Thinning the Herd – Managing your Wardrobe
When did you last clean out your wardrobe? Do you have clothes that seem to have lost their appeal, are simply worn out or no longer fit? For some of us, it is ties; for others, trousers – what about you? The start of the year is a good time, psychologically and practically, to look through the pieces that you have accumulated and start thinking about how to declutter and, as they say, “up your game”.
At AskOkey, we like to think of a wardrobe as serving a need, not just being a box where you put things. To meet your needs, your wardrobe must:
- Be useful (in other words, be something that you can, and will wear – want to wear)
- Be comfortable (meaning that you can wear them easily and not think about fixing them up or replacing them)
- Be there when you need them (you can buy them and forget about ever having to replace them)
- Be fun to wear (possibly, but not necessarily)
So as a first step, look at your wardrobe and check each item against the criteria. Are they useful? Are they still comfortable? Will they last (have they lasted)? Do they fit together, in terms of colour and style?
Over the years, we tend to gather things, particularly if you buy ready-to-wear. How many times have you passed by a shop, seen something and thought “That will go well with my (fill in the blank here)”? Take it home and you find that it actually does not go very well with whatever it was that you had in mind: too dark, too light, wrong texture, or it looked different in the shop under the lights than it does when you take it home? Nothing wrong with buying things – commerce keeps the world going round, after all – but pretty soon you have a conglomeration (collection is not quite the right word) of clobber. Add to that the gifts: pullovers at Christmas, ties at birthdays, usually from people who have no idea of what you already have, and the closet population has expanded far beyond what is useful, with no really consistent theme or style.
The closet is brimming, the hangers fighting for space to breathe, and that bizarre jacket that you still think will work at that odd party you might receive an invite for – someday
When you start thinning out the herd, possibly following a new year’s resolution, it can get difficult. Some things can easily be thrown away – you don’t want them any more, and you feel no attachment to them. Others are more difficult to dispense with – a gift from your mother or wife, which you have to wear once in a while; for example.
Let’s start with suits. You definitely need one dark blue, one dark grey and one light grey. How many of each do you have? Three, four, five? Take a look at each of them. Do they still fit? Have the moths been at them? Are they worn out (check the ends of the sleeves for wear on the corners)? Do you have some where the jackets fit and the trousers are too tight? Are they in a style that you do not wear any more? If they don’t fit, are worn or otherwise unwearable, now might be a good time to clear them out and make some space for replacements. Do you still have the requisite three basic suits? Keep the essentials, even if you really want to replace them. If you have other suits, bought on a whim (the Prince of Wales plaid that is too bold for the office, for example), think about whether you will ever wear them. If you can’t imagine an occasion, beyond perhaps once a year, you can probably do without them.
Now the jackets: are any of them too big or too small? Do you have pants that go with them? Are they too heavy for the weather where you live now? Have you “outgrown” the styles, colours or patterns? Do you still wear them out of the house? Be firm, hold your nose and start pulling them off the hangars until you are left with a blue blazer, one gun club or check tweed, and, if you have one, a summer jacket in a light colour. The rest, unless they are still wearable, can go.
Third, let’s attack the pants. This is where most of us have some derelict pairs that we could lose without shedding a tear. Do they fit? Do they go with a jacket? Do you ever wear them? If you have not worn them within the past year, do you really need them?
After cleaning out unwanted trousers, jackets and suits, let’s look at shirts, ties and sweaters. Shirts are easy – any that have frayed cuffs or collars, any that are too small, any that you don’t wear, or that don’t fit with your other clothes, can go. Sweaters – upwards of five is too many, though you have to keep in mind winter, summer, thin and thick. Ties that are too loud, too wide, too narrow or too old can also go.
What are you left with? Not very much by the sound of things. Now is the time to start rebuilding systematically.
1. You need some basic shirts, in light blue, light grey, white and possibly a couple with small checks or narrow stripes. That’s it; they will go with everything.
2. You need a few jackets and trousers; consider ordering or buying them in combinations, so that you can be sure that they go well together. Think about pants that go with more than one jacket, so that you can keep your odd trouser wardrobe as efficient as possible.
3. You need enough suits to keep them in rotation for work, covering those days when they have to be cleaned. You could also think about getting winter and summer versions of each one (blue, charcoal, grey), but make sure, whatever you get, that you want to wear it.
A small, uncluttered and useful wardrobe, containing what you like and what you want to keep on wearing. If you choose to go bespoke, all the better because then you can build around themes and colours. But even if you want to stick with ready to wear, go carefully and gradually.