Wardrobe taming series:
Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four Day Five Day Six Day Seven Day Eight

Okay, we’re on to day three! Good work everyone! I hope you all had fun in your slightly unfamiliar clothing yesterday.

Questions to ponder, & my answers (since I’m taking part, too!):

What are your thoughts on wearing your ‘problem item’ after yesterday?
I wore my grey knit jersey with shoulder buckles & my Burberry hat, both items which don’t get a lot of use. I bought the hat in New York last year & while it got a lot of use when I was in the States, once I came to Australia, I felt like it was “too much” or didn’t really go with my look. I wasn’t really sure how to incorporate it, but I think I solved that problem yesterday!

Is this an item you can imagine wearing in some other capacity?
Yes, definitely. I think that both those items are totally wearable & great, I just needed a bit of a push to start working them into my look again.

Can you think of an item that would allow you to wear your ‘problem item’ more often?
Not really, I just needed to do it!

The third part of the wardrobe taming series might take a bit of time as well. Assign yourself a chunk of time, maybe after dinner or before you go to bed, where you will sit in your bedroom & take stock of the items you own. Often when we look at our wardrobes, we think, “Oh, I could wear that dress, if only I had a grey t-shirt/good pair of stockings/long cardigan” — but since the thoughts are so fleeting, we never pay much attention to them, until next time we look at that dress.

What I’d like you to do is grab a sheet of paper & start writing down things you think would enhance your wardrobe. While I am pretty convinced that an enormous collection of Christian Louboutin footwear would propel all of my outfits into the style stratosphere, this is not a real need. I can get along okay without them (…for now!). Really, I’m talking more like basic items. Maybe you need a plain black t-shirt, or a cardigan, or a good pair of black shorts. Do you know what I mean?

Write these items down, & alongside (to help keep your mind organised) write the piece of clothing you already own to coordinate it with. For example…

Take this list shopping with you next time you go on the hunt. It will help keep you on track. It’s also a good idea to take the item you’re trying to supplement. (If you want to step into the realm of the super-organised/Virgo, blu-tack a piece of paper inside your closet door so that you can write down any ideas you have while you’re staring into the abyss.)

The other thing I’d like you to do is grab everything you own which needs taking in, hemming or stitching up, & take it to a tailor (or put it next to your sewing machine, if you’re good like that!). I’d like you to do this with anything that needs dry-cleaning, too. Think of all the things you’ll be able to wear once this is done! The mind boggles! If you can’t do it today, fold everything & put it in a stack near the front door so you don’t “forget”!

I personally have a great pair of black super-flared pants (hems need to be taken up), my kimono (needs about a foot chopped off the bottom), one grey sweater (has a hole which needs to be stitched up), & two pairs of boots (both my pairs of New Rocks need repairing). I have been putting off getting these things fixed for a LONG time. Getting the super-flared pants hemmed has been in the back of my mind since last October!!

Another thing — try to make a commitment to getting things fixed as soon as there’s a problem. The longer things sit, unworn, the harder it seems to get on top of! Not to mention, when these things drop out of your closet, your pool of possible outfits shrinks, & we don’t want that!

Again, if you can wear something you don’t normally, please take the opportunity, since it will give you more data points at the end of the week!