Decluttering your wardrobe (properly) is an amazing place to start as the benefits are immediate and transformative! A streamlined, minimalist wardrobe will make getting dressed effortless. With only the clothes that you love, that fit you & suit your lifestyle - you won't have the 'what to wear' stress ever again! Statistically, we only wear 20% of our wardrobe, 80% of the time - so this is an area where we can afford to get a little ruthless and really curate the best of what we own. Done properly, this method can change the way you shop forever, spending money wisely on your own personal 'capsule wardrobe' so that you always feel your best.
1. Find Your Style
The first thing to do before you declutter your wardrobe is to take out all of the pieces which you find yourself reaching for time and time again, wear every day, suit your figure & make you feel good. Once you have done this, write a list of each category. For example, mine would look like this:
Cotton T Shirts
Long sleeved, scoop neck T shirts
Relaxed, oversized shirts
Roll neck jumpers
Cashmere crew neck jumpers
Jogging bottoms/yoga trousers
Gym leggings
Straight leg jeans
Wide leg trousers
Now do the same for coats, jackets & shoes. Again, mine would look like this:
Leather biker jacket
Short puffer jacket
Long puffer coat (duvet)
Wool coat
White trainers
High top trainers
Other trainers
Leather ankle boots
These lists would look different for me in the Summer months, but as I do seasonal rotation (which I'll get to) - the focus is on what I'm currently wearing.
The above is what makes up your personal Capsule Wardrobe, this your 20% and where you should invest in the very best pieces you can afford to ensure that you always feel like yourself at your best.
2. Have an Exit Plan
Before you begin decluttering, it's absolutely vital that you have a plan for the items you are planning to reduce. If you follow my process there will be a lot! Generally, when I work with clients, the items go 3 ways:
Charity Shop donations or a Charity Collection (such as iCollect or Anglo)
A clothes selling service - our local ones are In Style Ascot and Love A Preloved. They sell your high street and designer clothes then split the profits with you. It's a nice way of recovering some of the money from mistake purchases which have been hardly worn (the money can go towards investing in your Capsule pieces!)
Clothes recycling banks for items which are a little further down the line
I would suggest that you drop off the items for charity or to be sold as soon as possible after the declutter, otherwise there is a danger that they sit for months cluttering another part of your home! For the selling service, make sure that the companies have availability in advance as they can get extremely busy!
Prepare bags or boxes for the 3 categories - I average around 8-10 bags with my clients!
3. Decluttering
As always, when we declutter, we need to be mindful of loss aversion. Loss Aversion is the fact that a loss is felt twice as powerfully as a gain. To counter this, we need to focus on the value of what we stand to gain from a decluttered, organised Capsule Wardrobe. After decluttering your wardrobe, you will feel a huge relief, satisfaction and achievement. Fewer (but better) choices will leave you less stressed, more relaxed and more in control. Once we understand that the value of keeping what we love and enjoying more space outweighs any 'loss' (loss of clutter is not really a loss!), we will have the confidence to make these decisions. From my experience of decluttering wardrobes, I have identified a few key categories of items which you definitely do not want taking up wardrobe space.
It doesn't fit - life is too short to feel bad about yourself!
It should work, but just doesn't
You like the idea of it, but never actually wear it
It's an 'aspirational' piece for a lifestyle you aspire to lead but don't currently (usually bought during a shopping trip where we are feeling a bit crap & trying to reinvent ourselves)
It's a piece you loved previously and wore all of the time, but haven't for years
You have worn this piece to death and it no longer makes you feel good
It's damaged and you have never repaired it
It's uncomfortable
It washes badly OR requires such complex washing/extensive ironing that you won't realistically ever wear it again
You don't like it
You have kept it purely because you spent a lot of money on it
It's a novelty T shirt from a Hen Do, or a signed shirt from leaving secondary school
You bought it in a sale but have never worn it
Now that you've identified your Capsule Wardrobe and with the list above in mind, you can begin removing the clutter (your 80%) from your actual physical wardrobe! The easiest place to start is with the hanging rail. If you have space, slide everything to one side and starting with the first item you see, take each piece physically out of the wardrobe. Ask yourself the following questions - (be ruthless, in the knowledge that your Capsule Wardrobe has been safely removed from proceedings):
Do I love or even like this item of clothing?
Do I always try this item on but end up removing it in favour of an item of my Capsule Wardrobe?
Does it fit me?
Is it so worn that it makes me feel unkempt?
Would I buy this item if I saw it in a shop today?
Do I feel my best/comfortable wearing this?
Is it me?
Does the colour suit me?
Does this item of clothing suit my current lifestyle?
Do I actually have space to keep this?
If you want to keep the item, slide it to the other side of the rail. If you don't have space for this, remove a chunk of the rail at a time onto your bed or a flat surface and work in sections, replacing the 'keep' selection once you have created enough room.
For occasion wear such as cocktail dresses, we need to be extra ruthless! These are pieces we have often spent a lot of money on and spent time choosing so can be hard to part with. It pays to remember that the money has been spent and the memory has been created in the piece, so keeping the item hanging in your wardrobe isn't going to bring the money back (although selling it as mentioned above may partially!). Unless it's a timeless classic, we often find that our style evolves quite a lot between these big events. More often than not, when we take another look at a dress we wore for a wedding last year, it wouldn't neccessarly be what we'd choose again. For this reason, I do feel that dress rental such as Hurr Collective is really good alternative. It may still be costly if you choose to rent a designer piece, but you aren't then stuck with the guilt of an item you won't wear again.
In the same way, work through each and every drawer, basket and shelf; section by section including underwear and pyjamas until you are confident that you have kept only the items that you love and wear. In your declutter, you should include items such as jewellery and scarves, as reducing the choice in these will actually encourage you to use what you have rather than being overwhelmed.
4. Seasonal Rotation
To make sure that your wardrobe works for you every day, seasonal rotation is a really useful tool. I like to use IKEA Skubbs to store these items (always in categories). If you have space at the top of your wardrobe, this is a nice place to store your seasonal pieces. Alternatively, there are under-bed options which also work well. We can do the same for holiday-specific items (such as Ski), or even occasion wear if we really don't go to many events (I don't!). If there are items that you just can't part with (it's from your sister's hen party) - you can also use these storage bags to store sentimental items so that you get the full benefit of your decluttered space.