New Rule, One In One Out

In my increasing drive for wardrobe efficiency, I like to introduce helpful new rules. The only point of my rules is to make me think, evaluate and hesitate. It is all too easy to suddenly need or want something but without doing a double check on your current stock!

I've decided one in, one out is a simple proposition to prevent overstocking. If I have too many clothes I get overwhelmed and have to clear my wardrobe out. I have no aversion to hoarding but I have no capacity or funds to allow me to do this. I have to keep a strict check on it all.

I wanted to buy two tops for the A/W season and I spied two that fitted the bill on Topshop.com
With free p&p and returns on orders over £75 (mine was £76 in total) I was happy to take a punt and avoid the shops. I actually loved three but luckily the third one was out in my size. I've longed for a navy star top for ages and I love the sleeve detail on this one.



Every winter I add some floral to my wardrobe and having sold my other floral tops because they weren't quite right, I finally feel as if I've found my favourite.
Both of these are keepers. I will wear them until they wear out. I'm really into wearing things out too. Once an item is bobbled to b*$"*&^ or beyond repair they go to the textile recycle collection bank.

The final top, the one that got away is a gorgeous red number and I'm still tempted but prudence has got the better of me.


Before I hit the send button to seal the deal, I had to select two items from my wardrobe to go on eBay as part of my one in one out strategy. One item has been sat waiting to be sold for ages my Comptoirs des Cotonniers cardigan, unworn and unloved - if I'm honest I'm a little to busty for it, otherwise it would be a winner! The other is a dress I've worn once and it is a little bit big for me - that's ready to wear for you! It is a fabulous violet colour and I had to add a belt to make it fit my small waist. I've listed the dress but so far for some reason unknown to me I've not been able to list the cardigan, so that is one my to do list. The sales won't pay for my spree but it will help ease my mind and keep me in check!

Pearl Lowe dress get bidding!



Soon to be on eBay!

Do you apply such rigour to your wardrobe and spending habits?

Out with the old to a good home

Yep I'm on a mission. I'm having a mega wardrobe clearout and everything is going. It will take me weeks.The only items not getting the chop are my high end designer clobber, although I'm tempted to sell a rare Jean Patou coat.

You've got the love....

...but you need to re-inject it into your wardrobe. When thrift means no new injection of garments whether it is your summer or winter wardrobe you need to keep mixing it up to find the love.

A wardrobe sort is just the ticket. Get everything out all your clothes and make some piles. This is a proper project so set aside an afternoon or all day.

The Piles
Pile 1 - Designer clothes
Pile 2 - Vintage clothes
Pile 3 - High St/thrift/non designer clothes
Pile 4 - purely summer holiday clothes (bikinis, kaftans, sarongs etc.)
Pile 5 - gym clothes
Pile 6 - lounging round house clothes
Pile 7 - gardening or painting clothes (these are old clothes that are worn or torn or merely unloved)
Pile 8 - worn/tired/potential to alter or mend clothes.
Pile 9 - scarves
Pile 10 - accessories

What to do with Piles
I recommend tackling the piles in the order I've outlined below, so you are free to hang all items into your wardrobe at the last step. This will leave you with a fabulous and satisfactory feeling.

Pile 8 - sort out these poor things into either clothes you can use for gardening or painting, those that you can alter with buttons or the hemline and the rest for the charity shop. If anything has really had it cut up to use as dusters.

Pile 7 - put these items in a cardboard box or storage box in a space that is dry but not your bedroom i.e. utility room, garage, spare room, cupboard.

Pile 4 - has to be put into a suitcase or in a put away storage item. Make sure all items are cleaned and ironed before you store. Put a moth ball in with these clothes.

Pile 5 - make sure your gym clothes are put in a drawer all together. You do not want to confuse these in any way with your other clothes.

Pile 6 - you might not have these items but it is worth having nice lounge clothes for changing into for sloping around in your own home. I love looking at the selection at Net-A-Porter for reference. Imagine the fun you would have cleaning in a Marni silk-foulard romper suit!

Pile 9 & 10 - Make sure all your jewellery is stored and sorted properly. I separate fine and costume jewellery. I also declutter the costume jewellery by weeding out anything truly old hat. Some items just look dated so quickly. I keep decent jewellery in their original boxes or in the case of my cheap and cheerful Dotty P and Topshop et al purchases in a box together. My scarves are all folded and kept together. I rarely get rid of a scarf. I had a lovely silk/cashmere pashmina that got torn so I darned it and use it for the beach. It is in my holiday storage box.

