If you look at the item and realise that the reason it’s not being worn is because there is nothing in your wardrobe that works with it, you are dealing with what I call an ‘orphan’.

This piece is sitting in your wardrobe on its own with nothing to go with it and realistically it doesn’t even belong there in the first place.

If you discover a few of items like that, you need to get seriously alarmed – you have a tendency to buy clothes without any consideration for how they will settle into your wardrobe. This is probably one of the worst sins of shopping. Keep that in mind!

But what’s done is done, so let’s see what we can do now with these items.

I’ll send you back to the Oufit Formula exercise. You need to understand what it is that you are missing by figuring out what it is you could be styling this item with.

Write down all potential formulas and run them through your wardrobe’s contents.

At this stage you might actually find a few potential options but because you never looked hard enough or didn’t have a system for looking, you didn’t spot those options before.

If there are no options to be found or the options you get are incomplete, here is what you need to do.

1. Cross reference your outfit formulas against the shopping list from Day 1 – Replacement list (things that you feel you want to replace after removing anything that is worn out/damaged and anything that doesn’t fit.)

Are there any items on that list that could step into your outfit formulas and offer an option?

If there are, circle the item in the outfit formula.  

There is potential that some of the items on the Replacement list will plug the gaps in the outfit formulas.

2. Run your outfit formula list through the Outfit Gaps list from Day 2 exercise. Follow the same process as in the previous step but this time circle matches with a different colour pen.

3. Check the Missing Pieces list from Day 4 and repeat the same process. 

You might find potential options this way as well.

What to do if neither of the items from either of the lists were suitable?

1. Look through the Outit Formula list and pick formulas with 2 bottoms that you think you’d wear the most.

2. See if you can have 3-4 of the same tops that would go with those bottoms.You could potentially get 16 outfits by doing this – 8 with each bottom + tops and then 8 more by layering with the blazer on top of it.

3. Now write down potential colour options for this little cluster.

Let’s say you have the blazer below – give the rest of the items a rough colour palette.

4. The next thing you need to do is compare this list to Replacement List, Outfit Gaps list and Missing Pieces list.

Is there anything here that could substitute something from those lists? If there is, add a note beside the item.

The reason we need to carefully cross-reference the lists is so you don’t duplicate items that could fullfill the same purpose. 

5. Here is another important step – is there anything in your existing wardrobe that could benefit from these additions (the ones from Outfit Formulas)?

What other items could be co-ordinated with any of these possible options?

Can other items of the same type be worn with these additions?

We have a blazer as an example of an orphan.

• Are there other blazers that would work with these pieces?
• Are the other bottoms that could co-ordinate with those tops?
• Are there other tops that those bottoms would work well with?

Try to cross reference as many pieces as possible!

IMPORTANT – MAKE SURE YOU CAN THINK OF AT LEAST 10 POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS. Ideally a lot more.

Why?

Because if you can’t come up with a decent amount of combinations to justify spending money on these pieces, you are better off letting go of the orphan.

Think about it – you’ll be throwing good money after the bad unless you can create a lot more new options.

If you spent, let’s say 100 euro on the orphan and now you need to spend 200-300 euro just to make that orphan work, that’s 300-400 euro put behind something that won’t give you much to work around with.

So only commit to making the orphan work this way if the new additions will be a good contribution to the rest of the wardrobe.

If you think they are, create an Orphan List.

What I’ve given you here is the only practical system to make the orphans work. It’s a bit of work to plan everything out, but will pay off trifold if you do it right.

Your only other alternative is to say good-bye to the orphan and not incur any hassle.

Another super common reason why you might not be wearing the item is because it simply doesn’t work for your lifestyle.

This often happens when you:

• Change workplaces and go from one dress code to another (for example, you used to wear suits and now work in a casual office or even from home).
• Had a baby and didn’t go back to work – your  work wardrobe is redundant for your lifestyle now.
• Your means of getting somewhere change – let’s say, you used to drive to work and now have to get public transport, walk or cycle. Many pieces in your wardrobe from the time when you were driving are going to be a challenge to wear now.
• You consider something as too precious to wear on a daily basis and as a result, don’t wear at all. For example, you might have a cashmere jumper but don’t want the kids to ruin it so you don’t wear it at all. Or you have a really nice cream coat but wearing it on the bus would require dry-cleaning it on a regular basis, so you avoid wearing it.
• You used to have a bigger need for this type of clothes and now the need is no longer there. This is often connected to Problem 2 I talked about yesterday. So if your reason for surplus of clothes wasn’t the need for regular shopping, then the change of need could be the issue. Let’s say you used to work 5 days a week and now only work 2. Or you used to go out 3 times a week but now you have kids and only manage to go out once every few months.

