You may remember last week, we were talking about my 3 C’s of wardrobe curation.
Cut – the garment is cut to optimize your shape.
Color – it’s a color that flatters you, goes with what you already have.
Current – the item is fashionable, not necessarily trendy. It will stand the test of time.
When you’re in the mall or online, these are the three guideposts that will help you avoid a closet of tragic mistakes or pesky one-off’s.
But, we’ve gotten a bit ahead of ourselves. With clients or myself, before I go shopping, I take an inventory of what’s in stock first. That’s right. It all starts in your closet.
The beloved, the bad and the best pieces for going forward as you build your wardrobe!
Here again, I rely on another 3 C process I designed.
Clear – clear the closet of obvious blunders or oldies.
Cull – inventory the remaining pieces.
Create – make outfits out of those pieces that were culled and kept. Easy peasy, right? Let’s see.
In this post, we’re all about Clearing.
Ahhhh. Does that word make you feel relaxed, riding on a magic carpet of freedom? Or does it send you into a tailspin of overwhelm. I know. Some of you have massive closets. It’s easy for stuff to accumulate.
What? You could outfit your entire neighborhood! OK then, time to divide and conquer.
Again, we come back to guideposts, so we don’t dispense with something that could be a treasure or a workhorse down the road.
When I work with clients, before I even arrive in their home or on the zoom screen for a virtual, I ask them to do some initial work.
Pull the 10-20 pieces you absolutely know you’ll never wear again, or are unlikely to.
List what makes them a goner. Too small, too large, a stain? Just don’t like.
This includes those pieces you spent beaucoup bucks (a lot in French) on and keep out of guilt.
This process helps us avoid repeating mistakes and we get a sense of your preferences.
A 3 C closet session with me is three hours, and priced starting at $300.
The first half of our session, we spend clearing. Usually, afterwards, most women experience that sigh of relief we talked about earlier. Having someone else’s eyes on the situation, without skin in the game (I didn’t overspend for all that stuff!) makes it easier to see the reality, let go and have a few good laughs.
See, having all that stuff in the closet, with the guilt, the icky times some of those clothes lived through, can be traumatic. Especially when you’re getting ready to go somewhere.
After the Clear, all that gunk, is now in piles in your bedroom. The donations, the possible consignment items and the throw-aways.
This is the sort of thing you really want a friend to come over and help you do. Maybe get a glass of wine, some snacks. Not so much. Friends don’t help friends do closet clearing because it’s W-O-R-K!
Personally, I’m always ‘editing’ my closet. I live in ongoing Clear! I also offer subscription service for those who wish to have personal quarterly edits. It might sound like a lot, but each season, we accumulate more. So, it helps to stay on top of it.
This photo of a personal closet clear was taken last January when I started preparing for my upcoming return to California.
All these garments look quite perky on the rack. Some of them were swooningly lovely. Most of them were out of my color range and I wasn’t wearing them. I had purchased the pieces during a time I wanted to be more bold. The stylist I was working with came up with this collection, which I adored.
Yes, they were cute, stylish and hip. Except, I very rarely wore them because something felt off. This is the power of a clear. We let go. Make room for the good and the new.
See you next post for our next step— Cull.
For those of you who’d like a personal assist with your three C’s, to align with the best garments and outfits for you, contact me at leslie@majesticfeminine.com to set up a virtual or in-person private closet consultation. Starting at $300. Sound like a lot? You could save much more just by discovering and repurposing some items during our session!