Save your style, organize your closet

Cover photo credit: https://www.architonic.com/fr

No but... it's the world upside down.

Today I present to you an article on tidying up ... Me, writing this article, when basically, I am the biggest "stacker-of-clothes-in-a-ball" in the universe? Me who feels a tension coming on as soon as someone talks to me about Marie Kondō ? Me who often says to myself: “No, I’ll keep that, you never know”?

But in fact, I am very well placed to tell you why it is not just a question of healthy living.

Because personally, I didn't care too much about it, until I realized the following thing: this mess in my closet had direct consequences on my daily style . I will go even further, by saying that if I happen to not take pleasure in dressing myself for a whole week, and only wear uninspired or repetitive outfits, it is very likely that it is partly because of these three organizational errors .

And today, I would like to share these findings with you, so that all lazy people like me make a little effort. Friends, it's for your own good... and that of style, believe me!

This is my closet a few months ago. With a slightly crappy and dark photo, but you get the idea. Arranged as in the photo, I manage to get the most out of my piles of clothes. On the other hand, you won't see what's going on on the shelves on the right behind the sliding door... Haem.

Top of the pile, easy choice

Let's start with the most obvious: if you make a pile, you're probably always going to draw from the top of the pile . It may seem trivial to you, but I think it's one of the main causes of monotonous outfits and completely neglected pieces!

And what's more, depending on where the batteries are placed in your cabinet, they can become even more difficult to access and therefore be even more easily forgotten. A pair of pants placed at the bottom of a well-filled pile, which would also be located on a bottom shelf... well there is a good chance that you will definitely forget its existence. And the shelves located higher than your head are simply forgotten.

Solutions:

• First, fold your pieces correctly . The cleaner your folding, the less space the pieces will take up. We all know that shaky pile of clothes that ends up collapsing like the Tower of Pisa...

• Make smaller piles . In my experience, as soon as you exceed five or six coins per pile, it becomes unpleasant to search.
  
• Make piles that correctly separate the types of clothing: put jeans in one pile, chinos in the other, separate large and small stitches... The more you separate, the more you will find your way.

• In a wardrobe, the stacks placed at face height are the ones on which you will best see the different pieces. It seems trivial, but that's why I stack all my little stitches in a fairly high shelf: it allows me to directly see all the stacked colors and make more varied choices. If you have the impression that on one type of item (pants, knitwear, sweatshirt, etc.) you always wear the same piece, try putting the pile closer to your eye level. So reserve this space for pieces that you would like to vary more often!
  

  On the highest shelves, only put the pieces that you cannot forget (example: very large knits that you will have to take out anyway when it is very cold). The middle shelves are the “prime” places for the pieces you don’t want to forget.

• Take advantage of the seasonality of pieces : in winter, put “summer only” pieces at the very bottom of their pile, and vice versa in summer. You'll never need them during the season, but when the climate changes, you'll be forced to remember the bottom of the pile and can swap places again. By separating them in this way, you ensure that currently unnecessary parts do not take up “prime places”. To free up space, some people opt to go to the cellar every season, but we don't all have one available and I'm always a little afraid of leaving my clothes there personally (harmful, humidity, dirt, dust, moths...).

Are we going to summer? We put the “summer” pieces on the top of the pile. And in winter, they go back underneath!

The clutter that limits inspiration

The next, less obvious factor is clutter.

I would identify two types of clutter. On the one hand, the one which is due to negligence and the famous pieces rolled into a ball and, on the other, the one which is simply due to too many pieces in the wardrobe: your coats, jackets and shirts hanging on the there are so many hangers that they are compressed and we can no longer really distinguish them from one another. Either way, both have roughly the same effect: you no longer understand anything.

The effect is subtle, especially once you get used to it, but the visual mess becomes a mental mess. You can't remember what you own, you have trouble planning combinations of pieces together, and you always have to take out piles of things to try on your outfit. Whereas, if everything was readable and organized, you would almost have the impression of ordering from a clothing menu, to receive delicious outfits!

In short, less inspiration before fitting = less style.

Solutions:

• The most obvious, and the one that any minimalist will give you: sort, have fewer pieces . And it’s true, it’s essential. That said, when you love clothes, you can't always settle for a minimalist wardrobe. However, living in a place with limited space should not, in my opinion, be a reason to excessively restrict your wardrobe. It's nice to have each shirt clearly visible on a rack, but if it means I can only have six for life, I prefer to be a little cluttered.