Then the next step is to hang or fold piles 1,2 & 3.

I hang all my designer (and proper vintage) pieces even the t-shirts together. I run these items from right to left in the wardrobe/closet. This means all the hangers are facing forward with the steel hanging bit to the left. I only have wooden or padded hangers with a few thick plastic ones for awkward items. I hang the clothes in this order coats, jackets, dresses, skirts, long sleeve items, short sleeve items and then trousers.

Then I hang my high street items to run from left to right so they meet the designer pieces in the middle. Hangers face forward and the steel bit is to the right. Again it goes coats, jackets, dresses, skirts, long sleeve items, short sleeve items and trousers. I have a divider in the middle that houses my belts, costume jewellery, scarves and folded jeans. I don't like to hang jeans and I also only use trousers and skirt hangers for yes you guessed trousers and skirts.
The other system I use is to hang the items in darkest colour to lightest, for example black dresses, navy dresses, purple, red, light blue, white etc. If it is a patterned item I use the strongest colour to determine where the item hangs in this order.

You can hang all your coats and jackets in a separate closet if you have one. And also you can fold jumpers and tees depending on quantity, I'm quite minimalist with these. Don't forget to add a moth prevention product to the closet/wardrobe.

Now you've rearranged and reordered your wardrobe/closet you should have found new delight in old items. Also you will probably identify any gaps in your garments and can prioritise these items as future purchases from a store or thrift shop.

Let me know how you get on!

Wardobe Sort Out Anyone?

Next Saturday morning May 22nd I've got a trainee stylist who need to observe and assist me on a wardrobe sort out. Anyone in Central or South West London who would like their wardrobe examined/sorted/advised upon?

Let me know in comment box.

Size matters (2)

An over stacked wardrobe, is a size issue of a different sort. Now I know that for some having lots and lots of clothes neatly hung, stacked and looked after or organised in all manner of solutions is perfectly fine. But...for lots of people there is an endless spend, wear, unworn, sell on ebay, take to charity shop cycle due to flights of fashion fancy, boredom, retail therapy and general overs spending. Consumption is part and parcel of our lives but I'm returning to the idea of slow fashion, the idea that despite the buzz of a new season, the desire created by the editorial in magazines and the newness of clothes in the stores, you need to really think before you buy - the concept of stop, look and listen.

The STOP element is the bit where you check out everything in your wardrobe and have a good look at what you wear, like and want to have. Sort and hang everything in items - i.e. trousers, skirts, cardigans, dresses, shirts - same with folding items. Don't buy anything for a couple of weeks and see how you get on with what you have. Think about your own style, how you like to look and what works for you.

Have a good LOOK at what you have examine its potential - can it be altered? Does it really work for your life. Take a look at what you spend on clothes, how much has been bought on credit. Really evaluate what you spend and why. Again the looking involves how you look in what you have and how you can make sure you are not getting yourself into debt over a fashion fix.

Then LISTEN to the voices in your head that tell you not to buy when you do! Okay, I'm kidding but there is enough noise here on the blogosphere to make you re-evaluate what you spend, buy and why.

I do think that less is more, I'm more of a fan of the capsule wardrobe but like everyone else I'm guilty of overstocking my wardrobe and often on repeats - how many stripy tees does a gal need!
It is really hard when you love fashion not to get sucked into the endless cycle (and recycling of looks) of buying whether its over or under the budget.

I also like the idea often muted as the French approach to fashion which basically translates as a few key quality pieces of fashion purchased per season. It is another less is more but less items for more money provide quality. It was when I started clearing out peoples wardrobes and found mounds of clothes and accessories that I got turned off having too much. Even though I recently cleared my wardrobe out I still feel I have too much. I'm hoping that my shop day (all saved up for) in September will last through until March. I know I'll get tempted along the way but I'm determined to be the person that only buys a few key pieces per season and that means a smaller but beautiful wardrobe.
Updated PS: I've realised I've forgotten to add that your lifestyle and income is the key determinate of what you spend and buy. I know this is stating the obvious but my views and decisions reflect where I am now, not my misspent youth and party animal days of yore. I need to have less as I don't go out as much, because thanks to Mr MDS I've just signed for a delivery of a new 42" HD telly and he's upgrading our Sky box to HD! This does not make for an uber stylish wardrobe to wear out. Geez thanks goodness I've got friends to meet and a new job to secure otherwise I'd have no justification for a single item due to my MA lifestyle. Mind you can't wait to see Mad Men in HD.

Oh er!

