You Reap What You Sow

How to Wear Everything in Your Wardrobe

You might be tired hearing that we actively wear only  20% of the clothes we own with the other 80% taking up space, unworn. I’m sure you’re also tired of hearing that you should buy less, buy better, know your personal style, have a capsule wardrobe.

The problem is that, most people don’t know how to do any of that. We’re not wearing what we have, yet we continue to add random items to our wardrobes.

We shop randomly, without a plan, without knowledge. We don’t know what clothes to buy. We don’t know what clothes to leave in the shop. We don’t know how to make many outfits from the clothes we own, because we have a random selection of clothes that don't belong together. We don’t know how to match our lifestyle because we’re not realistic about where we spend our time.

And most of all, we don’t know how to Take Our Space in our way, unapologetically. That’s why we continue to buy more, wear less, and suffer from overwhelm and choice paralysis.

Where to Start

Start as if you’re planting a garden from scratch. When you decide to plant a garden, you consult an expert to help you plan your space. You learn about plants and planting, the difference between shrubs, herbaceous plants, perennials, bedding plants. You understand what is already there – what needs to stay and what needs to go. You begin by clearing the weeds, overgrowth, stones. You might even need to bring in heavy machinery. That depends on the current state of the garden and on what you’re planning to grow.

Your wardrobe is the same. You consult an expert, a personal stylist or image consultant. You lay down the foundation by understanding what suits you and what doesn’t. You get to grips with your colour palette, with who you are, with how you want to express that. You understand your personal style and your style blueprint. You examine your lifestyle so that you know where you spend your time, and you match that to the clothes you put in your wardrobe.

Like the garden, armed with your information and a plan, you can begin to clear your wardrobe. Working with your colour and style information, you’ll have clarity on what stays and what goes. You’ll have permission to be ruthless and to bring in “the heavy machinery”. Your consultant can help and advise you through this process. Your colour and style information will give you the resources to make the right decisions.

As you clear your garden, you’ll begin to see where the spaces are, what you need to plant; you’ll assess your requirements, and you’ll understand the landscape, the soil and the light. You’ll decide where to put your lawn, hedges, flowerbeds, vegetable plots. You’ll add the organic matter. You’ll make informed, educated decisions on all your purchases.

In your wardrobe, you’ll also take stock. You’ll know what you have and what you haven’t. You’ll make a list. You can begin to shop, making informed, educated, focused decisions on all your purchases. You’ll use your new information, matching your purchases to your requirements, to your colour palette, to your body architecture and to your lifestyle. Your image consultant is there to do the ‘heavy lifting’ for you.

The first stage in designing and planting a garden takes the most work. The same is true for your wardrobe. Once you have it cleared, organised and you know what you need, then, like a garden you will maintain, manage, prune and weed it to keep it current, relevant and valuable for you.

The work is never finished, but it lessens over time as your style beds in and becomes second nature to you. The result is a wardrobe where everything is useful, joyful, relevant, interesting and most of all valuable. It is one where you get to enjoy all of it – all of the time.