I’m pretty sure you like clothes. Most women do.
You probably don’t like all the complexity, expense, and overwhelmed-ness that goes along with shopping for the right clothes, deciding what to wear, caring for those clothes, and managing your wardrobe and closet. The secret is simplicity.
You can have a wardrobe that is versatile, lovely, and enjoyable without it being a burden. Here are six ways to simplify your wardrobe.
#1 Choose Core Colors and Base Your Wardrobe Around Those
Choose a few neutrals and a few colors that you love and that you look good in. Stick mainly to those. Add in a few others for interest.
It makes shopping easier because you know what colors to keep an eye out for. It makes buying decisions easier. It will help prevent overspending and impulse buys. You’ll think twice before adding that (on sale) yellow sweater to your wardrobe if yellow isn’t one of your core colors. It makes wardrobe organization and outfit coordination easier because almost everything will go together.
#2 Define Your Personal Style
What is it that you really like to wear? What do you look best in and feel most comfortable in? What works best for your lifestyle and activities? Stick with that. Not only will you love your wardrobe but it will be easier to manage once you have your style down. Decisions will be so much easier and you won’t have anything in your closet that you never wear because you don’t really like or aren’t comfortable in it. See 7 Tips for Creating a Modest Wardrobe for some style resources.
#3 Decide What You Do and Do Not Wear
It’s simple. Just cut out the excess. There is so much out there that you don’t need to buy. You don’t need to try to like. You don’t need to even consider. You don’t need in your closet. Once you eliminate it from your thinking you don’t have to deal with it anymore.
That’s not to say you can’t add something back into your reckoning, if you want it. It’s just a way to not have to think about or deal with things you really don’t like or need to wear. When you decide what you do and don’t wear you only have to deal with what you do wear. It will make shopping and wardrobe management so much easier because you have a much narrower focus.
For example, I don’t wear high heels, I don’t wear open toe dress shoes, I don’t wear above-the-knee skirts, I don’t wear sleeveless things, I don’t wear pants with creases, I don’t wear large-scale prints, I don’t wear orange (Update: I do own an orange shirt now. I’m flexible. 😉 ), I don’t wear animal prints, I don’t wear baggy clothes, I don’t wear cool pinks. I do wear fitted tops and dresses (rarely does anything not fitted look good on me), I do wear anything in chocolate brown, I do wear warm pink, I do wear skirts that flare at the bottom.
For me, it’s a way of eliminating clutter from my wardrobe management and focusing on what’s best for me.
#4 Create Wardrobe Capsules
A wardrobe capsule is a collection of clothing pieces in which all (or most) go together to create many different outfits. A really simple example: If you have two bottoms and three tops, and all the tops go with both of the bottoms, you have six outfits. It’s a few clothes-many outfits approach that not only prevents closet bulge but also simplifies dressing.
#5 Choose Easy Care Whenever Possible
No sense making more work for yourself than you have to. Stick mostly to easy machine wash, machine dry, no-need-to-iron-if-you’re-careful clothing. If anything requires special care, make sure it’s worth it, you’re up to it, and you’re ready for it.
#6 Choose Versatile Pieces
Choose pieces that go with many other pieces. Choose pieces that move over several levels of casualness to dressiness. Choose pieces that will work in a variety of settings and moods. Choose pieces that will span seasons. If you get more out of everything you own you can comfortable own less, and that right there is an important key to a simpler wardrobe!
What are your wardrobe challenges? Do tell!
