Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cutting Threads By ‘Dejunking’ And Streamlining Your Wardrobe, You’ll Bring More Order To Your Closet And Your Life

Tracy Achor Hayes Dallas Morning News

The next time you stand in front of the closet moaning that you have nothing to wear, consider this: The trouble may not be having too few clothes, but too many.

Sounds like heresy, doesn’t it? In fact, most people have more than enough clothes to carry them comfortably through their days and nights. Our closets tumble with shirts, dresses, sweaters, belts and shoes. But few of us consistently look the way we’d like to - pulled together, appropriate, chic.

The secret to achieving the latter isn’t tracking down the perfect jacket or buying yet another pair of shoes. It’s discerning what clothes really fit our lives, our bodies, our styles - and getting rid of all the rest.

That process is rarely easy, say the authors of two recent books, but the benefits are tremendous.

“You’ve accumulated all this stuff, and it takes guts at first to get rid of it,” says Kim Johnson Gross, a former fashion editor at Esquire and Town & Country, and co-founder with Jeff Stone of the Chic Simple series of primers on paring down.

“Dejunking,” as Gross dubs the weeding-out process, is an investment in time initially. “But the feeling of freedom and lightness you get afterwards is incredible, much the same as you have after a good haircut.”

Practical advice on streamlining, packaged with historical trivia and crisp photos of modern fashion classics, is the basis of Gross’ latest, “Chic Simple Women’s Wardrobe” (Knopf, $30). The book is number 17 in the Chic Simple library. (If that seems extravagant, the company’s motto, an Australian Aboriginal saying, offers an explanation for the bounty of knowledge: “The more you know, the less you need.”)

Gross believes the movement some are calling “voluntary simplicity” is due partly to the bingeing consumerism of the ‘80s, and partly to the complexities of life in the ‘90s.

“Life is so busy, you don’t have time to open up your closet and have an anxiety attack. Dejunking frees you up to deal with the more interesting things in life.”

A similar manifesto informs “Simple Isn’t Easy” (Harper Spotlight, $5.50). The pocket-size guidebook is the joint effort of best-selling fiction writer Olivia Goldsmith and Amy Fine Collins, a Harper’s Bazaar style editor and contributing editor at Vanity Fair.

While researching “Fashionably Late,” a novel set in the fashion world, Goldsmith discovered that “those most knowledgeable in the fashion world mostly ignored trends and fads.” Instead, they adopted “uniforms,” developing a style that worked best and sticking with it.

“This gave them not only ease in dressing,” she says, “but a visible identity.”

In the case of the fashion mavens, the typical uniform is something expensive, unfussy and black. For other women, it might be something artsy, ethnic and earth-toned, or romantic, flowing and pale.

“There’s no one formula,” stresses Goldsmith. “That’s why I don’t like anything that tells people, ‘Here, wear this navy blue skirt with that red jacket,’ or ‘Never wear loud prints.’ We’ve all read those lists of what the essential wardrobe should consist of. Nonsense! That’s why we talk about the zen of this. This requires some self knowledge. That’s the work.”

Both books aim to provide a map “out of the maze that fashion has become.”

To those who follow the prescribed route, Goldsmith promises many rewards: Not only will you look better-dressed each day, you’ll spend less time on dressing and shopping, less money on clothes, and have better-organized and roomier closets.

“I know what it’s like now to have a lean closet,” she says, “and it’s a beautiful thing. Opening the door and seeing things so neatly arranged gives me such a sense of serenity.”

Herewith, from “Chic Simple Women’s Wardrobe” and “Simple Isn’t Easy,” some tips on streamlining your wardrobe and your life:

Set aside several hours to try on everything you own. Make piles. One for things that no longer fit. One for things you haven’t worn in a year or more. One for favorites that you reach for again and again. One for things you like but wear less often. If you can’t be ruthless, bring in a friend who can.

Analyze the clothes you wear most consistently. Chances are, you rely on them precisely because they’re the most comfortable, flattering and versatile for you. Are the clothes fluid or tailored? Is there a dominant color scheme? A recurring length or silhouette? Without other pieces to distract you, you should be able to identify an essential style. This is the foundation of your personal “uniform.”

Refine. Put aside things that you like but that don’t work with your look. If something in the “keep” pile needs cleaning or repair, either do it yourself or have it done. Think of prom dresses, sorority T-shirts and other sentimental favorites as keepsakes, not clothes. Wrap them in tissue and store them out of the way in a box or trunk.

Get rid of the goofs. In your heart of hearts, you know the ones. The “bargain” bought on sale but never worn. The blouse that gaps. The pants that ride up. The too-small dress you’ve been saving for the day you lose weight. “When you hit size 4 again,” advise the authors of “Simple Isn’t Easy,” “you have our permission to go on a shopping spree.”

Take rejects to a resale shop or thrift store, or give them away - to family, to friends, to a women’s shelter or Goodwill. Goldsmith added an interim step, storing things in boxes for several months before she eventually let them go. “Those boxes were like my security blanket,” she says. “After awhile, I found I didn’t need them anymore.”

Organize your closet. “If you don’t see what’s in your wardrobe, you forget what’s there,” says Gross. Most style guides recommend grouping clothes by category and color - but Goldsmith recommends hanging things by outfits. And, since visibility is essential, she insists on identical (non-wire) hangers, hanging clothes neatly, uniformly and facing the same direction.

Decide what you need to add. It may be something quite specific - say, a fitted black turtleneck to replace one that’s worn - or it may be general. Do you have plenty of work clothes, but nothing to wear to a party? Make a list of the gaps, but don’t plan on filling them all in a single trip to the mall. Allow yourself time to find things that really work with your core wardrobe.

Make future purchases count. The idea isn’t to give up shopping or ignore trends entirely, but to have the discipline to add only things that you need and that work with your uniform. “It’s like keeping the weight off after a diet,” says Goldsmith, “there’s everything to tempt you.”