Discover the secret to an efficient wardrobe detox with these 7 rules to follow

Discover the secret to an efficient wardrobe detox with these 7 rules to follow

Finally I made a decision to do a really big wardrobe detox. You might think, that it is normal, nothing unusual, right? Well, let me tell you. In my case it is VERY unusual. In fact, this was my first real, chuck-it-all-out type of wardrobe detox. My personal attachment to clothes didn’t have a chance to win the battle. Ok, once in a while, I throw away bits and pieces, mainly though things that are broken or are a wrong size.

This time, however, I was determined. My wardrobe was literally crying for help. For some reason, I can’t get rid of things just like that. Every piece of clothing or shoes has a story. Some of the stories go way back to my university (Yes really, I still have clothes from more than a decade ago). And to do the task properly, I got a help from an excellent stylist Anna from Cliftonstyle (IG @cliftonstyle).

What happened during the wardrobe detox

Anna arrived at 9am sharp. After showing her into my bedroom and introducing her to my wardrobe I left her to it. In an hour I couldn’t believe it. All my clothes including shoes (where did I get so many shoes???) were all over the place and I could already see the forming piles. Then the fun started. It was a little bit like that episode in “SATC” minus the champagne. “Keep”, “throw” and “maybe” where our most used words.

When we had doubts, I just tried the piece on and we tried to style it in a new different way. We have created some amazing outfit and even put back to life my leather skirt which I never worn. Not even once! It wasn’t easy and I was happy that I got someone to help me with that, otherwise I would probably never do it. Now if you are like me, creating emotional attachment to clothes, but desperately need some wardrobe detox, I will share with you a secret. The best way to do this is to follow these 7 rules and you will be as efficient as ever.

How to do wardrobe detox with these 7 rules by Chic Journal

Wardrobe detox rules

    1. Dedicate a full day. No kids around, no meetings. Clear your calendar. Even if you won’t need the whole day, you will not be feeling under the pressure to finish at specific time.
    2. Get a professional stylist to help you. If you don’t want to do that, call a good friend. Ideally the one who loves fashion and tells you the truth, like “I can’t bear to see you again in this ill-fitting dress”. Objective set of eyes is exactly what you need.

7 simple rules to follow for the wardrobe detox

  1. Plan beforehand. Get clothes railings, like these from Amazon. Trust me you will need them. Also get huge bags for the items you don’t want, like these. You want to finish the whole process with everything perfectly organised and with bags ready to leave your home for good. Decide what you want to do with these. clothes
  2. If you can’t decide about some pieces, create “decide later” space, so that you can deal with all those in the end of the day. That is how it will not slow you down during the day. What you want is deciding fast. The same is for the clothes you need to try to see if they still fit well. Do all that in the end at once.
  3. Create a list of things you need to buy in order to complement the rest of your wardrobe. Be specific. Writing down blazer is nice, but by the time you hit the shops, you will probably forget what kind of blazer you wanted and why you actually needed in the first place. If that helps, make pictures of clothes you need to complement with something (Polaroid comes in handy here).
  4. Be creative and try to put together completely new combinations of outfits. When you do, take a picture (at least with your phone) so that you don’t forget what and how to style things differently. 
  5. Last but not least. Be strict. If you are not ready to throw away that chunky sweater you got 5 years ago, that is fine. Just don’t do that with everything. You need to commit to the wardrobe detox. If you are not ready to do that, maybe it is not the right time. And that is totally fine. Just make sure you know what you want to achieve.

I certainly did achieve my goal, with my wardrobe detox exercise. The whole process took 10 hours! It was exhausting, but I am done. We did really well clearing out loads of stuff with good part going to charity. Now, when I open my wardrobe, it is like a breath of fresh air. I am not anymore overwhelmed by quantity and rather can’t wait to start enjoy the quality. Now all the clothes are actually the ones I really wear. And I can’t wait to complete my wardrobe with some investment pieces. I really “need” blazers, belts and jackets, but that is for another story. Stay tuned for my new additions!

wardrobe detox 7 rules how to organise closet

 

I am now committed to do a little wardrobe detox at least twice a year to always keep it fresh. And how often you do your wardrobe detox, once a year or every season?

 

Petra

xx

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