23 Aug 7 Steps To Reducing Wardrobe Overwhelm – Featured on Smart Healthy Women

Wardrobe overwhelm is a common fear among almost all of my clients. With this in mind, I wrote the article below for the readers of the online community of Smart Healthy Women.

Embarking on the path to minimising your life doesn’t mean throwing away all your belongings, running away to a cabin by the lake and switching off your phone (although it sounds enticing)

Minimising is just a tool to simplify our lives by stripping away the excess so we can focus on what really matters.

Since we wear clothes every single day, a good place to start minimising is within your own wardrobe. Wardrobe cleansing is an area of your life than can be very confronting while on the journey, but the destination is freeing and inspiring. Along the way, you may confront body image issues you have been holding onto or even buyers guilt from the purchases that you thought would spark joy within your wardrobe, but they still have their tags attached.

Fast fashion and trends send us a message of not being good enough. We can never keep up as it’s forever changing. Knowing how you visually want to present and knowing what suits you is having a sense of your own style. When you know your ‘look’ you are no longer a slave to trends. Statistics show we are buying 4 times the amount of clothing that the previous generation did. 20 years ago, the global average for clothing consumption in a year was 7kg. Now it is 13kg with Australians buying 27kg each year. This is due to being seduced by fast throw away fashion rather than investing in good quality clothing that suits our style.

Everyone has their own style language and the more aligned and aware of that style you are – the easier it will be to get dressed and communicate your style to the world. Having a wardrobe full of clothes that are no longer aligned with your lifestyle – creates the feeling of ‘having nothing to wear’.

Before diving head first into your wardrobe, think about 3-4 adjectives to describe how you want your style to look. You may want to be professional, elegant, edgy, different, sexy or comfortable. These words will start to form the look that you feel most confident and aligned in. Think about how these words visually look and then it’s about creating a wardrobe that reflects how you want to look and feel every day. This will become the foundation of your personal style.

To reduce wardrobe overwhelm, follow the 7-point checklist on each item you own:

1. Does this fit my body shape and/or flatter my best features
2. Do I have something to wear with this item to make it an outfit
3. Does this reflect my perceived style and how I want to communicate my style language
4. Is it damaged or the quality compromised
5. How do I feel when I wear this item
6. Where will I wear this item
7. Does the colour enhance my skin tone or age me.

Any item that doesn’t flatter or enhance you is taking up valuable space and cluttering up your life. Say goodbye to the items that create feelings of guilt or don’t make you feel good enough. Once these items are removed, you are then left with only the items that will make you feel confident, happy and fit in with the lifestyle you lead.

I guarantee, that lurking amongst the overflowing wardrobe, there will be items that you forgot you owned. You will have found shoes, scarves, accessories and jackets that are still relevant and perfect for the life you are leading. Being able to shop within your own wardrobe is inspiring, sustainable and creates a joy within your wardrobe that you didn’t know was possible?

There will always be items to add to make it a fully functioning wardrobe, but by only having the items that work, you can clearly see the gaps and you can confidently purchase without any guilt.

Performing a wardrobe cleanse is equally a physical and emotional exercise. Creating a sense of order within your wardrobe contributes to inner calm. Having a clear vision of what your style is will ultimately save you time, money and lead to a more sustainable outlook on life.

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