Look through the wardrobe and start pulling out things you haven’t worn or barely worn this season.

By now we’ve eliminated things that are worn out/damaged or don’t fit. So they are not the issue here.

There is a different reason why these pieces haven’t been touched – they fit, they are in a reasonably good condition and yet you haven’t touched them.

If you end up with a big pile of things, start with just 5 items like we did in the previous exercises, but keep in mind that eventually you’ll have to address all the items you haven’t worn this season. 

Now take the first item and ask yourself:

Why haven’t I worn this item? 

Below I have a breakdown of the most common reasons why things don’t get worn.

Each of these reasons is big enough to cause problems in your wardrobe. Today we’ll address problems 1-3 and tomorrow will focus on 4 and 5.

You should never keep two separate seasons in one wardrobe, especially if this is the wardrobe you are using on a daily basis.

Just thingk about it – if it’s 10 degrees and raining outside, what exactly are you going to do with a pair of linen trousers or a summery top?

Every single day you have to look past them to get to the clothes you really need for now. This is the epitome of mental clutter.

OUT-OF-SEASON CLOTHES SHOULD BE STORED SEPARATELY.

Put them in an empty suitcase, or a vacuum bag under the bed, or a spare wardrobe if you have one. Basically, put them anywhere where they are not going to be in your way for the next few months.

We are very close to a change in weather so you will need a lot of those things soon. There is no point in putting them too far.

But keep this in mind going forward – never mix two seasons in one wardrobe unless you have a good reason for it (like transitioning from one season to another).

For now group all of your spring/summer pieces that you can’t wear at the moment and either hang them in the far corner of the wardrobe so they are not in your immediate daily space or put them somewhere not too far, like in a spare wardrobe.

If this is the reason why whatever item are holding hasn’t been worn, it’s fine – this problem is a simple structuring mistake. It’s easily fixed by the solution I’ve given you above.

Now, this is a much more serious issue.

This is a strong indicator that you overindulge in shopping, don’t understand your lifestyle needs and simply overconsume.

If you have so much clothes that you simply can’t wear things out, there is step 1 you need to take first and foremost – you are banned from shopping for another while, darling, so no more buying!

There is usually a much deeper issue behind this than simply liking shopping: you are compensating for something by excessive shopping.

Usually it’s not loving the contents of your current wardrobe and not understanding your personal style or style preferences. So you keep looking for the next ‘fix’ as a way of not addressing the existing issues.

Also, when I come across clients like that, there are typically other issues that come along with this problem – low self-esteem and confidence. Excessive shopping is the fix they use to feel better. But it’s not something a stylist can fix, it’s something you need to take to a good life coach to get to the bottom of what’s sitting behind these problems.

You need to ask yourself why you need such a high volume of things that you can’t even get around to wearing. Piles of clothes sitting in your wardrobe are the consequences, but you need to get to the root of this problem. Otherwise, you’ll never have a truly functional wardrobe.

This problem is also often connected to Problem 5 and I’ll talk about that aspect of it tomorrow, but here’s what you need to do for now.

Instead of playing favourites with outfits you wear on repeat, you will need to make a consious decision to wear all your clothes that you decide to keep .

To do that, you need to tie a ribbon at the end of your wardrobe rail.

Every time you wear something, put it to the right of the ribbon.

Gradually the ribbon will be moving towards the middle and then the other side of the rail.

Whatever is left unworn after a few months, revisit those pieces and question again why they are not being used. Because the issue is no longer going to be too much clothes (provided you’ve held your end of the bargain and really committed to this process), but something different.

Typically 70% of all items that are not being worn are not worn because you can’t complete the outfit.

Let’s say you have a lovely top but it has no sleeves. You don’t have the right blazer/cardigan to go over it so the top is just sitting there.

Or you have a skirt that you love but don’t wear because none of your shoes work with it.

Sounds familiar? Then we have to deal with this issue in your wardrobe.

1. Take a notebook and create a table similar to the one below. Don’t title the columns just yet, simply because you don’t know what’s going to be missing.

2. Write down whatever is missing and stopping you from wearing that particular item. As you work your way through pieces that have this problem as the reason for not being worn, group the pieces of the same type together. Put all footwear in one column, tops in another and so on. After you go through all the items, you can title the columns for easier reference. 

3. Be specific – it’s not shoes that are missing, it’s a very specific type, isn’t it? You might need black dressy ankle boots with a block heel. Write down as much relevant detail as possible.

With some pieces you might discover that you don’t quite know what’s missing.

If you find yourself stuck on trying to figure out how to get the wear out of the item, then do the same exercise you’ve done in Day 2 – write down all possible outfit formulas that you can think of.

The added benefit of this exercise is that you will find already existing combinations within your wardrobe that you didn’t think of before!

Run every outfit formula through your wardrobe, see what you have available and then write down whatever is missing in the table.

If you are not wearing the item because you can’t complete the look, this is your solution!

If you have an item and neither of the above applies, put it aside and we’ll review it tomorrow. Try to work through as many pieces as possible as we have our work cut out for us in Day 5!

See you tomorrow! xx