Modern Disney Bounding: Goofy

| curatorialdebut
Modern Disney Bounding: Goofy

Modern Disney Bounding: Rapunzel

| curatorialdebut
Modern Disney Bounding: Rapunzel

5 Steps for Curating your Closet

| curatorialdebut

Sometimes, I fantasize about closet porn. I think about having a walk-in closet the size of my current bathroom, seeing each piece perfectly organized by color and type, with a wall of beautiful shoes and handbag bags and maybe even a cozy chair in the corner so I can take time to bask in the luxury of my closet. Getting dressed would be a breeze, I think, as each piece is so visible, so accessible. But in reality, even with the biggest closet in the world, getting dressed would be a pain in the ass if most of the clothes you owned you didn’t like to wear. In fact, the larger the closet, the more dysfunctional clothes I would hold onto. Having a smaller closet means having a curated closet and having a curated closet means when you open those doors, you know that whatever piece you grab will look fabulous on you and will fit your lifestyle.

So this starts my mutlipart series on closet organization for the rest of us, how to clean your closet honestly, organize it cheaply, and create a budget-friendly timeless wardrobe. Enjoy!

Part I: Curating Your Closet (in 5 steps)

Step 1: Take everything out. I mean EVERYTHING.

I love the idea of shopping in my own closet. It satisfies that need to shop without actually buying anything. The sad part about shopping your own closet though is realizing you have gems hidden in the back of your space that are being crowded out by old, unworn items. So the first step is to take everything out and put it in one pile.

Step 2: Try (almost) everything on.

Fit is usually the #1 reason why something goes unworn. So trying each piece on is essential to the “should I/shouldn’t I” question about your clothes. The only caveat to this is if you have pieces that you wear all of the time that you already love and look great on you, you don’t need to try these on again. This process is going to be kind of long and maybe a little hard as it is, so let’s not make it any worse.

Step 3: Ask yourself the tough questions

You’re going to make two piles: Keep and Goodbye. Now for the meta question: should you keep it?  I created the flow chat below to help the process. But basically it comes down to three areas: Does it fit? Do you like it? Does it need mending/alterations of some kind?

Let’s break it down:

  • Does it fit? If your answer is no, you need to let go. I don’t care if it’s a YSL leather jacket you found for $10 at a yard sale. If it doesn’t fit, you won’t wear it and that means it is taking up precious real estate in your closet. And you need to ask yourself, does it really fit? I mean really, like you put it on and its comfortable and makes you look awesome. Not, it fits if I tug at this part and suck in my stomach. And not, it will fit after I go on a juice fast or after I completely overhaul my entire lifestyle and lose 10 lbs. Because, let’s be real, the juice fast weight loss won’t last after that first post-fast pastry and you probably aren’t going to start waking up at 5 am to run 10 miles before work. So if it doesn’t fit now, put it into your “goodbye” pile. You will return to this pile later so don’t be too sad. Putting it into the good bye pile doesn’t mean its going to be incinerated in the next 60 minutes so you will have time to reconsider.
  • Do you like it? But kind of more than that, do you like it enough to be seen by hundreds of people in it? Part of why this is essential is because clothes silently represent who we are and what our passions are. If you’re holding on a light pink cardigan but you’re an army jacket kind of gal then the pink cardigan will go unworn for years. If your friend tags you in an Facebook post wearing that pink cardigan, you’d probably be a little horrified because it misrepresenting you in some way. So if it fits, but you don’t really like it enough to be tagged in a FB post, it also needs to go goodbye.
  • Does it need to be mended/altered? If you love it but it has a hole or needs another small repair, it should be kept. But here’s the kicker: You have to actually repair it! If you don’t wear those jeans because they need to be hemmed, then not hemming them is going to continue to prevent you from wearing them. If you aren’t willing to take the time to get something mended or altered, then you need to toss it. Keep in mind that going to a tailor is pretty painless (unless you get stuck by a pin) and relatively inexpensive. But this is about reality and if in reality you’re never doing the research to find a good tailor then in reality, your too-long pants will never be worn.

should I keep it

Step 4: Make Four Piles: Keep, Mend, Donate, and Sell

Right now, you should have three piles. Keep, Mend, and Goodbye. You’ll want to take the Goodbye pile and turn that into two other piles, Donate and Sell. The Donate pile should consist of clothes that you don’t want but don’t fit the criteria to be sold. The Sell pile consist of items that are higher quality, brand name, or on trend which can be sold in a myriad of ways. Think of a designer dress that can be auctioned on eBay, a popular mall brand like J Crew which can be sold to Twice, or a trendy piece from H&M which can be traded in at Buffalo Exchange.

Step 5: Deal with the Piles

This is kind of a “duh” step but I think worth devoting a few sentences to. Obviously the Keep pile goes back into the closet. More on this in a later post but for now, you can put this back into the closet by category and deal with the organization overhaul later. The Mend pile can be further split into Self and Tailor. The stuff for the tailor can go into a bag by the door so you don’t forget (or ignore) it. The Self pile are things you can fix yourself like a missing button. The Donate stuff, place into bags and then put them in the trunk of your car. I do this so that I will remember to stop by the donation center when I run my next errand. It’s then super easy to just jump out, drop the stuff off, grab my receipt, and boogie. The Sell pile, throw into the laundry to be washed. Once they are washed, fold (nicely) the clothes and put them into a corner to be dealt with later. For the Donate clothes and the Sell clothes, I give myself a few weeks before I actually get rid of them because it gives me time to reconsider pieces that I may have tossed in the excitement of cleansing. I rarely pull something out of either of these piles later, but I like having the time to let go which makes it easier to let it go in the first place. And if I think I like it, throw it into the donate pile, and then forget about it completely, it wasn’t benefiting my wardrobe in the first place.

And now you are done! Well, done with the first part at least! But now, you know everything in your closet is something that you love to wear. And thus the fantasy has become reality.

Next time…

Tips and Tricks for Selling Your Clothes.