A Non-Overwhelming Closet Cleanout: A How To
for people who don't like to purge. The final step in the quest to discovering personal style.
Happy New Year friends! I ended up taking an unexpected break from this newsletter during the holidays but I’m glad I did. I spent the time with my niece & nephew and just let my brain wander. Did you know 2024 is the year of the dragon? Which is also my year so I foresee good things coming my way. Looking back, 2023 was not “bad” at all but it didn’t go the way I had planned and I have a hard time letting go of the way I planned something to be, especially if it hasn’t pushed me forward in life. But I recently listened to a podcast about letting go of something being perfect (hi it me) where the guest said “sometimes we have to go backward to move forward”. So that's what 2023 was for me but I accept it as a beneficial part of my life since I ultimately spent a majority of it with my friends, family and doing things I love.
So I decided to start off 2024 strong with a good ole’ closet clean-out.
It’s the last step in my quest in finding my personal style and technically part of phase 2 - what to do after I found my style (Phase 1 was finding it). Although, I have realized that personal style can’t really be “found” because it’s always in us and ever-changing with the person we are in this moment. I’m incorporating a lot more menswear aspects to style but I remember dressing like a boy in my early 20’s so that’s not really new; I’m actually going back to a time I dressed for me and not what I was told I should be dressing like. And I’m allowing myself to wear “office” clothes even though I don’t work in an office anymore because I always liked them! I even wore them in high school! But I digress…
By going through the "finding" process, I have established a foundation for dressing in a way that makes me happy and confident. Rather than immediately decluttering my closet after this realization, I decided to experiment with my current wardrobe first. I didn't want to purge everything that didn't align with my new style since I hadn't fully defined what that meant yet. Yes, I have my foundation, but that doesn’t mean I need to tear the house down. fter playing around with my wardrobe, I can now confidently say no to items that no longer serve my style. Moreover, I can style items that I haven't worn previously and decide if they're worth keeping or not. Just because an item hasn't been worn doesn't necessarily mean it should be given away. If I wasn't happy with how I dressed before, how could I determine if it was an issue with the item or myself? Now, I can view items through a new styling lens and decide if they're worth keeping.
A closet clean-out can be extremely overwhelming or very cathartic. Usually it's the former for me. But this time it was the latter.
These 3 things that made it different this time.
I didn’t do it all in my day. I worked on a category a day. I also gave myself more than a day if I wasn’t in the right mindset to look at my clothes that day. In fact, give yourself some grace and if you need a month, so be it.
I only focused on the seasonally appropriate categories (I didn’t clean-out my spring & summer pieces like dresses or tees); This mainly came down to inefficiency. I couldn't wear items I was unsure about on a test run because they weren’t weather appropriate. And my body also constantly adjusts (especially after a treat-filled Christmas) so I didn’t want to purge something that doesn’t fit now when it may be in a few months. Or vice versa.
I had a good foundational understanding of my current personal style so my focus was to wean out the items that no longer suited that or try to style the items I wasn’t wearing in a new way. If you are in a style “crisis”, a cleanout may do more harm than good. Because if you’re not happy with how you’re were dressing before, how would you know if it’s a problem with the item or it’s just not for you? Now I can look at an item with a new styling lens and really determine if it’s something worth keeping.
These are my key takeaways from this clean-out:
Do the laundry before you start
I did not do this and found some more pieces I didn’t to evaluate after the fact. So I would say the first step to any closet clean-out is to do the laundry.
Put on your usual “face”
Consider wearing your everyday makeup when going through your closet. I know I usually do a cleanout on a weekend and I don’t want to wear any makeup, it's important to remember that makeup can affect how we perceive ourselves and how our clothes look on us. If you come across something that requires "more makeup," but you don't usually wear any, it's unlikely that you'll wear it in the future. Conversely, if you find an item that makes you feel amazing (perhaps because it's your best color), it's worth making a note to wear it more often!
Each category can be handled differently.
While trying on every item is a common recommendation, I found it unnecessary for my pants and sweaters. Why? Because I've worn them for over a month, so I already know which ones fit me. Instead, I only tried on the pieces I haven't worn yet to ensure they still fit and I still like them. For example, you may want to style up all your jackets because you don’t wear them often and you need to determine if they still work with your style. But you know you rely on tees all the time so you may just want to determine if they still fit or need some mending.
