It’s impossible to properly work with the wardrobe without eliminating things that are actually not giving you any options.

In most cases women don’t realize that a part of their wardrobe is not even a possibility altogether due to a variety of factors, but those pieces are sitting in the wardrobe creating an illusion of choices.

So here is what you need to do as the #1 priority:

• take out things that are on their last breath. 

Anything that is worn out, washed out, has any kind of damage from wear & tear on it – none of these pieces will be solid reliable options for the next season and realistically shouldn’t be worn now either. 

When examining your clothes, ask yourself whether each of these pieces is capable of giving you a polished and refined look that I’m pretty sure you aspire to have. You’ll never look polished in something that looks tired and tatty. 

Make a plan – do you let them go now or will you wear them for another few weeks of the season?

Replacing something straight away might not always be an option so if you feel you have no choice but to keep the item, it’s ok. 

Just make a list of all these garments so you can take them out as soon as they are no longer needed without having to go through the wardrobe again.

• take out anything that doesn’t fit at the moment. 

I’ll be doing this wardrobe revamp along with you and unfortunately half of my bottoms don’t fit me right now as I gained a full size over winter.

If you have any pieces like that in your wardrobe (or perhaps you lost weight and have the opposite issue), evaluate the garments’ condition and if there is still plenty of life in them, pack them up and put them somewhere within reach but not in your immediate wardrobe. I’ll be putting my clothes that don’t fit into my spare wardrobe.

These pieces are not offering you any options at the moment, but it’s too early to get rid of them. You’ll need to revisit them in August/September and see what happens then.

Now  look at things in your worn-out pile and things that don’t fit you.

Ask yourself:

• what things am I gutted to see leaving because they were so handy in my wardrobe and I enjoyed wearing them? 

If you were heavily relying on something in your wardrobe and now it is no longer available, you’ll have a gap. These items will need to be replaced as a priority.

For example, you might be letting go of your favourite jumper that went with everything but is falling apart now. Or your winter coat served you for years and is so tired-looking that it’s time to say good-bye. You’ll be lost without these items next season so we need to know what they are.

For example, I will have to let go of a pair of boots that go with all my dresses and are beyond comfortable (hence me wearing them to death!). They are on the verge of falling apart so I’ll only get a handful more wears out of them.

Without them, most of my dresses and skirts will have terms and conditions attached – I have other boots but they won’t be as comfy so I’ll now have to be mindful of where and when I wear those dresses. This is a deal breaker for me so those boots are a must for replacement!

If you have items like that, compile them  in a list and we’ll work with them in the coming days.

• what items are you indifferent to leaving your wardrobe (or are secretly even happy you now have an excuse to say good-bye)?

Make sure you are honest with yourself. These items are your shopping mistakes. You don’t love them, you don’t enjoy wearing them and they didn’t bring any good return on invesment.

You now need to think how they ended up in your wardrobe and what it is that you don’t like about them.

Compile all of these details in another list and keep that list on your phone. This is your Big No-No list. You will need to run all your new purchases through it to make sure you are not repeating the same mistakes.

You’ll be letting go of your worn-out clothes anyway, but if you happen to have items like that in the ‘don’t fit’ pile, consider letting them go now. You’ll hardly be excited to wear them when they fit you again.

If you are not ready for that kind of commitment just yet, it’s ok. Just put them away with the rest of the clothes that don’t fit, but prepare yourself that when you revisit them in August, you will have to make a commitment to either get rid of them or to start wearing them regularly.

This process can take anywhere between 20-30 minutes to 2 hours depending on how much clothes you have and how much stuff you need to try on to see the fit. 

Make sure you review not only clothes, but also your footwear. If you have any energy left, review your accessories such as bags, sunglasses, belts and jewellery, and if anything looks worn out and tatty, let it go! 

I highly encourage you to try and find the time to do this process over the next day or two so you stay on track with the daily steps.

This is very different content to what you are now used to seeing in TLC so if at any stage you feel lost or confused with this new process, just drop me an email (reply to this TLC Style Note notification you received in your email) and I’ll happily guide you.

I hope I’ve given you something small to get excited about. In the middle of all the doom and gloom we’ll actually do something  very productive with your wardrobe, you’ll learn new things that will be of benefit to you for the rest of your life and we’ll lay the ground work for taking your wardrobe to the next level!

See you tomorrow! xx