My Closet Tells Me What to Wear

I've been reading and watching an assortment of things that have made me want to get rid of all sorts of shit and just live in a tiny apartment (er, where I live already). This also means that I've been itching to extend my "decluttering" antennae into even my lovely walk-in closet.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge clothes person. I haven't spent an honest dollar on an article of clothing since August 2015.

Wow.

(Um...WOW. Actually, that discovery kind of worries me. Oh wait, but shoes are articles of clothing too, right?? Oh thank goodness, I was worried I was neglecting my responsibilities as a professional to buy legit work clothes...)

Anyway, buying clothes gives me the willies, not just because I have enough already, but also because of economic and political reasons like how much (or little) people get paid to produce stuff that ends up in landfills way too quickly. At the same time, I don't have the guts to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on "high quality" articles that are supposed to last me for the rest of my life. (Plus I don't have the patience to take good care of my clothes anyway.)

But I am intrigued by ideas like the capsule wardrobe (with its complications, some of which are discussed in this article from Fashion Magazine), and I've been wanting to read Jennifer Scott's Lessons from Madame Chic ever since I saw the Japanese translation at Haneda airport a while back. (Don't ask—Japanese consumers love things from overseas that reference France.) Plus it's nice not to waste money on unnecessary clothes and to be able to find things to wear quickly when I'm about to be late for a meeting and I'm still brushing my teeth.

What I discovered when I actually got to decluttering my closet, though, was just how consistently I do wear most of my clothes. And it wasn't just that—I was reminded of the pieces my sister's bought for me over the years for birthdays and Christmases, the pieces my mother has bequeathed to me that she used to wear in the '70s, the pieces that I've hung on to even if they've required numerous alternations at the dry cleaners (in San Francisco and San Diego) or, god forbid, by yours truly.

I guess I don't have that much to declutter in my closet—and I guess I'm getting quite the mileage out of the pieces that I already have.


But, the real point of this post is the articulation of the system that enables me to maintain the consistency in my use of the majority of the pieces. (Whew! A mouthful.) I want to keep these things in mind, for the next time I (don't) go buy clothes.

1. Have items in select colors that go together—easy colors like white, brown, navy, and coral. (Wait, is "coral" easy...?)
2. Organize items in groups—for tops, for bottoms/dresses, for outerwear, etc. 
3. Wear pieces from the left end of each group—pulled off the rack while brushing teeth...there's nothing else to do during that time anyway.
4. Hang pieces back up, in groups—no laziness allowed! Hang up the last-worn piece on the right end of each group (tops, bottoms, outerwear, etc.).

Since most items match in color, all I have to care about is the day's weather (and maybe the silhouette of the combination, but who's getting technical). This way I just let my closet tell me what I'm supposed to wear that day, and I can spend my time doing other things—like figuring out how to fit my waist into my mother's old culottes from 1978.