Create a "to be styled" section in your closet, or a separate rack, and make a point to wear them soon
Don't purge items that haven't been worn in a year if they still fit and you like them. Instead, make a point to wear them soon. If, by the end of the season, you still haven't worn these pieces or didn't feel great wearing them, then it's time to donate them.
If an item is 90% right, keep it and look for something that’s better to replace it.
Do you have an item you like that isn't quite perfect? Don't discard it just yet. Take a picture and save it in a designated folder so you can reference it next time you're shopping. This will also help you avoid buying something that isn't actually better. Trust me, it's happened to me before! If you get rid of it too soon, you may end up rushing into a subpar purchase when you need it again.
Jot down the details that make a piece of clothing a favorite or a perfect fit, and take note of the reasons behind your dislikes as well.
Consider elements like pocket placement or size on pants, leg shape, color, fabric, sleeve shape, and sleeve length. The next time you're shopping, refer to your notes to ensure that you're not buying something that you won't wear or remind yourself that you do in fact like big pockets.
Just because something is not “in'' doesn't mean you need it out of your closet.
I’ve noticed trends come and go a lot quicker these days. Fast fashion has tuned into our desire to want new, fresh things all the time. But there’s only so much “new” that can be created so something is considered new in September, outdated in January and new again in August. Unfortunately this creates a cycle of us buying the trendy piece, donating it when we stop wearing it because it's no longer in style and having to buy it again when the fashion girlies deem it cool again. If you're not wearing something right now because you're more interested in a trendier style, but you still feel great in it, you don't have to part with it. Store it away and reevaluate it next season. To determine whether to keep something that's no longer in style, consider asking yourself the following four questions:
There’s no one right way of cleaning out a closet
As I am working on my clean-out, pretty much every fashion person I follow shared their insights, steps and secrets to cleaning out a closet. While each approach was unique, there's no definitive right way to get it done. Remember, Marie Kondo's approach isn't the only solution. Neither is mine.
My criteria for keeping something was:
1: Does it fit correctly (not just fit but fit correctly)?
2: Does it work for my re-defined style?
OK now here’s how my clean-out went:
I made a point of starting with the category that I wear most often for this season. For me it was pants & jeans.
Why?
Because I’ve worn them the most so far so I have a good idea of what I’ve worn and liked and haven’t worn.
Having access to only the best pants will allow me to make better decisions with my tops based on the outfits I can create.
My outfit decisions usually start with the bottoms so if I have a lot of tops that match bottoms that no longer fit me, I need to decide if I should replace the pants or if I should be rethinking the tops rather than just buy more pants.
I didn’t try on ALL of my pants & jeans because I have been wearing most of them for the past 3 months. I focused this category on trying on pants I haven’t worn yet to make sure they still fit correctly. Something “fitting” is different from something “fitting correctly”. My biggest problem area in pants centered around the crotch because I have an hourglass shape so the crotch on some pants just doesn’t look right, as evidenced in these pictures. The technically button and fell good at the waist but that bunching prevented me from wearing them so they had to go.
I came up with the above 4 questions while I was purging my jeans and I came across a skinnier pair of jeans. Scrolling through IG would tell me these are outdated and my recent outfits would tell me I’ve preferred a wider, looser leg. These are all true, but the jeans still fit me well. So when I asked myself question 3, the answer was yes. I really liked the outfit in the last slide and I want to replicate it again because it represents what I want my style to be now & in the future. So instead of purging it now and having to buy a similar style again, it's more sustainable and efficient to keep them.
Decluttering my tops looked different from the bottoms. I made 4 subsections to tackle - blouses, vests, tees and sweaters. I started with blouses which was probably a mistake because I realized winter isn’t the season I wear blouses. As I'm currently not working in a public space, my go-to outfit is either a sweater or a sweater+tee combination. So, I haven’t had a chance to wear most of my blouses this season and plan on wearing them anytime soon. Instead, I focused on whether I liked the fit or color of each blouse. I plan to revisit them in the spring when I can style them properly.
