a little evaluation

this semester i've been taking a class called dynamics of clothing and i love it! i've learned so much about many aspects of fashion and clothing and it's really given me a lot to think about with my personal clothing and shopping philosophies. if anyone wants to talk about clothes, well, i'm your girl.

right now we have an assignment that involves evaluating our current wardrobe and our clothing needs. i've always enjoyed "curating" my wardrobe (look, it's even on my birthday list of goals.. number 15), but i often get overwhelmed and don't know the best way to go about it. in my class i've learned a lot about how to best do this, and thought i would share some tips!

helpful tips for wardrobe planning:

1. evaluate your budget

think about your resources. what percentage of your income do you spend on clothes? what percentage of your income should you spend on clothes? also think about quantity versus quality and cost-per-wear. if you're not going to wear an item very much, don't spend very much money on it, or better yet, don't buy it! but if you're going to wear it all the time it's often worth spending more money to buy a garment of higher quality that will last a lot longer.

2. determine your personal style

think about your lifestyle. what activities do you spend the most time on? what percentage of your clothing items are appropriate for those activities? also think about your fashion personality. how would you describe your style? classic? eclectic? dramatic? romantic? a combination of these?

3. go through your clothes and sort them into groups

create three piles: clothes you like, clothes you dislike, and clothes you never wear.

4. analyze your clothing choices

look at your clothes, both those you like and those you dislike. look for similarities in things you like or in things you dislike. try to identify reasons and explanations for why you like or dislike them. take note of these things so you can learn more about what you will and won't actually wear.

5. purge and discard

get rid of the clothes you don't wear and don't make excuses! you can give the clothes to friends or relatives or take them to goodwill. if you have a local plato's closet or trendy x-change, take your clothes there and see if you can get any money for them!

6. organize your closet

organize your clothes in a way that is intuitive for you, whether by item type, style, or color. make sure your clothes are visible and accessible—you'll have a hard time wearing items that aren't!

7. make a purchasing plan

identify needs in your wardrobe and items to fill those needs. focus on clothing basics or classics that you can then build on and supplement with trends you like. it would probably be helpful to make a chart to determine what you own and what you need. depending on your budget, you can make a plan to purchase items you want or need in the near future or over a period of months. as you plan purchases, make sure you remember things you identified about yourself in step four. most importantly, think about your wardrobe as a whole and make sure your clothing items go together and work with each other.

i hope these were helpful. happy planning!