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A New Way to Clean Out Your Closet

by Kena Paranjape on January 11, 2010

in Fashion and Style, Organization

If my closet looked like this, I wouldn't be writing this post! (Mariah Carey's Closet, Image courtesy of Archictectural Digest)

If my closet looked like this, I wouldn't be writing this post! (Mariah Carey's Closet, Image courtesy of Archictectural Digest)

After the excess of the holidays I tend to adopt a more minimalist outlook.  This year the manifestation of this mindset took the form of: de-cluttering every single surface in our apartment (cleansing on so many levels!), tracking purchases and avoiding any unnecessary ones and tackling the monster that is my closet.  The traditional rule - If you haven't worn it in a year, you're not going to wear it - doesn't work for me because I tend to get stuck into ruts with my wardrobe picks.  I stand in front of my closet for five seconds before work and grab a familiar "something" to get out the door faster (I told you, I am a lazy fashionista!)

Instead, I came up with a new strategy to not only clean out my closet, but also to make the most of every piece of clothing that I own:  Wear every single thing in your closet.  The steps are easy:

1.  On Day 1, go to your closet and pick out something to wear.  It doesn't matter what it is, this is just the starting point.  Do the same with your jewellery and accessories.

2. At the end of the day, put the items you wore that day aside so you can begin to track what you have already worn.  For example, hang the knit top that you wore at the very start of the closet rod.

3.  On Day 2, pick out something new to wear.  You cannot go back to the item you wore the day before (ok, you shouldn't be doing this anyway!)  At the end of the day, again place that item with the other item you already wore.

4.  Over the following days, weeks, or months (depending on how many pieces of clothing you own) wear every single thing in your closet.  Every top, sweater, skirt, pair of pants, dress, scarf, and piece of jewellery should make it into rotation and should settle next to the other items you have already worn.  You may have to go back to a basic to a complete an outfit, like a camisole, cardigan or pair of jeans, but they should not be the main event.  This exercise will force you to find a way to wear everything you own and will clearly identify why you no longer wear something - it doesn't fit anymore, needs to be altered, too dated, or you just plain hate it.

5. When you are finished, the items that are left behind, unworn, lonely and so sad, have got to go.  There is a reason why you can't figure out how to wear them and they are just taking up space in your closet and your life.  This includes unworn jewellery and accessories.  What to do with all those things that are perfectly fine but not for you anymore?

  • If they can be saved by altering or drycleaning, do it today!
  • Give them away to a charity
  • Post your better quality items them on a site like shopmyclothes.com or sell to a resale shop and earn back some of the money you spent on them
  • Give them to friends who might like them
  • Hold a clothing swap with a group of friends

The biggest upside to this exercise is that you will have found new, creative ways to wear every piece that you own from that lace top you bought at Anthropologie to the earrings you made a few years ago, to the delicately knitted scarf your Mom brought you from Paris (from my personal experience :) ).  Let me know how it goes!

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Technorati Tags: clean out closet, closet organization, mariah carey, shopmyclothes

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The Lazy Fashionista

by Kena Paranjape on November 4, 2009

in Beauty, Fashion and Style

Trend11-Scarves

When you are a self-proclaimed style expert, you are supposed to walk the walk and talk the talk and practice what you preach.  It would not do, for example, for me to wear rubber flip flops on the street after my post about Style Do's and Don'ts.  But I have a confession to make: I am not a fashionista (a term I actually loathe) in the true sense of the word.  I am what you could call a Lazy Fashionista.  There are days when I don't apply mascara before heading out the door and there has been more than one occasion when my sister has looked me up and down with eyes that say, "what are you wearing??".  But let's face it.  There are times when your outfit is the last thing on your mind.  You are a complex person with important things to think about beyond what shoes go with this skirt.  So, I would like to pass on a few tips for those days when life choices outweigh your earring choices.

1.  Throw on a scarf (see above): a scarf is the easiest accessory in the world.  It can add colour to an outfit, keep you warm and add personality to the most boring t-shirt and jeans.  This season go for an over-sized cashmere or chunky knit version.

2.  Wear shades: Celebrities' favourite trick.  Throw on a big pair of shades on days when you just can't bring yourself to apply your five-minute-face.

eva_mendes

Eva Mendes hides behind dark shades

3.  Blush it up: A punchy dab of blush can wake up your face and make you look fresh and relaxed even if that is not how you feel.

A Lovely Blush at Carolina Herrera

A Lovely Blush at Carolina Herrera

Any other ideas?

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Technorati Tags: blush, fashionista, scarf, shades

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