How to tackle a wardrobe clear out
Expert tips on sorting your clothes and finding your personal style
If your cupboard doors are fit to burst, you wear only a fraction of your wardrobe, or you just no longer feel like the pieces you have are working for you as well as they could do, then a wardrobe clear out could be on the cards. So often, our default response to falling out of love with the clothes we own is to buy new ones, but we forget a key step before that: assessing what we have already, and seeing if it’s still fit for purpose!
But, like so many things in life – a wardrobe clear out is easy to say, but much harder to do. Our clothes can be deeply emotional, and represent so much (which is one of the reasons why Give Your Best was founded). So how do you go about sorting through your wardrobe? What questions do you ask yourself? How do you know what to keep, and what to chuck?
And who better to ask than the experts? We asked two brilliant stylists, Leti Marsola, EcoStylist and founder of Outfit From The Heart, and Neelam, founder of Neelam Personal Stylist (who very kindly donated a prize to our recent International Women’s Day auction) for their expert advice on performing a wardrobe clear out.
Drum roll please…
Before you start your wardrobe clear out, work out what you want from your clothes
Before the wardrobe clear commences, you need to work out what you’re looking for: your own personal style, if you will.
Leti explains: “Personal style is simply the way we dress. If you wear clothes, you have your styles, even if you choose your daily clothes without a specific purpose. When we are conscious about what we wear, that’s when we use clothes as a tool to communicate who we are and why we chose that specific outfit.”
Neelam calls these your style foundations. Get to know them with questions such as: “what is your body shape and what styles suit it? What colour season are you and which colours will make you look your best? What is your style personality and what impression do you want to give to the world?”
Leti also recommends, “The next thing to do is understand your routine, your reality. Wear clothes that will keep up with your daily activities and adapt your preferences to it. For instance, if, for some reason, you don’t party as much as you did some years ago, it doesn’t make sense to have a wardrobe full of night out dresses. Think about the style of your favourite dresses, and replicate some of the features to items that fit your current lifestyle. It can be a type of fabric, a neck style you can replicate in a top…”
It’s also important to “wear clothes for your current body. A sense of style has nothing to do with the size in the label. It has to do with clothes that give room to be comfy, it has to do with fits and cuts. Dressing the parts of your body that you love will help to focus and be kind to your body.”
Armed with this knowledge, let the wardrobe clear out commence
So, now you’ve got a better idea of what you’re looking for, it’s time to take this knowledge into your wardrobe clear out.
As well as keeping your style foundations at the forefront, Neelam suggests asking yourself these questions as you sort through each item. “Have I worn this item in the last 2 years? Can I build multiple outfits from this item across seasons and occasions? Would I buy this item in the shop now?”
Leti also suggests considering these: “Why did I buy it? Why am I keeping it? Does it fit me?”
Slowly but surely, these will help you work your way through your clothes and sort them into piles. As the piles grow larger, the weight on your shoulders will grow lighter!
In an ideal world, of course, these piles would be “Keep” and “Give Away” (well, in an ideal world, we’d love that to be “Give to Give Your Best”! You can read more about how to add your items to our free shop for refugees, those seeking asylum, or with a precarious immigration status, here.)
However, there may also be items that don’t neatly fit into either category. “If you have some items that are hard to part with, find storage away from view so you leave more space in your wardrobe.” Leti suggests. “This way, you keep it organised and it’s much easier to build outfits! Plus, if you have an item you love and think it can be converted or altered to something else, by all means hire a seamstress.”
Neelam also points to how a little TLC can totally reinvigorate an item. “Could it do with a little freshening like pressing or dry cleaning to make me love it again?” she asks.
What are the next steps after a wardrobe clear out?
So, you’ve worked out your style. You’ve worked out your pile(s). What next?
What to do with the clothes you’re keeping
Whether you’re left with the majority of your clothes or you’ve really whittled down the numbers, it’s important to keep taking care of them so that they can have a long and happy life with you.
“Remember to love your clothing by storing and caring for it properly,” Neelam says. “This can definitely prolong the life cycle of a product. Think about how you fold/hang the item, how you wash it and dry it etc.”
And where you store them matters, too. “Find a system of organisation that suits you. It can be organised by colour, by occasion…” Leti says.
And, also: have fun with it! Neelam says “As you declutter, get creative to see how you can build new outfits with the pieces you already own. You’ll be surprised how many outfits can be made from just a few staple pieces!”
What to do with the clothes you’re getting rid of
Of course, if the clothes you’re getting rid of are in great condition, we’d love them here at Give Your Best. Once added to our catalogue, they’re available for asylum seeking and refugee women and non-binary people in the UK to shop, helping empower them and restore the dignity they deserve to have.
Alternatively, if the clothes are heavily worn, then you can check out our post here for what you could do instead.
Hopefully the prospect of a wardrobe clear out doesn’t feel so terrifying now. Armed with Leti and Neelam’s expert tips and questions, you can create and curate your wardrobe to suit you. Less time stood in front of your wardrobe scratching your head, less nights spent fretting about what to wear in the morning, with your items going to very good homes where they’re not forgotten about nor taken for granted? Seems like a total win win!
