Take the stress out of the spring wardrobe switch-up with these expert tips …
There’s a certain point in spring where a niggling feeling weighs on you and you know there’s a task you’ve been putting off that needs doing: changing over your wardrobe for the new season. If you are the supremely organised type this may be a job you’ve completed back in early March. Or you might find that the idea of organising your wardrobe is something you put on the long finger until you absolutely have to. We gleaned some tips from the experts to help you do your wardrobe switch-up in the most effective way.
One of the most common mistakes people make is going head-first into summer, which is possibly a little too enthusiastic for our weather. Don’t be too hasty: “I wouldn’t be too quick to pack away knitwear or coats, the changeable weather lasts well into June. With so many people spending so much time outdoors and sea swimming, your warm casual coat and knitwear will still play a vital role through the summer months,” says Sarah Rickard, a fashion stylist and curator of online boutique Styled By (www.styledby.ie).
Vacuum packing is great for coats or, as Rickard suggest, pieces you’ll be packing away until wintertime like sequins. Whereas knitwear should be stored in more easy-to-reach places: “Under bed storage boxes on rollers are a great solution and make it handy to grab something you might need if the weather turns,” says Rickard.
Main image: Instagram @monikh.
Always make sure to fold your knitwear, don’t hang it in another part of your wardrobe. “Knitwear will grow and draw volume on the hanger over time and look misshapen when you go to put it on again,” says Isabel Gleeson, a personal shopper who offers colour consultancies online (www.styledbyisable.net). “Be sure to also tackle underwear, gym gear and nightwear at the same time as it might be a lot to organise and a lot of chaos but you will feel so productive when it is done altogether,” Gleeson says.
How do you know when you should bin something? The 30-wear rule is often touted as the best advice to follow when buying a new item (consider if you’ll wear the item 30 times, if not then don’t buy it), but what about items that are in your wardrobe already?
This is something Rickard sees a lot. Sometimes, it is about being ruthless. “A lot of my clients come to me with the same issues. They’ve become mums in recent years and had a change in lifestyle and work due to Covid-19. Their wardrobes just do not function for their lifestyles having been through massive life events. I think it’s important to reevaluate your needs from your wardrobe and not to be too hard on yourself or emotional if those pieces no longer serve you.”
What if a piece no longer makes the cut? Limerick-based Annmarie Nagle of Marlene & Co (www.marleneandco.ie), a sustainable online fashion boutique, advises on the best way to audit. “If you move clothes out of your wardrobe to another space, make sure you go through each piece before doing so and ask yourself a) did I wear it this season b) did I feel good in it. If you didn’t wear it last season, it’s unlikely you will this season. I’m a big believer of wearing clothes that you feel good in, so if you don’t feel good in something, move it along. You can give your unwanted clothes to friends or neighbours, a charity shop if they have the space, or if you feel the pieces are worth selling, Vestiaire Collective and Depop are good websites to sell them on, physical stores like Cobblers Wardrobe, or Nuw is a great app that allows you to swap your clothing,” she says.
There is something to be said for a lean wardrobe. “It’s a good idea to keep your wardrobe lean. You will feel lighter in yourself, and your life will feel less cluttered. Invest in a few pieces that you love, that you really feel good in, and wear them regularly. We frequently hear now to buy less, and buy good quality, and I think that’s a good rule of thumb for us all. You could start buying one good thing a year, or every six months, and slowly build a capsule wardrobe that you love that way,” Nagle says.
Rickard’s top tip? Keep an empty stand-alone rail (if you have the space), separate to your wardrobe, where you can pull out outfits for the week ahead. “I style my weekly outfits on this, ideally on a Sunday, making allowances for changes in weather with alternative coats and footwear. This eliminates decision fatigue and it’s one less thing to stress about in the mornings,” she says.
The idea of a stand-alone rail is an excellent way to review your key or ‘capsule’ pieces for the entire season. That is, those five to ten pieces that you know will form the building blocks of your outfits for the new season, it could be a mix of pieces you’ve just bought and pieces from previous seasons that you want to carry over. The idea of a capsule wardrobe is certainly a buzzed about phrase in fashion right now but bear in mind that one person’s ideal capsule wardrobe may be different to others. It doesn’t have to be a didactic remit of shirting, a certain type of jean or blazers.
“I think the traditional ‘capsule wardrobe’ doesn’t work for a lot of people,” Rickard says. “I like to tailor my clients ‘staples’ depending on their lifestyle and needs. I don’t know many new mums that need a white shirt or a black dress!”
Lastly, don’t mistreat last season’s pieces either. “Don’t forget to leave the autumn winter pieces you are replacing in a tidy way,” says Gleeson. “You want these clothes to look appealing when you are taking them out in a few months time, when summer is over. I would suggest that you really prepare your clothes for the following season, get items that require dry cleaning done so that they are fresh when you take them out again. Investing in neat storage will be worth it!”
