Wardrobe lessons

Not taking the easy route

I recently offered to clear my late mother’s clothes. It was a joyful experience, as I had time to remember her in some of the clothes that I had seen her wear, and to reflect on a long and fortunate life. She enjoyed shopping for new things and using them.

My sister suggested I spend less time sorting them all and just take them to charity shops to be done with it. Clothes mean more to me than items to wear. They represent that person – their choice of what to wear in terms of colour and style, likes and dislikes. They tell a story of that person. My mum had never asked me to colour-analyse her (she believed that she knew what suited her), and being a jolly person who loved colour, she certainly had a variety of plain and different patterns in what I would describe as “all seasons” colours.

Although I believe everyone is unique, and they need to find their clothes to represent their personality, I also believe in recycling. It’s like when you’re looking at something on-line and now a pop up appears telling you x number of people have viewed that in the last 10 minutes! Where we don’t often think to have our clothes bespoke or make our own any more (well, most people don’t as it is no longer time or cost-effective), we do need to buy off the shelf from the range on offer, and that is going to mean that similar people will be buying the same item, even though they may have different lifestyles or personalities.

Recycling must happen

Mum’s clothes need to be found new loving homes to continue their story. They are too lovely to not land in the right people’s hands. I intend to make that happen, and there will be more blogs and information about that in the near future, especially as lots of them are summer fabrics. I am currently washing and tending to them to prepare them for their new owners…

5 reflections on wardrobe sorting

I have learned a lot through reflecting on her wardrobe contents, and how I found everything, but it also reminded me of key aims for my clients, such as:

• If you organise your wardrobe somehow, you will avoid unnecessary duplication.
• If you are able to see everything you have, you will wear it, and not forget you have it.
• Hangers are important. Getting the right hanger for the task is vital: consider the hanging space, garment material, and shape and size of hanger.
• Buying pieces that are laundry-friendly for you is as important as the colour and style. (If you have to have things dry-cleaned or ironed, and this is too much effort, you will not bother and therefore not love and wear them.)
• We are psychologically invested in our clothes, whether we realise that or not. Of course there are practicalities, like how much space we have for these items in our lives, but clothes are so much more than “items to wear”. When we understand how our choice of clothing and presentation represents us, and what messages we are delivering, we can enjoy being ourselves more and being confident that we are dressing how we should.

If you would like to learn what comes of this wardrobe-emptying exercise, keep tuned, or get in touch with me. It’s going to be awesome!