Evaluate your Signature Style, then your Closet

Before you start go into a decluttering craze, you need to define your signature style. How do you know if something is your style, if you haven’t yet defined your style? Refer my page on Signature Style to review my recommendations for defining your personal style. By first defining your style, you won’t get rid of pieces that may resonate with your style and you will avoid regretful purchases.

Assess Your Closet Space and Closet Possibilities

After you have a clear understanding of your style, you need to evaluate your closet space (and your closet goals). You need to take the space and size of your closet into consideration. When we have limited closet space and a limited budget, wardrobe staples or “the basics” should come first. Where we live also greatly impacts closet space and what we have to work with. If you live in New York City, you may have a teeny-tiny closet. However, living in Huntsville, Alabama, I have a walk-in. If you don’t have a walk-in closet, you may not have adequate space for your 30 blazers. I have a walk-in closet, but I like my clothes to be spaced pretty far apart, so nothing gets squished and wrinkled. Therefore, even though my closet is considerable as far as hanging space goes, I have to declutter hard-core to make sure all my hanging clothes are visible, with breathing room.

Our Fantasy Closet

I dream of having an entire room converted into a closet, with a gorgous mirrored island, built in dressers, and wall to wall hanging space. Right now, though, that’s just a daydream. We have to work with what we have. Having a smaller space keeps me in check; and I do believe in the notion that we only wear 20% of our clothes. Even though having a enormous closet would be amazing, my current closet space is adequate for my clothing needs-I just have to stay on top of decluttering and not allowing excessive clothes to accumulate.

Evaluate Your Lifestyle

Your job and lifestyle can determine how many pieces you need in your closet. If you work in a corporate environment, but dress very casual off-duty, you may need different capsules in your closet for the different environments. Because my job allows me to dress smart casual, I can get away with wearing dark denim, and a blouse with dress pants, or a office-appropriate dress. I don’t have the need for any suits in my closet. This frees up space so I can add in knee-length dresses and trousers that function for work or for a dinner date.

Pinpoint Versatile Pieces

Based on your lifestyle and job, brainstorm what specific clothing items would be versatile for different occasions in your life. If you don’t attend a lot of parties or social events, maybe lean toward a few great pairs of trousers or jumpsuits that you can dress up, instead of dresses that only function for certain occasions.

If you like me and like easygoing comfortable pieces, opt for a longline cardigan over a structured blazer. You can wear the cardigan into the office or just to run errands. When you have high quality versatile pieces, you can mix and match so many different options.

This means, less is more. You can utilize youer exisiting closet space and have more outfit options, while actually having less clothing.

Separate Your Classics

I would also recommend separating your basics and everyday pieces into a specific are Ain your closet for easy, effortless dressing on busy mornings, and also so you can see much of your closet is made up by classic, versatile pieces.