Why You Never Wear Some of Your Beautiful Clothes

This post answers the question why you never wear some of your clothes. It dwells down to the roots of this phenomenon. Read to get a solution to this problem so you can dress to your best every day with what’s in your wardrobe.

Why Many Women Have an Overflowing Wardrobe

Have you been or are you in the situation that your closet or wardrobe seems to be close to burst like an overfull balloon? Despite there are so many clothes, you feel you have nothing to wear? Have you every questioned yourself why you don’t wear some of your beautiful clothes?

Like with many things in midlife and fashion, the reasons are manifold. Let’s go to the guts of it.

Some Clothes Are Memories and Keepsakes

Well, there are those clothes you kept as keepsakes, for memory only. You don’t wear them anymore because they were bought for an once in a lifetime special occasion. A candidate in this category is your wedding dress. Unless you participate in a Wearing My Wedding Dress Challenge there is no reason or opportunity to wear it again. Take clothes that fall into this category out of your closet and store them in an insect-safe box or old closet in the garage or cellar.

It’s ok to have keepsakes, but store them somewhere else, not in your closet.

Well, there are also clothes that we associate with bad memories. In German hospitals, you have to bring your own sleepwear and socks. I never wore those pieces again after I was released. However, I don’t think that this negative association is the reason why in American hospitals you have to wear their gowns and “socks.”

Clothes Don’t Fit Anymore, Or Not Yet and Never Will

One of my friends has a closet full of beautiful clothes that she plans to wear once she looses those 10 lb. Loosing weight is even harder than trying not to gain weight. As if this fact weren’t enough, these clothes just get out of style. She finally tosses them for that very reason.

Stylist’s Advice on Fit

Don’t buy clothes when they don’t fit you. When you actually loose those 10 lb, you will be happy to buy new clothes, and you can see it as an award or motivation.

Buy for the size you have, not the size you want to have.

Well, actually the latter is also a budget tip.

Why to Toss Your Too Big Clothes When You Lost Weight

Some women are permanently on a diet and their weight and waist plays jo-jo. Most time with (successful,) unwanted gain. As a result, they have at least three different sizes in their closet. This means they don’t wear at least two third of their clothes!

Always give the clothes that got too big away to charity. Once they are gone, you can’t take just one size up for comfort. Consequently, you get an early on alert that you have to get rid of the unwanted (re)gained pounds. Also put yourself on a clothes shopping stop until you lost them.

Tip: Reward yourself with new clothes when you lost weight and give the old too large clothes to charity or consignment.

Why to Overcome Your Resistance to Wear or Toss Expensive Clothes

My mom’s generation had always their Sunday’s Best. Often these clothes had been more expensive and were very trendy at the moment they bought them. However, because they were not in the normal rotation of tear and wear, they lasted longer than the everyday clothes. In other words, they still look great beyond their prime, but at the same time looked old-fashioned beyond any hope.

The clothes got into the every-day category one day and made her – well look not fashionable or modern. She was fully aware of this fact, but resisted to toss the items because they were still in good condition. Needless to say, she was always unhappy about the way she looked and dressed except on those few Sundays in the first year these clothes were new. So sad.

Don’t Go That Route

Expensive outdated clothes don’t do you any favor. Never take something for Sundays only. Wear your new expensive clothes also on weekdays. What do you want to save them for? You want a Sunday every day. Not wearing your clothes is like tossing them.

Saving high quality clothes for Sunday’s Best is so yesteryear.

Know Your Style, Shape and Shop for Them

We all love clothes and not only the clothes that look great on us. However, just because we like an item, doesn’t mean that we have to buy it.

I love the look of romantic clothes, but the look is not me. Therefore, if I had these type of clothes in my closet, they would just take up real estate. I wouldn’t feel “me” in them! Therefore, I won’t wear them. This is why choosing pieces that genuinely fit your lifestyle is so important.

Some people even prefer custom basics, and services such as t shirt printing allow you to create items that align with your personal style rather than buying pieces that never feel quite right. Thoughtfully selecting items that work for you prevents your wardrobe from filling with clothes you avoid wearing. I guess you know what I am talking about. When you have those type of clothes in your closet, give them to someone who will feel awesome in them.

Tip: Only buy what fits your personal style.

Know Your Flattering Colors

Another reason why you don’t wear the clothes may be that their color washes you out. Even when your best colors were determined in the 1980s, some of them are not so you. Therefore, the color palettes were extended to 12 seasons.

Furthermore, our skin’s complexion changes as we age. Our hair color may also change, or we even changed it ourselves.

There is more to a color than just being warm or cold and clear vs. muted. A color can also be deep or light. I was “diagnosed” as a winter in the 1980s, and always looked terrible in the icy clear colors of my palette. Why? Well, I look best in deep, saturated colors. Clothes in icy winter colors were just wallflowers in my closet back then.

Stylist’s Advice

Check whether you can dye clothes in a color that is flattering you. If not, give them away to someone who will love to wear the item. Also ignore Pantone’s colors of the year. When they are not so you and work around them with colors from the same family, but that are so you.

How to Make Great Pieces in Wrong Colors Work

See the photo with the beautiful leather baseball jacket? I love the style and it fits perfectly. However, the colors looked more like chocolate brown and snow white in the catalog. Unfortunately, the order arrived when I was on business travel. Upon coming back, it was too late to return.

You also can revive pieces favorites by dyeing. I bought the winter white sweater with the intend to dye it. However, I postponed doing so as it was the only piece that worked with the leather jacket. Putting a scarf with a flattering color close to my face makes the jacket work for me. Nevertheless, I rarely wore it.

Buy Wrinkle-Free Fabrics When You Hate Ironing

I hate ironing! In former times, I wasn’t aware that this fact was a reason why I didn’t wear some beautiful shirts, skirts or dresses. Once they were dirty, I procrastinated on ironing. This meant the items stayed out of the loop until the next season. I now pay more attention to the care instruction labels. However, even if you buy items called “wrinkle-free” you may have to iron them once in a while, for instance, when you left them in the dryer or laundry basket too long.

Going to the Dry-Cleaner Adds Costs

Pieces that needed dry cleaning used to be in my category of items that I owned, but wore seldom. Going to the dry-cleaner is time consuming and expensive. Time is money too. 😉 I finally, switched to dry cleaning at home. So if some of your unworn pieces fall in this category, you learn how to do at home dry cleaning.

In a Nutshell

To achieve ageless style start clearing your closet from the clothes you don’t wear. The fact that you don’t wear some of your clothes is a sign that something is wrong with them. Use these easy-to-follow instructions for a closet clean-out.

Photos of me: G. Kramm
Photo of my husband and me at our wedding: H. Mölders
Photo of my husband and me in ethnic clothing: A. Richards

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