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
- Some clothes are memories and keepsakes
- Clothes don’t fit anymore, or not yet and never will
- Stylist’s advice
- Toss your too big clothes when you lost weight
- Overcome your resistance to toss expensive clothes
- Don’t go that route
- Know your style and shape and shop for them
- Know your flattering colors
- Stylist’s tip
- How to make great pieces in wrong colors work
- Buy wrinkle-free fabrics when you hate ironing
- Going to the dry-cleaner adds costs
- What I wore
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.
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. #closetoverhaul Click To Tweet
My husband and I at our wedding in 1992. The skirt suit and black wash-silk blouse were custom-made
I wore my wedding suit again for Catherine Summer’s Wearing My Wedding Dress ChallengeWell, 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’ 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. #styletip Click To TweetWell, actually the latter is also a budget tip. 😉
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. Thus, 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.
Reward yourself with new clothes when you lost weight and give the old too large clothes to charity or consignment. #motivation Click To Tweet
Overcome your resistance to 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, since 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. If you have a hard time to toss your clothes you may find it helpful to read the post at the link to how to feel fine about tossing your old clothes.
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. #lifestyle #midlifestyle Click To TweetKnow your style and 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. Thus, 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. 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.
Don’t know what your personal style is? Take this free online style quiz.
Karl Jaeger Dirndl with Jeanne Pierre sweater, L.K. Bennett pumps, Hermes collier de chien bangle, ethnic statement belt (all own) and scarf c/o India Hicks ambassador Tammy Gray
Southern Tirolean dirndl and Austrian lederhosen and leather jacket with traditional trim. The accessories on the apron are for Sunday’s Best only
Bebe motorcycle leather jacket with Karl Jaeger button front dress, Carhartt gingham shirt, Anne Klein T-strap slingbacks, DIY necklace and LV bucket bag (all own)
These beautiful beads embroidered shearling mittens are just not me. Not to mention it is hard to drive wearing mittens. I love the Athabaskan Indian beading felt that I sewed onto these shearling mittens. I rarely wear them. Typically, only on occasions like watching the Yukon Quest start or when the Iditarod is started in Fairbanks
One example of this type of items are my dirndls (photos above). I bought them as some of the women in the Fairbanks community expected me as an immigrant to wear a dirndl. I was so sick of explaining everyone that where I come from you don’t wear a dirndl that I finally bought one. You can read why I regretted that purchase at the link in case you missed it.
Know your flattering colors
Another reason why you don’t wear the clothes may be that their color. It washes you out. Even when your best colors were determined in the 80s, some of them are not so you. Our skin’s complexion changes as we age. Our hair color may also change, or we even changed the hair color 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 80s, 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. 🙁
Note that I bought the winter white sweater with the intend to dye it. See this post how to revive wardrobe favorites by dyeing. 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.
Add a scarf in a flattering color close to your face when you have clothes in a wrong color. Click To TweetBuy wrinkle-free fabrics when you hate ironing
I have a confession to make. 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 can try it to change this by DIY. You can find a tutorial how to do at home dry cleaning at the link.
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. #styleadvice Click To TweetDo need help to best clean out your closet? Here are easy-to-follow instructions for a closet clean-out.
What I wore
The OOTD is an example of items that are so me and that I really love to wear over and over again. <3
Do you have clothes in your closet that you don’t wear? In which of the categories do they belong? Will you clean up your closet to gain control about what you have? Let me know your dressing challenges so I can help you.
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When you like the blog you may like my book How to Dress for Success in Midlife too.
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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