A Life Decluttered: Streamlining My Wardrobe

When I moved to New York I had no idea how to put an outfit together. To begin with, I was incapable of assessing my body and choosing styles that flattered it the most. But beyond that, my ‘style’ was a bit… lacking. In college, jeans, sweat pants and sweat shirts were the norm at my university. (Seriously.) If I felt ambitious, I’d throw on a long flowy dress (from India) and some steel-toed boots (from Poland). I was a world traveler and I wanted you to know it. In grad school I basically wore yoga pants for three years because we started each day with Movement class and it was nonstop until 11:00 at night. The majority of my threads were cheaply made, and I had a penchant for singular wildly patterned pieces that went with nothing else I owned. A wise shopper, I was not.

So when I got to New York, I remember riding the subway and walking the streets, being inundated with a million ideas about how to dress, to put an outfit together, to put oneself together to best meet the world. Slowly, I started learning how to spot the styles that worked for my body. Remember when Joan from “Mad Men” told Peggy to go home, take all her clothes off and put a brown bag over her head and assess her assets? I think that’s step #1 when it comes to style. And once you know your assets, you can take trends that work for you and leave the rest behind.

It became very clear that I needed to declutter my closet. It was also essential to get rid of things in my ‘closet’ because it was literally the size of a shoebox. To get to it, I had to climb over my bed -- there literally wasn’t floor space between my bed and my closet. I had a lifetime’s worth of clothes that had no rhyme or reason to them. Each crazy patterned piece stood alone – there were no outfits to be found. So I started giving things away.

Now, to be clear, my budget was still teeny. Working part time at a law firm in Manhattan while pursuing creativity in between? It was a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle – like most other artists in the city. But still, I started desiring quality clothes instead of clothes that fell apart after one wash. “Buy less, choose well,” said Vivienne Westwood. And so I did. My wardrobe slimmed down in a major way BUT, the items that made the cut and hung in my closet? I always felt my best in. I no longer tried to fit into clothes but rather, clothes fit me. Gone were the days of purchasing anything that looked gorg on the hanger but didn’t look gorg on me.

I no longer waste time looking at my wardrobe not knowing what to wear today. “Laundry day and the only things left to wear look terrible on me.” If this is a statement that you relate to, then I ask you, why do you have those items? Take a page from my early New York years: Get real honest about what works for your body, and purchase accordingly. We all deserve to feel great walking out the door every day.

I have a client right now whom I’m helping with a major closet overhaul. And she’s killing it. She’s being ruthless about what she’s letting go of. And she’s also being honest with herself – she might hold up a piece of clothing and think, “Maybe”.  So she holds onto it.  But she’s about to move into a whole new line of work by becoming a small business owner. She’s the face of the business. And she needs to make room for a curated wardrobe that aligns with that image. Pieces that are classic and that look awesome on her at the same time.

If you want to move into a new phase of your life, you have to let go of the old.