I have been meaning to do a major closet cleanout for a few years now and the situation has reached a level of dire that I just can’t postpone any longer. I’ve been putting this wardrobe assessment project off because I knew it was going to be a monumental undertaking and I felt pretty overwhelmed by it, but I finally forced myself to carve out some time to make it happen.
I haven’t done a proper assessment / purge of my closet in an incredibly long time. For most of my adult life I have tried to assess my wardrobe seasonally and make adjustments as necessary, but I haven’t done one in years. In the past couple of years in particular I’ve been feeling the need to pare wayyyyy back and be truly honest with myself on whether or not I will ever actually wear many of the items that I own.
To be fair, there have been a few major factors that contributed to the delay in rotating through my closet: (1) back in 2020 we weren’t really wearing anything other than lounge clothes while in quarantine and it didn’t seem like the right time to get rid of clothing pieces that hadn’t really been given a fair chance to be worn for over a year, you know? And then (2) my body changed from two pregnancies, (3) my lifestyle shifted as I became a stay-at-home mom, and (4) my personal style and preferences have generally evolved / matured over time. After all of these changes, a fair amount of my clothing wasn’t really serving me anymore and I really want a more streamlined, functional wardrobe made up of pieces that I love and want to wear.
After all of the changes in my life over the past ~five years I feel like I’ve only just reconnected with my personal style. While it’s not a huge departure from who I am or anything, it has definitely had a significant shift… I’m no longer working in an office setting, I have a preschooler to play with and a toddler to chase around; my lifestyle is just totally different from where it was when COVID-19 hit. I welcome these life changes with all of my heart, but an unexpected “side effect” that came along with these lifestyle adjustments has been the push to reexamine what I need from my wardrobe.
Come with me as I overhaul and reset my closet!
chart from Anuschka Rees blog
First Step: Revisit Existing Wardrobe
The most important part of this process was assessing what to keep and what to remove from my wardrobe! This included that items no longer suit my personal style, what no longer fits (or never fit my body quite right in the first place, therefore never getting worn), and what pieces have been worn to death and need replacing!
Basically, if it doesn’t “spark joy” (Marie Kondo style), out it goes!
I assessed everything, from intimates (which includes bras, underwear and socks — however, these items are washed and put into a pile for responsible textile recycling… not donations, btw) to shoes, pajamas, and even swim and workout clothes. No category was “safe”!
This first step was pretty time-intensive — while some things were very clear KEEP or TOSS, there were also plenty of things that I needed to consider for a bit before making my decision on their fates. I didn’t want to make any hasty choices, but I also didn’t want to be too sentimental and hold onto things that no longer serve me. It was quite the process, but I feel really good about where everything shook out.
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Second Step: Sort — Discard (Recycle) // Donate // Consign
I am honestly obsessed with Trashie for offering a responsible recycling service. You can send in clothing, linens, towels, shoes, and even handbags… in any condition… to be recycled / repurposed. These large, durable Take Back Bags are perfect for everyday use (we like to keep an open bag in our primary closet that’s ready to add any items that are beyond repair), but the bags are especially perfect to have for a project like this! Thankfully, there weren’t too many items to put in the bag, but there were definitely a few pieces that were so well-loved that I felt like they didn’t even qualify for donations.
Speaking of donations, donation centers (such as Goodwill) often get overwhelmed by clothing dropoffs and as a result many of those items end up going to a landfill so I try to be extra intentional when giving away clothing. A donation center is not your personal dumping ground, babes.
In that same spirit of giving, I had a handful of maternity-specific items that now no longer fit my body without a bump and since our family is complete there’s no reason to hang onto those pieces. If you have gently-worn maternity clothing that you would like to pass along, I highly recommend giving them to a family-focused social services organization — if you’re local to the Seattle area, we love to support KidVantage Northwest.
Anything that’s in pristine or gently worn condition (read: worth passing along and giving a new life in another closet) I set those pieces aside to sell.
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Third Step: Sell Gently Loved / Unworn Items
There are many different websites where you can sell secondhand clothing and if you can keep them all straight (keeping up with promoting your items during live events, remembering to remove listings when items are sold on one site, etc) then cross-selling between platforms will likely result in more sales for you. I don’t have the bandwidth for all of that right now, but I can see that extra effort being lucrative.
While I prefer to sell on Poshmark I’ve also had positive purchasing experiences on Mercari and have heard good things about Vinted, Vestaire Collective, ThredUp, and Depop. If you’re looking to consign more luxury items I recommend TheRealReal or Fashionphile.
If you’re interested in checking out what items I have available for purchase you can find them on Poshmark here. I’m selling new and gently worn items from my own closet as well as various baby, toddler and little girl clothes.
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Fourth Step: Update StyleBook app
I know that this step may feel unnecessary to most, but I love using the Stylebook app to create outfits and plan packing lists, etc so I made sure that the changes to my actual closet were reflected in my digital closet.
This practice accomplished two things: (1) I now have an accurate representation of the items in my closet for planning outfits and (2) it helped me recognize any wardrobe gaps that I wanted to fill.
Shopping with intention is the goal.
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Fifth Step: Take Note of Any “Gaps”
Noting gaps in your closet is essentially the practice of taking stock of your wardrobe and assessing where you need to fill in. This includes things like recognizing your white sneakers have worn out and it’s time to buy a new pair or you’ve been noticing lately that the thing that’s missing from your outfits is a classic black leather belt, etc.
As far as adding any new items to my wardrobe, that will be a slow, intentional process. I want to curate a collection of quality pieces that will last for years (with proper care). I will not only be returning to routine, seasonal wardrobe assessments, but I will also be taking stock to see where there may be gaps or items that need to be replaced. I’ve created a running list of these pieces that I would like to invest in as I come across them.
Additionally, I recently had my “colors done” (lol — I took a quiz on the internet) and found out through the analysis of the combination of my hair, eye, and skin colors that my “season” is Cool Summer. These results were pretty eye opening and revealed how I could to tweak a few things in my wardrobe to be more complementary.
I found it to be so interesting how we naturally tend to gravitate toward certain colors and oftentimes they’re the ones that suit us best! I was pleased to see that I already have so many of the colors in the Cool Summer palette in my closet, but I also have a couple that don’t really work well for me… namely: Camel and Cream! They’re too “warm” for my complexion so anything that I remove from my wardrobe in those colors I’d like to replace like-for-like in another neutral color that aligns within the Cool Summer palette.
If you’ve also had similar shifts in your life and are looking for a wardrobe that matches your current lifestyle, I would like to humbly offer these style inspiration accounts (in alphabetical order, not preference) for your consideration: @abovethelawstyle // @carly // @cbstyled // @clairerose //@cocobeautea // @crystalinmarie // @emmahill // @erinmillerartistry // @fakerstrom // @kateehutchins // @kellymccoyd // @la_nadia // @lillyandgrant // @sara_yaben // @symphonyofsilk // @tylerharless_
Additionally, the clothing brands that I like to shop from the most these days are Abercrombie & Fitch, AYR, Frank & Eileen, Hill House, Marea, Pact, and Quince.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me! If you’re looking for a baseline for building your wardrobe, you can find my seasonal “capsule” wardrobe ideas here.
If you’re interested in taking this whole revamp a step further in your own wardrobe, I suggest purchasing additional organization to optimize your closet, but, personally, I’m choosing to save that endeavor for a bit later. This was already quite the undertaking for me. 😜
I hope this breakdown of the wardrobe overhaul process was helpful for you!
Sending big hugs —
xx, Natalie
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