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So, I’m getting ready to move. Again. And I’m getting ready to clean out my closet. Again. I spent some quality time with my Mint.com account today and realized that in the past year, I’ve spent more on both food and craft supplies than I have on clothing. Score for minimalism and fiscal responsibility! I’m finally feeling a teensy bit successful in achieving the utilitarian, minimal wardrobe I want, where every piece of clothing is something I want, need, use, and love. There’s none of the sentimental hoarding I used to engage in ["My mom bought me this dress when I was 14 and 20 pounds lighter! It was 1996! It was special!"], and quite a bit less of the impulse buying ["This purple sequined tank dress doesn't look anything like any clothing I've ever had or desired, but it'd be a great way to branch out in my style! It'd go over great on Lookbook!"].

However, my wardrobe continues to seem unwieldy and excessive. I daydream about the day when I don’t have to choose which outfits I bring with me on vacation, because they all fit into a suitcase. I daydream about replacing all the clothing storage furniture in my apartment with workspace, lounge space, a baby grand piano – something that doesn’t have drawers full of undies, because my undies fit in the closet with all my other clothes. As of now, though, my undies have to go elsewhere, because there’s no room for them between my bathing suit, two winter coats of varying heaviness, tights, sundresses, sweaters, and an old bridesmaid’s dress [which to be fair is headed for Goodwill this weekend].

I don’t think I’m alone in this, either. I am exceptionally well-versed in going through my friends’ cluttered closets to try and find order, and pretty much every one of us has stuff in their closet that they can’t wear all the time, but can’t get rid of, because they need, want, and love it and use it reasonably, given its purpose.

So why do even the queens of order and organization have all this clothing? Lots of reasons, it turns out.

  • Fluctuating weight or size means one of two things: either you wear poorly-fitted clothes sometimes, or you double your clothing consumption. There’s a stereotype of a woman hoarding her “aspirational” clothes that definitely don’t, and probably won’t, fit ever again ["I've got to get into my PROM dress, guys!"]. But I’m talking about people who know their own body’s variations and prepare for them sartorially – with extra clothing. Some people change sizes based on how often they’re going to the gym at any given time, or they gain or lose weight routinely from summer to winter. Some gain or lose a few pounds from day to day because of stress. Some women go through two or three planned pregnancies and they keep their maternity clothes, just because they know they’ll be using them again in a couple of years. Some women even vary a couple of sizes in the course of a menstrual cycle.

  • Extreme weather changes mean that you have to have more items that only work in one season. Like I said above, I have two winter-weight coats and at least four fall/spring jackets, plus the requisite tights, socks, gloves, boots, and sweaters that the extreme cold necessitates. And for the summer, I’ve got at least nine sundresses and countless sandals that are in no way winter-appropriate. My real home is New York; I doubt I’d feel as comfortable on the West coast; but San Francisco’s uniform temperature without as much seasonal variation sounds awesome to me.

  • Differing expectations for how you should dress in certain situations mean that there can be a distinct divide between clothing for work and play, daytime and nighttime, brunch versus an evening wedding. A smart shopper knows that a lot of these can overlap, but that depends on a lot of things: the formality of your work atmosphere, how frequently you’re invited to formal events [and whether it would be frowned upon to wear the same dress to several events], how casual your downtime attire tends to be [leggings and tanks versus twill dresses], and how often, if ever you dress up to go out. The don’t-wear-it-twice rule kills me – I don’t know a single person my age who has the disposable income [or frankly the desire] to buy a new dress for every single wedding, dance, party, and event, just to avoid being seen in the same one twice – but some people think it’s really important, and it bloats their wardrobes like crazy.

I have a post ready for tomorrow on how to combat wardrobe excess. Until then, I’m wondering: who has a huge wardrobe that’s full of beautiful functional things, all of which you use regularly? How do you deal with wardrobe excess? Any creative/resourceful solutions?

Related posts:

  1. Essential Sewing Skills for Wardrobe Maintenance
  2. Six Items or Less