Well what fun we had! Less clothes went than I anticipated but only because quite a few are high summer items and I'll wear them out in the next couple of months. But I'm on the road to stellar glamour.

It was so lovely to have someone be me for a change and make me move on over a few items. Yes its sad to see a some old friends depart but on the whole I've got more space, a few things in the growing holiday pile (what holiday?) which I'm sure I'll cull anyway. There was only one item of contention -it was a Max Mara jacket that Isobel said should go and I've wavered over doing this. Basically anything tired, (remember I do alter my clothes and wear them to death) a bit shapeless or outdated has gone.

We spotted a few key transition pieces for A/W and tested the look. I would have had a few looks photos to post but the petit garcon in the midst of our slog was amusing himself by trying on shoes, breaking my camera and gradually becoming naked. How he broke my camera I know not and what could I say whilst he was wearing some gold flats with diamante feature and some pearls and nothing else!

The photos move from camera pre breakage to poor blackberry ones for the after shots.

Before sort out-the middle thing houses belts, jewellery and jumpers

right hand side before being tackled

left hand side, completely crammed

poor shoes in need of a tidy up, my best ones are in their boxes

I take a last minute stand against revealing my stash

I collapse at this point in hysterics as Isobel makes me try on a dress I bought to go for dinner years ago with the then to be in-laws, she said it looked like something you'd try and impress the in-laws with -opps, point taken and so true!

Isobel gets her pen out to lick me into shape!

Evidence of petit garcon's handy work in progress, he managed to snap the destruction

By now naked and sorting out the hangers

Some of the pile to go

Ah happy tidy shoes, although the garcon just put back the gold flats and pink Tods he'd been wearing

Sorted. Arranged from left to right are coats, jackets, dresses, shirts then cardigans, trousers and skirts

Old habits die hard

One thing I've noticed when I go and do a wardrobe workout/detox/sort out for a client is how there is always a repeat pattern. By this I mean one item that gets repeated several times. Whether it be many black trousers, white shirts or little black dresses or in my case umpteen stripy t-shirts, repeat buys are a major problem.

The other issue is too much stuff. I think most people have managed to work out that they wear a small proportion of their wardrobe all of the time. This only happens if you have too much. Now I used to be a major hoarded of my clothes and have heaps of them but lots of moves (including a stint in Greece) and a boyfriend who cut my clothes up and put the rest out for the bin men (yeah I know the worst thing is my mum knew before me as I was oblivious to the whole event as was hung over with my girlfriends in Aberystwyth, mile away from my cosmopolitan city flat.) put an end to it all.

True, I do miss some of my items and wish I could reclaim them but on the whole I just make do as much as possible and that means using my clothes as much as possible. I prefer to give them a good free range life as opposed to a battery hen existence in drawers and wardrobes. I have one drawer, admittedly with too many stripy tees, and one wardrobe with all my clothes in. I no longer put things away for summer or winter as so many items trapeze the seasons.

I'm also looking forward to having a fellow stylist come round and check my wardrobe out, I like to think I'll be cool with this! I do feel I need another perspective as it can inject fresh opportunities for ones own style.

Last year I started a writing a book that attracted an agent and since ...well who knows it could be sat in the agent's bin or at the bottom of the pile at a publishing house but hey these things happen ...so over the next few weeks I'm going to give you some highlights of Girlynomics © - it is copyrighted!

However, tomorrow we'll start with an interview with a fellow blogger on a very topical item! 'Fraid I don't have a trailer to run...

Should they stay or should they go?

I'm such a neat pup when it comes to my clothes. All orderly, washed, pressed and put away. And of course I have a bit of a make do and mend attidude. Nothing like a hem shortening or clothes dye project to keep me happy.

However, I suffer when my wardobe gets too full. Sometimes it is because I move items outof my draw and hang them up or I haven't cleared out unworn items. The hardest thing is when I get some new items and I have to determine what goes! I'm not a hoarder, much as I wish I could be, I find it very difficult and I'm a terror for coverting new items.

Now I've noticed that lots of you keep everything and a mass a ton of stuff to pull out at a later date and dress up in. I don't throw away or sell my designer items on ebay - as the sum total is not much, so they are keepers - that's the easy part. I do sell stuff for clients on ebay as somethings are little gems or are in good condition

Worn out stuff gets used as dusters or recycled. Good stuff that's not very expensive goes to charity or friends. I like to kit my friends out! It's just how do you make the cull? Is it ok to keep the 6 LBDs of which two haven't been worn for years, should they stay or go?

What sort of rules should one apply to their closet? How much is too much?