So that’s my sensible, practical contribution to the thread. On a tangent, I find it weird that people talk about e.g. dresses as if they were one category. Even just among my summer dresses currently put away in a box, I have everyday dresses, pottering at home in a heatwave dresses, going out in the evening dresses, and then a couple of summer dresses hanging in my wardrobe for going to a wedding or similarly formal occasion.

And @FloofBunny it’s really sad that you think ‘even slim people’ need to wear uncomfortable shapewear under summer dresses to be presentable. One of the joys of summer for me is that getting dressed to leave the house means bra, pants, dress, sandals, that’s it. It’s the one time of year where women get to be more comfortably dressed than men, embrace it!

My point is that you get the optimal shape with underpinnings. You can be perfectly presentable without. Nothing "sad" about knowing a bit about dressmaking and fabric drape. And I never said you have to wear shapewear anyway - slips are also a part of making the fabric sit well. Although you wouldn't want to wear any of this when it's hot, of course.

It's simply a fact that everyone has some arse-jiggle, unless you have buns of iron. I do think that most look their best if wearing shapewear and a slip, but you can be presentable without, obviously!

@FloofBunny I wasn’t talking about slips or fabric drape, specifically about your comment “with floaty summer dresses, shapewear is a must to stop the jiggle. Even if slim, your bum still looks like two animals in a sack fighting when you walk.” And obviously the time when you’d wear floaty summer dresses is in hot weather, so I can’t see how shapewear wouldn’t be uncomfortable, and the implication was that everyone needs to wear it to look ok from behind. But maybe that’s not actually what you meant. Maybe it’s just about dealing with the sort of dress where I’d go ‘nope, that’s too see-through / clingy’ and put it back on the rack rather than bothering to try and think of ways of making it look ok.

I have 333 items on Whering, which represents about 1/2 - 2/3 of my wardrobe.

i started using the app about three years ago - in the main to validate my purchase of a cashmere Hermes scarf as the app has a handy price per wear function - and spent a couple of days lying by the pool adding everything I could remember, now I add as I wear/buy.

I’m in my (late) 40s. There’s plenty in there from 15+ years ago that maybe doesn’t get worn regularly but still comes out occasionally.

I put on a dress size during Covid and have now been back at my smaller size for a couple of years so I just donated about 50 items to charity. But otherwise I only get rid of things when they’re worn/stained/etc.

shapewear is miserable.

i went to an event Friday lunchtime and put on my outfit with some shape knickers and I’d say they made me look (possibly) 5% better but they were 100% less comfortable so I put a thong on and spent the lunch comfortable and eating without wincing at my cut off circulation.

Oh yeah, I did say that.🤭If folk don't WANT to stop the jiggle, good for them! But I am pretty self-conscious about my bum.

Shapewear is awful. Most of it doesn't work anyway. Buying and wearing clothes in the right size is the way to go.

I'm intrigued by the idea that it's impossible to wear a summer dress without it.

never mind it being impossible, it’s absolutely tragic to think that under a pretty cotton sundress you’d have to wear hot sweaty nylon scaffolding.

give me jiggling bum cheeks any day, so much better than looking trussed up
snd uncomfortable

I use the Stylebook app too. It took a bit of time to set up in the beginning, but now I just add the pic from the retailer’s website as I buy something. It’s handy to have a look at the stats on there a few times a year, as it tells me what I’ve worn and what I haven’t and I use this when having a sort out.

When I initially decluttered my wardrobe, I thought about how my week was divided, 3 days in the office, 2 days working from home and 2 days weekend. If I have 12 work dresses, that might not sound a lot, but is enough to wear a different dress on each work day for a month. I applied this to every category of clothing and just kept my favourites. Anything I wasn’t sure of, I wore and took a photo of and I knew by the end of the day whether it was a keeper or not.

I’ve limited my purchases over the years as I actually find it harder having a lot of stuff.
I can’t easily see it in the cupboard and then find it difficult to choose.
This is what I do-
*Stop browsing in store or online as impulse purchases are often not “right”
*If I can’t find something for a particular occasion then search for item on that criteria (sightseeing in a warm city, eating out in a tropical climate) and don’t buy anything that doesn’t meet it.
*Start storing your clothes using a rigid system so you can easily see what you haven’t worn for a while.
I place all my clean clothes to the right side of my wardrobe. When it’s overflowing I check what’s in the left side and remove anything I haven’t worn for a while.
*Sort clothes as the seasons change using underbed storage boxes or put into loft. Now is a good time to start. Start removing any heavy/thick clothing, ensure it’s laundered and repair/debobble and think about how much you love it. Storage box for next year or separate out items to sell/charity/recycle scheme if you are not keeping it.
Repeat this every time the seasons change so you only have the stuff you are using now. I also put warm nightwear, dressing gown, slippers,
boots etc into the boxes out of the way. Spring and Autumn are pretty much the same.
*Mix and match different items - sounds obvious but on a long stay holiday I was forced to do this if I hadn’t laundered for a while - my mind was blown at how “fixed” I had become!
*Start a one in/one out system and be absolutely rigid about it,
even for second hand clothes you acquire. It really helps focus whether to buy an item if you have to also discard.
*Consider the environmental impact every time you are tempted to buy. There will be nothing left for our children and grandchildren if we continue squandering the worlds
scarce resources on stuff we don’t “need”.
Good luck with it all @youredeadtomesteven it is really quite cathartic and makes life a lot easier and also more £££ in your bank account!
BTW who is Steven?

I have far too many, most of which are neatly hung up because I never wear them. I’m one of those people who gain and lose 50lbs with alarming regularity so am always holding on to clothes that may fit me in X months, and am also guilty of buying clothes as ‘motivation’. I wfh and do not venture out much (my dog died last month so there went our daily walks which required a wee bit of attention to how I dressed). So I have basically reduced myself to rotating three black jersey trousers, three or four black tops and as it’s still cool out a long woolen cardi in a couple different neutral shades. So I could get rid of 90% of my clothes and not even notice!
And I will soon need to as I’m moving abroad for a year. I will be selling my house and though I will get a storage unit it will be the perfect time to do a major cull. I will be getting a decluttering expert to help as I’m incapable of doing this on my own. Vinted here I come!