Closet Amnesia

Sometimes I suffer from closet amnesia, and I am sure I am not alone in that. There are plenty of gems in there, but sometimes I get hazy about what I actually have.

"Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends." ----Kate Spade

According to UK.fashionnetwork.com, the UK has £10 Billion of unworn clothing. Some of this may include impulse purchases, items that don't fit / suit the occasion they were intended for, unloved gifts - this list of reasons is no doubt endless. Surely some of it is due to people genuinely not realising they still own certain items, or not being able to "see" them crammed into wardrobes full of hangers or stuffed in piles in drawers. Let's not even mention the out of sight storage under the bed, in lofts, garages etc. Maybe it truly is a case of being out of plain sight meaning out of mind.

"The mess that was" - my own closet pre-clear out

I saw a post about some beautiful maroon boots on Instagram recently. Immediately, my mind started mixing and matching them with my outfits. I feel embarrassed admitting that on further investigation they were out of stock and frankly I was distraught. It was ridiculous. 2 hours previously, I hadn't event known these boots existed and now I was trawling the internet for a similar pair. Had I only moved 6 feet from the bed to the closet I keep my boots in I would have discovered an ALMOST IDENTICAL pair of unworn maroon boots I received for Christmas the year before. Something about the remote online scrolling seems to take my mind far away from the present and the treasures buried in my over-stuffed wardrobe. How could one image have suggested so much to me (I love them; I need them - now!) Scary really. Fret not though, there are many strategies that may help you recover from closet amnesia, if like me you have unwittingly contracted the condition. Perhaps you already use some of these, or have others to share. My intention is never to be patronising when writing, but I do hope to save someone from years of struggle I endured working out how to battle closet amnesia. Please feel free to tag any of your own tips @style_signature_sought or comment below if you have any advice to share!

Planning

Ensuring your wardrobe is considered and edited down to only pieces you love and want to use helps you see the wood for the trees. Look through your drawers and rails initially and regularly thereafter so you see the pieces you already have. Clear out anything that doesn't fit into the (very broad) categories of loved, necessary, functional and wanted. I recently did a Marie-Kondo style overhaul of my house, with the help of my childhood friend Mandy (ADD LINK), and I cannot tell you the satisfaction and calm it has brought to daily life.

This kind of change does not necessarily mean giving away / donating everything you don’t want or need right now. Some items may be seasonal and simply require storage elsewhere; some items may be sentimental but not wearable and again do not necessarily need room in the closet.

Photos

If you have several clear "go-to" outfits, snap a photo when you dress so you can build a digital library of looks (which you can have on hand, is portable and doesn't take up any storage). You can use these to develop capsules of clothing that work together (great for throwing together a suitcase for that upcoming holiday / work trip away / long weekend etc without too much angst). You can also document your wardrobe using apps where you can save pics of your ENTIRE closet of individual pieces under different categories and create a digital look book of combined pieces. Yes, the apps can prove quite labour-intensive, especially if your wardrobe is sizeable (and mine is), but they can help you plan and take away the morning stress of staring blindly into your closet wondering what to pull out and put on.

Rails

If you have space, a rail set up separately to your wardrobe can allow you to plan out your outfits for a week or more in advance. When I lived in a flat with a very wide hall I used to set out work outfits in this way to make the mornings a little calmer. It may also help you use more of what you have; it certainly did that for me. Also, if I ever got to a hanger and shrugged reluctantly before putting it on, it was almost a sign that maybe a piece was not as loved as it previously had been, and perhaps required an edit. Again, this won’t necessarily suit all lifestyles and accommodation sizes but may be worth a try if you have the room and inclination.

Capsules

Done well, an edited closet will in itself be one large capsule - although of course every single item may not necessarily match absolutely everything else. Organising your closet into type and/or purpose and/or colour (according to personal preference and what you find most helpful) can organise the space but sometimes having 'that blouse' next to 'those trousers' they match so perfectly, may encourage you to reach for them more often so don’t be too strict with yourself.

Moving items into one space can also bring about easier usage of one's pieces. For example, I have recently moved my coats out from my bedroom to make room for skirts in my wardrobe as I was finding I rarely went into the spare room to seek out a skirt when dressing in the morning, but of course still pop into the spare room on my way out to grab a coat (Leeds is cold - a lot of the time). Skirts are becoming much more of a staple for me now that I can visualise them alongside my blouses, tops and jumpers. This, of course, was a small and simple change but we often become creatures of habit ("that's where the coats have always lived" etc) and often no longer think to question why certain things are kept in certain places.

Between seasons

Having storage for off season (weather wise rather than fashion wise) clothing can make your working closet become less cluttered, and slightly before transitioning is the time to start changing over your storage if you can. It will also allows you to refresh your memory about what you actually own! Keeping a list of what is stored (either on paper, or digitally might be helpful too; potentially preventing that repeat purchase of that cover-up for the beach you already have in 5 colours but are in storage etc. It will also allow you to think about the next season when shopping or planning your wardrobe edits so that when the weather changes you are not without items you could do with.

I hope these 'remedies' help to cure some of the closet amnesia many people must, like me,be experiencing, and allow us more breathing space to shop the items we already have in our closet and fall in love with them all over again.