Organizing my clothes

[iris lilies]

I wanted saddle shoe colored athletic shoes. There are not any to be purchased. so I made my own by painting a pair of Keds with fabric paint.

IMG_8925.jpg

[catherine]

I'm sort of looking to v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y redo my wardrobe with easy, travel-friendly, functional wardrobe pieces. Figure if the clothing looks good and is functional while traveling, it will suffice at home as well. But since I hate clothes shopping and don't do it often at all, this may take a while. LOL

I could give you a course in easy, travel-friendly wardrobe pieces. I got that down to a science when I was doing so much business travel, and I've always been one to only buy things that went with other things. I'm a natural "capsule wardrobe" person. Here's what you do:

1. Choose a color palette of no more than three colors, and one must be a neutral. I called my color palette the "Guinness palette" because it was black and tan. As I've gotten older, I've changed to black, white and blue. Sometimes I indulge in green because it's my favorite color, but I look good in blue.

2. Limit the number of pieces you have and categorize them by function--Casual, "nice dinner" casual, and fancy. The proportion of items should reflect usage. So I went from 40/50/10 casual/"nice dinner" casual/formal pre-covid to 75/15/5 post-COVID. Look at your closet and ruthlessly get rid of those rare "maybe sometime" things. Or at least store them in the attic for a while until you realize you'll never wear them again and you feel comfortable giving them away.

3. Consider the materials--If you want easy-to-maintain, you have to go with materials that are wash-and-wear. I haven't gone to the dry cleaners in decades. DH goes once a week.

4. Choose items that are multi-functional and can be layered. My absolute favorite piece of clothing is my LLBean jacket/hoodie. It's a zip up with zipped pockets. It has a tailored shape so it doesn't scream "hoodie" and I use it as a sweater and a lightweight jacket. LLBean took the hoods off the subsequent versions, and I hate that, because you don't know how often I flip up that hood when I run outside in light rain, or chilly breeze.

5. Get rid of the feeling that you have to have variety in your wardrobe. I remember in high school the "rule" was you had to wear a different outfit every day of the week. Interestingly, you could wear the same thing on Monday that you wore on Friday, but you could NEVER wear the same thing on Friday that you wore the previous Monday. Anyway, I don't mind wearing the same thing often. My beloved great-aunt wore the same a-line dress every day, and she always was beautiful to me. Because she always put on her pearls, earrings and lipstick, she always looked fresh. It's only the marketers that convince us that we have to look different every day. I hate decision-making, so I like acting more like a monk or nun and sticking to a "habit."

Those are my top 5 tips.

[iris lilies]

That’s a good summary of capsule wardrobe dressing catherine. mine is black, white, and a little bit of tan which I am thinking I was being on the white/ivory/oatmeal spectrum. Later, I will add in a real color, likely green with pink.

I was wondering who’s keeping all these dry cleaning establishments going, so it’s your husband! There are two dry cleaners in my old neighborhood on the same block and they’ve been there for a decades. the only thing I can think of is that downtown workers come through my neighborhood and drop off their clothes, and pick them up. This neighborhood is on the edge of downtown. I really can’t see who’s having clothes dry cleaned so much except for all the corporate types who work in downtown St.Louis.

[rosarugosa]

I wanted saddle shoe colored athletic shoes. There are not any to be purchased. so I made my own by painting a pair of Keds with fabric paint.

IMG_8925.jpg

Well done! That was very resourceful and creative of you.

[iris lilies]

Well done! That was very resourceful and creative of you.

Thanks. They are funny, and they go with my new uncolor scheme of black and white clothes.

[happystuff]

Thank you, catherine! I've copied and printed out your post. (want to be able to have it handy next time I attack my closet. Actually going to tape it to the inside of my closet door! LOL)

Very cute, rr! Nice job!

[happystuff]

Preliminary closet cleaning - got rid of a dress and a skirt!

[iris lilies]

DH is ragging on me for buying MANY pairs of shoes lately. Ya know that old trope about women in their shoes? Well, that is not me at all. For several decades, I probably bought no more than two pairs each year and those were athletic shoes.

So now I’m buying some fashion shoes, so sue me! And I even found a cute pair of boot type shoes at Goodwill. Yes I will actually buy shoes at Goodwill! I’m wearing them right now and they are cute.

[iris lilies]

Now I am paying more attention to fit. Oh, And also short sleeved T-shirts, where the sleeves come to my elbow.
No one wants to see old lady crinkled skin in my upper arms, I know I don’t want to see it.

So I set out on an online journey to find a T-shirt that fit this description with requirements in order of priority:

1. Cotton fabric or mostly cotton
2. Color: black
3. Short sleeve with sleeves that come to my elbow
4. Petite size
5. V-neck
6. A price I want to pay (I’m looking at YOU, Talbots with your $80 T-shirts!)

JCPenney online was the winner with a T-shirt at $20 that fit criteria 1 through 4+6. It’s not V-neck, it’s scoop neck.

Today it came in the mail and it’s nice, not super flimsy fabric. I’m very happy with it.

This makes me want to stop into the JCPenney store nearby. We have a very large JCPenney store, it’s the only one I can think of in the region. Many decades ago I loved JCPenney clothes.

[frugal-one]

I shop Penneys but this year the selection is not good at all IMO. I need tops too.