All of these issues along with a ton of other scenarios happen when your wardrobe is not consistent with your lifestyle.

So let’s see what can be done. 

If you are not wearing your item because there is something about it that doesn’t work for your current circumstances, identify what it is and write it down.

Try to be as specific as possible.

For example, it’s not heels that you can’t wear if you commute by bus to work. It’s probably stiletto heels only. Block heels would still have the potential to work. Suede or fabric might be a questionable choice as well but patent, croc finish and leather will still be perfectly practical. Make sure your notes reflect those vital details.

You can continue this list as part of your Big No-No List. 

Unfortunately, when there is a significant dissonance between your wardrobe and your actual lifestyle, there are not many solutions. The key here is to not repeat the same mistakes again.

In some cases these clothes will become useful again at a later stage. Let’s say you can’t wear your work wardrobe now because you are on a maternity leave. Or you are in a casual work environment and suits are of no use to you now, but you might be planning to change roles soon or might need them for clients meetings. Or your baby will be less hands-on next season and the chances of getting dirty every hour will be significantly reduced. Or you might get a car and the issues with the commuting wardrobe are no longer going to be relevant.

You get the point. Once something changes in your circumstances, you might get wear out of these clothes.

For now the only thing you can do here is to see if any of these pieces can be fitted into your existing lifestyle and the Outfit Formula exercise is what you can use there.

Check if, let’s say, a work blazer can be styled with jeans and a tshirt for a more relaxed look, or if you can style tailored trousers with a jumper and a pair of sneakers.

Explore potential options like that and see if anything can get a second life as part of your current wardrobe.

I’ll ask you to do another exercise now that will give you full clarity on what it is that your lifestyle actually needs.

This will be your Styling Blueprint that is one the key tools in your overall style strategy.

Create a similar table in your notebook and fill it in with as much detail as possible.

You might want to do a separate table for your workwear and your weekend wear if they are two different wardrobes.

Also pay close attention to what you wrote as the reason why some of the items are not suitable for your current lifestyle. Reverse engineer those notes and incorporate important learnings into the table. 

When you are done, evaluate each of the pieces in your non-wear pile that are not worn because of the inconsistency with the lifestyle and ask yourself – does this item fit into the description of my perfect wardrobe?

If it doesn’t but has the potential to work within a year or so, take it out of the wardrobe and find a new home for it (it could be anywhere – another wardrobe, the attic, the top/bottom shelf, the vaccum bag under the bed. Anywhere as long as it is not in your day-to-day wardrobe).

If it doesn’t and realistically has no chance of being worn in the foreseeable future, let it go. You’ve seen yourself – you haven’t been wearing it, you know why, it can’t be restyled, so what exactly is the point of having it? It will keep creating mental clutter and affecting your wardrobe’s functionality.

So far we have created 4 shopping lists:

• Replacement List from Day 1 (anything that is worn out or doesn’t fit and you really need a new alternative)
• Outfit Gaps List from Day 2 (the list with pieces that will plug in the gaps around your favourite items to give you as much wear as possible out of them)
• Missing Pieces List from Day 4 (these are the pieces that will complete the outfits for things you are not wearing at the moment)
• Orphans List from today (remember, only work with this list if the items on it will bring a high return on investment by co-ordinating with other items in the wardrobe, not just the orphan).

Please remember that your accessories need just as much of a review as clothes, so include them in this process as well.

We’ll work with these lists tomorrow. 

Phew, today was an intense one, right?

It’s ok if you feel a bit overwhelmed! Just stick to one step at a time in whatever problem you identified and focus on one thing at a time!

Give yourself a little pat on the back once you are done with this step! You are doing great!

See you tomorrow! xx