• There is an idea that I would like to try even if it takes a little effort to implement: having each of your pieces photographed in your phone, in sub-folders well organized by type of pieces. No more rummaging around to remember what you have. However, I think that the result will be proportional to the effort you put into it. For it to work, you have to take beautiful photos that you want, be exhaustive and regularly update these files...
  
• And since the problem concerns inspiration, why not take the opportunity to open a nice Instagram account where you post your favorite outfits? You'll find your favorite combos more easily and, who knows, maybe it's the start of an influencer career!
• For the clutter purely due to your negligence, take it from a lazy person: the first piece pushed into a ball in the corner of the shelf calls for a second, then a third, etc. The secret to a tidy closet is to ALWAYS put everything you take out and don't use back in its place . And now !

As a bonus, I'm sharing with you a little purchase I made, which is much more useful than it seems: a valet. This little wooden stand allows me to put my rings, my watch, my bracelet when I come home, and to present a complete outfit. Since I prepare my outfits in advance in the evening, it gives me a nice way to organize them. Enough to rediscover the pleasure of these few minutes of daily research!

Around sixty euros for a wooden object that is all in all pretty, easy to assemble, and very practical. Having this in your home gives an almost “ritual” pleasure to getting dressed and preparing outfits.

Get rid of “dead weight”

We come to the last point, perhaps the least obvious.

This is a concept that I had completely forgotten. The last time I paid attention to it was in the "Guide to the Stylish Man" (our first book!), many years ago. These are those famous ugly pieces that you keep "just in case" and which prevent you from buying your first beautiful clothes, because you say to yourself "I already have what you need".

Having been doing this cleaning for a very long time, I haven't necessarily thought about the fact that over time, our tastes evolve and what we consider to be "the best" of our wardrobe can change in our eyes. Just like what we consider “average” or even “mediocre”.

The dead weights that I'm talking about here are these famous parts that are "rather ok", but which don't make you happy. Maybe that green sweater is too basic and doesn't satisfy you? That you already have selvedge jeans even if you find the canvas boring and the rough cut? That you already have this leather bought on sale that “does the job” but nothing more?

"Ah no, I already have a blue sweater. Oh no, I already have a gray sweater. And a red one too. And a beige one. And an off-white...". This is why you don't buy a new sweater. But meanwhile, your wardrobe is devoid of a single textured knit, or with an interesting knitting stitch... Too bad, right?

Well if you come across a green sweater with an elaborate knit, a beautiful selvedge that fits you like a glove or a leather with a more pronounced style, it is likely that you will say to yourself, again "no, I already have what 'it's necessary". When it doesn't satisfy you at all, deep down, and one of these new purchases would breathe a little freshness into your wardrobe.

The worst part is that since these pieces don't give you much pleasure in wearing, you probably avoid them as much as possible. Ultimately, these dead weights take up the place of important pieces in your wardrobe and keep you away from the pleasure of wearing them and all the outfits you could make with them.

And you know why it's pernicious? Because the more clothes and experience we have, the more we are convinced that we are making the right choices in this regard.

Solutions:

I only see one "real" solution. Force yourself to make a list of the parts you're least happy with, consider finding a replacement for them, then donate or sell .

You can either turn your clothes into love or euros. Two completely viable options.

For my part, I often give what I no longer need to friends. This tie, too basic for my tastes, makes one person happy, while this camo jacket, which is too “ outdoorsy ” for me, makes another person happy.

You can tell yourself that the money it cost you is already spent, and then you will have the pleasure of seeing a smile on the face of someone you like! On top of that, you spread the love of good, well-made clothing.

But I suspect that most of you will be eager to recoup part of your investment (rightly so), and if you have the patience for that, I invite you to consult this article on second-hand sales .

For less sexy pieces that you don't want to sell or give away, that's what charities are there for ! I don't want to lecture you, avoid the trash as much as possible.

In short, I'm here, giving you advice, and yet... I'm certainly a much worse student than many of you. I still have a large "cursed" shelf that I don't dare look at, filled with unidentified clothes rolled up into a ball, which coexist next to the others already neatly arranged. But soon, I hope, I will be able to reconquer it, too, and transform it into a useful space rather than an organizational disaster.