024/ The Ins-and-Outs of Closet Editing (Pt. 1)
Why you should edit your closet, when you should do it, and most importantly: a step-by-step process for how to do it.
Hello dear readers,
Today we’re tackling the big subject of closet editing! It’s a recurring question in my DMs and evergreen Ask Me Anything thread, and a process I do with clients multiple times a week. I’ll start to share my knowledge with you here today.
I want to note that it’s truly a privilege for me to be essentially a stranger and entrusted to enter someone’s personal space — how many family or friends have you let into your closet before? — and then be invited to opine on it. It takes a great deal of vulnerability and courage to ask me to do that, and I’m always mindful of that.
Also, I just thought of this, but in Part 2, I might just be brave enough to post photos of my own closet! We gave up on our renovation seven years ago and my closet didn’t make the cut of top priorities, so it’s currently composed of three rolling racks, two IKEA bookshelves, a shoe rack and chest of drawers. It is what it is, and while it may not be pretty, it works!
Why are closet edits important?
Let’s start with the fundamental question of “why”?
Having an unedited closet is kind of like looking at your inbox first thing in the morning or after a long lunch: there are a few high-priority emails, some that are important but not time-sensitive, but also a lot of junk.
If you’re like me, seeing 50 unread emails to sort through immediately gets your heart racing and stress level up — which is kind of like how it feels when you have to face a closet that isn’t working for you every single damn morning. A familiar dialogue runs through your mind:
“What am I going to wear today?”
“I don’t like anything in my closet.”
“I have so many clothes, but nothing fits anymore.”
We then have to put the clothes on our bodies, which we may have a complicated relationship with.
Consider also these reader comments:
“I realized that I’ve been clinging to some pieces because I love them, but I don’t feel like myself wearing them. Therefore they stay in my closet or feel off when I put them on. In general I have trouble letting go of things; I’m tactile and sentimental about clothes.”
“I hang on to things thinking they may cycle back into style at some point (e.g. low-rise skinny jeans) but it feels like a waste of space when they’re sitting in my closet for years unworn.”
“How do I let go of things if I have not worn in years but ‘what if I will want to wear it one day for a very specific occasion.?”
The bottom line is that we direct an astounding amount of mental and emotional energy towards the state of our closets.
Ultimately, I think many of you want to edit your closets for greater peace of mind. You recognize your time and energy is precious and limited, and you want to streamline your decision-making and make getting dressed less stressful — and, hopefully one day, even enjoyable?!
The closet editing process is similar to managing your inbox — tackling each email one-by-one, reading, responding, deleting, deferring, etc.
It’s an educational and enlightening exercise because it reveals a lot of your, ahem, patterns and gets to the root causes of why your wardrobe isn’t working for you right now, either in whole or in part. Often it’s also cathartic and feels like a weight being lifted from your shoulders.
All of these reasons make closet editing a worthwhile regular practice in your life.
Now onto the when and how…