Spoiler alert: I kept most of my blouses (oops). It’s the category I love to buy but rarely wear. But I plan on really wearing them this year and finally figure out the characteristics of a blouse that I like for myself (so far I love them when they’re relaxed, a bit oversized and in a novelty print).
A discovery I made during this cleanout is that I actually like the majority of the items in my closet but I just needed to look at styling them differently. But I want to emphasize that I’m only doing it with items that fit well and I still really like. If I put it on and I was like “eh”, then I didn’t need it.
If a certain piece of clothing has a vital role in your wardrobe (like the two tops below), it's important to hold onto it. However, taking a photo of it and storing it in a folder to reference when shopping for similar items is a efficient way to remember to look for something better.
I came across this blouse that I had worn only once in the last two years. Although it fit me well and I really liked it, the blouse was like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit into my wardrobe. But did it fit into my re-defined style personality? The relaxed fit and playful ruffles say YES.
I had to decide whether the piece just didn't work with other items in my closet or if it represented my ideal wardrobe and my current wardrobe was incomplete.
This realization was mind-blowing.
It made sense that my wardrobe should reflect my current style, not what I used to wear. However, this didn't mean that I had to go out and buy a lot of new things. Rather, it gave me a new perspective on which items to keep. I came to understand that my style had evolved over time, and I had been picking up items that suited my new look. Since I hadn't fully defined my style, I didn't know how to style those pieces, so they would just sit in my closet unworn. It became clear that getting rid of items I didn't wear during a style evolution would prevent me from discovering my new style. That one blouse sparked a whole new perspective.
Now, I have a tangible item to guide me in the right direction. If you don't have that item in your closet, next time you're secondhand shopping, find something that hits all the marks, even if it doesn't go with everything in your closet. Use it as a guide for future purchases.
Then I decided not to clean-out my tees (what?!). To be fair I did declutter a lot when I moved from OKC to NJ so I feel good about the tees I have now. And since it’s not the best season to wear them, I didn’t feel like I could give them enough credit right now. II'll give them another look in the spring since it's not the best season to wear them. It's important to remember that decluttering your closet does not have to happen all at once. You can start by removing the ones that no longer fit you and work on deciding whether to keep the rest based on style later.
So I moved on to sweaters. However, I didn't try all of them on since I've been wearing them a lot lately, and there is only so much one person can try on. I give you permission not to try on every single item you own. Instead, I added the unworn sweaters to my "styling rack" to determine if I need fresh ideas on how to wear them or whether they're just not a good fit for me.
My jackets went rather smoothly. I’m not sure why. Maybe I kept too many! I mainly determined if I liked how they fit and if I’ve had them for a long time and still wasn’t wearing them. Which was my criteria so there was no need to purge for purges sake!
Here’s a video I uploaded to my Instagram if you’re curious which jackets I did purge :)
Full disclosure - I had planned on working on my winter skirts this week but just didn’t get around to it. Which is ok. I don’t have a lot of skirts and I did happen to try them on when I pulled them out of storage in the beginning on the season to make sure they fit. Even though my current life events don’t allow for much skirt wearing, I love them and I know i’ll be wearing them in the near future. So for now I’m planning on making an effort to wear them to determine if I really like them before they need to be packed away.
Well that’s it! That’s my 2024 closet cleanout! You may be wondering how I organize my closet and for me it’s pretty simple. It’s first organized by category; dresses, blouses, pants, skirts, jackets, tees and sweaters. Then each category is organized by color. I’ve tried a couple different organizational varieties but ultimately color is where my brain goes after I decide what type of clothing I want to wear. Organizing the categories by fabric or shape would work for you if your palette is more minimal.
I also suggest reading Anna’s from the Anna Edit guideline for closet cleanout - she shares really good tips as well!
That's all for now, friends. If you'd like to follow me at @stylingdarya, I'd be thrilled. Additionally, feel free to reach out via DM or the comments below if you have any comments or questions (just please keep it friendly). Thank you for reading this post, it means the world to me that you're here. If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider sharing this newsletter with others. (And if you have a moment to like it, that would be amazing!) Your support truly means a lot.
Happy Dressing!
xoxo, Darya