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 "piler-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 I am in a very good position to tell you why it is not just a question of healthy living.

Because personally, I didn't really care about it, until I realized the following: this disorder in my closet had direct consequences on my daily style . I would even go further, by saying that if I sometimes don't enjoy getting dressed for a whole week, and only pull out 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 can make a little effort. Friends, it's for your own good... and that of your style, believe me!

This is my closet a few months ago. With a slightly crappy and dark photo, but you get the idea. Stored like in the photo, I manage to get the most out of my piles of clothes. However, you won't see what's happening on the shelves to 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 pick from the top of the pile . This may seem trivial, but I think it's one of the main causes of boring outfits and completely neglected pieces!

And depending on where the stacks are placed in your closet, they can become even harder to access and therefore even easier to forget about. A pair of pants placed at the bottom of a full stack, which would also be located on a lower shelf... well, there's a good chance you'll forget about them forever. And shelves higher than your head are simply oblivion.

Solutions:

• First, fold your pieces properly . The neater your fold, the less space your pieces will take up. We all know that wobbly pile of clothes that ends up sagging like the Tower of Pisa...

• Make the piles smaller . In my experience, once you get past five or six coins in a pile, it becomes unpleasant to search.
  
• Make piles that properly separate the types of clothing: put jeans in one pile, chinos in another, separate large and small knits... The more you separate, the easier it will be to sort.

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

  On the highest shelves, only put the pieces that you can't forget (example: very large knits that you will have to take out anyway when it gets very cold). The middle shelves are the "choice" places for the pieces that you don't want to forget.

• Take advantage of seasonality : In winter, put "summer only" items at the 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 them out again. By separating them this way, you ensure that currently useless items don't take up "prime spots". To free up space, some people opt for a cellar trip every season, but not all of us have one available and I'm always a little afraid of leaving my clothes there (pests, humidity, dirt, dust, moths, etc.).

Are we moving into summer? We put the "summer" pieces on top of the pile. And in winter, they go back to the bottom!

Clutter that limits inspiration

The next, less obvious, factor is clutter.

I would identify two types of clutter. On the one hand, the one that is due to neglect and the famous pieces rolled into a ball and, on the other, the one that is simply due to too many pieces in the wardrobe: your coats, jackets and shirts hanging on hangers are so numerous that they are compressed and we no longer distinguish them from each other. Either way, both have pretty much the same effect: you don't understand anything anymore.

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 were readable and organized, you'd almost feel like you were ordering from a clothing menu, only to receive delicious outfits!

In short, less inspiration before trying on = less style.

Solutions:

• The most obvious one, and the one that any minimalist will give you: sort things out, 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 restrict your wardrobe excessively. It's nice to have each shirt clearly visible on a rack, but if it means you can only have six for life, I prefer to be a little cluttered.

• There is an idea that I would like to test even if it takes a little effort to set up: have each of your rooms in photos in your phone, in subfolders well organized by type of room. No need to rummage around everywhere 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 update these folders regularly...
  
• And since the issue is about inspiration, why not take advantage of it to open a nice Instagram account where you would post your favorite outfits? You will find your favorite combos more easily and, who knows, it might be the beginning of an influencer career!
• For clutter purely due to your negligence, take it from a big 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 wardrobe is to ALWAYS put back in its place everything you take out and don't use. And right away!

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

About sixty euros for a wooden object that is pretty, easy to assemble, and very practical. Having this at home gives an almost "ritual" pleasure to getting dressed and preparing outfits.

Get rid of the "dead weight"

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

This is a concept I had totally forgotten about. The last time I paid attention to it was in the "Guide de l'Homme Stylé" (our first book!), many years ago. It's about those famous ugly pieces that you keep "just in case" and that prevent you from buying your first nice clothes, because you tell yourself "I already have what I need".

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

The dead weights I'm talking about here are those famous "pretty ok" pieces, but which you don't like. Maybe that green sweater is too basic and doesn't satisfy you? Maybe you already have a pair of selvedge jeans even if you find the canvas boring and the cut approximate? Maybe you already have that leather bought on sale which "does the job" but nothing more?

"Oh 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 one...". That's why you don't buy a new sweater. But in the meantime, your closet is devoid of any textured knit, or with an interesting knitting stitch... Too bad, right?

Well, if you come across a green sweater with a worked knit, a beautiful selvedge that fits you like a glove or a leather with a more distinctive style, it is likely that you will say to yourself, there too "no, I already have what I need". While it does not 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 because these pieces don't give you much pleasure to wear, you probably avoid them as much as possible. In the end, these dead weights take up the space 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 that's bad? Because the more clothes and experience you have, the more convinced you are that you're making the right choices in this area.

Solutions:

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

You can either turn your clothes into love or into euros. Both are perfectly viable options.

For my part, I often offer what I no longer need to friends. This tie that is too basic for my tastes makes one happy, while this camo jacket that is too " outdoorsy " for me makes another happy.

You can tell yourself that the money it cost you is already spent, and then you'll have the pleasure of seeing a smile on the face of someone you care about! Plus, you're spreading the love of good, well-made clothing.

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

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

Anyway, 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 in a ball, which coexist next to the others already neatly arranged. But soon, I hope, I will manage to reclaim it, too, and transform it into a useful space rather than an organizational disaster.