Orphans in Your Closet

Do you have a great dress, or dyna­mite top that you love, but nev­er wear because noth­ing goes with it? Or, a piece of cloth­ing that indi­vid­u­al­ly is won­der­ful, but for what­ev­er rea­son does not belong.? If so, these are orphans in your clos­et. If an orphan is sooooooo won­der­ful on you and you are will­ing to make the invest­ment, then you need to cre­ate a unit of cloth­ing that includes it. Go for it! Pur­chase the miss­ing pieces and inte­grate them into your Work­ing Wardrobe. It may be the start of a new look for you. But if you just bought an item on a whim because it was on sale, your friend talked you into it, or you briefly want­ed to be some­one else, you should seri­ous­ly con­sid­er let­ting it go.

What to do with orphans in your closet: Get Rid of It!

An orphan must go if it:

• Does not look like you.
• Is not the right col­or for you.
  (Why wear some­thing that makes your skin look sick?)
• Does not match your lifestyle.
  (A prop­er, tai­lored busi­ness blouse does not belong in the clos­et of some­one who now has a casu­al and relaxed lifestyle.)
• You don’t love it.
  (Espe­cial­ly if some­one else talked you into it. If it was a gift, then you may want to cre­ate and dis­trib­ute a wish list to help oth­ers select gifts you will enjoy. In the mean­time, qui­et­ly re-gift it
• If it is too expen­sive look­ing for your core wardrobe.
  (If you went far out of your reach and bought an expen­sive design­er blouse, yet every­thing else in your clos­et is jeans and tee shirts, then it does­n’t fit your style. If you do not have the shoes, jack­et, and jew­el­ry to make it work, then it won’t. It would cost you more than the price of the item itself to be able to inte­grate it. Let it go. Hang it on the wall as a piece of art or an inspi­ra­tion, but do not put it back your closet.)

A word of caution:

If you have a clos­et of orphans, then you have a clos­et full of clothes and noth­ing to wear. Take the orphans out and get some­one else to adopt them. Your orphans may become a cher­ished trea­sure for some­one else. You can always turn a buy­ing mis­take into a gift, “I bought this for you.” Make some­one else hap­py and be more dis­cern­ing in your future pur­chas­es. If you have a plan stick to it, and if you don’t have a plan, you need to cre­ate one for a “Work­ing Wardrobe.” If you don’t know where to begin, I’m here to help. You don’t have to go it alone!