This is super chic, Claire! this is how I think the closet of Ines de Fresange would look like. My closet is actually not that big either but I have mucho shoes... Thta's where the moola goes. This is very inspirational.

Question: was all of the color purged?

wait a second... that's your whole wardrobe?! i'm in shock... and have some thinking to do. wow. you picked well.

ha ha ha, claire. that was our mother's day too.

me: what do you think of this necklace?
hubs: it's a bit gaudy
me: i know...it's so me. would you get it for me? i entered all the info already.
hubs: *hits buy* happy mother's day.

LOL @ the Mother's Day gifts. My BF did the same for me for birthday (also on Mothers Day this year). I loaded the Nordie's cart and asked him to check out since he's the only one in the household with a Nordie's card. How backwards is that?!?

A beautiful closet and wardrobe! One question though, what do your kitchen drawers look like???

haha! I love the DH/Mother's Day part It is SO perfectly our style too -- it made me smile! But this year I actually took off for Chicago with my sister, and emailed my Amazon Wish List to DH and my kids! (somehow I think that's teaching them some wrong lesson about selecting gifts for others, but oh well . . . )

Your closet is very therapeutic to look at -- calm, cohesive, and colors I love. What ARE those shoes 3rd from the right? Are those the Me too leopard flats?

I'm always inspired by the things you accomplish with your style, and you led me to that 10-item wardrobe concept that I'm working on (not even just 10 per season, but much, much less).

You've been so gracious to answer some practical questions, that I hope you don't kind a few more: are your silk blouses washed in the sink? If so, do they hang dry okay, need ironing, or?. You dry outside, but out of the sun? Are you coming to MN any time soon

Thank you so much for all the love guys. It is so nice to get all of this healing attention!

I'm thrilled if I can be of help to anyone or answer questions.

Shevia, DD bailed on me big time. I'll have to PM you the details. ;/

Hedgie, you are so sweet! I don't think I've ever been an icon before (but I'm a legend in my own mind, lol!)

Carolbee, it sounds like you're doing just fine. And for the record, my wardrobe swings in and out of control with great regularity!

mtgirl, Thank you for finding that thread. You're the best.

Adelfa, yes this works out to be almost 3/33. I might have 35 if you count scarves, jewelry, shoes, handbags and specs/sunglasses.

Suz, we are your biggest fans, too!

Angie, thank you; I'm blushing. Having a peek into your own curated closet (once) was so inspiring to me.

Zap, most of the color was purged at the end of last summer. I tired of it really fast and found it hard to work with. I kept thinking I'd buy some colorful things this season, but so far I'm really loving the neutrals (and I do have some blue). Time will tell!

bj111 and Mo, it seems there are a few of us who know just what we want! Happy belated birthday Malina. I hope all of your loot works out!

Deb, ask and you shall receive. Check out the photo.

MNsara, the MeToo leopard flats got purged this spring. I loved them so but they always felt a little big (yet I couldn't have taken a smaller size in length). In the end, I think they were made for a foot with more volume than mine. The shoes you see are a pair of black suede quilted pointy-toes of unknown make. I glued some suede insoles in them and covered their name.
I have taken lots of chances hand washing items, especially if I got them for a song. I wash my silk things quickly (no prolonged soaking or the dyes might run). I usually roll them up in a towel for a minute and then hang them in the shade (always!) or drape them on the patio furniture if I think the hanger might leave a mark. I could easily wear the blouses as is--the prints make wrinkles hard to see, but I give them a quick iron because I like a polished look. I tried hand washing a (new!) BR pencil skirt that was rayon and cotton and it shrank so much I had to buy a new one. What a disaster, but it fit DD and she wore it to a job interview so all was not lost. I will be more careful with the dry clean only items in the future, but silk blouses, scarves and sweaters seem to do really well with hand washing, in my experience. I should totally come to MN, say around August?

ETA: photo of kitchen drawers for Deb. I don't know why it didn't load last night; sorry.

Wow, Claire, this is fascinating and so inspiring. I feel calmer just looking at your photos.

I vacillate between craving a wardrobe like yours, and yearning for the opposite. My reality is somewhere in between, but I'm not totally comfortable with it. One day I'll figure out what my version of nervana is. Threads like yours really help.

One complicating factor, maybe, is my climate? We can shift from 25 degrees and sunny to 11 degrees with rain and wind literally overnight. I currently have four seasons' worth of clothes, shoes and outerwear in active rotation.

I can't come up with enough adjectives at how thrilled I was when I saw the subject line: intrigued, excited, inspired, amazed! You have managed to do what I have been trying to do, and dreamed of doing, this past year!

"Seasonless"! Why did that never occur to me?? You are a genius!!!

Tomorrow, over coffee, I plan to dig through your other forum posts and see what other nuggets of wisdom you have written, because seriously, I really want the high-end boutique-style wardrobe plan that you've got going on!

(I was the one, I think, who mentioned 'muddy' on Ingunn's thread. I have pale, reflective skin (when it isn't irritated and red), and a history of breakouts, so I'm always very aware of how patterns and certain colors look against my skin. Unless the pattern is large, and/or the right saturation of color... the pattern will reflect right onto my skin and I'll look splotchy or sick. I find I'm happiest in clear, bright colors and neutrals, especially black and white and dove grey, and I use accessories for color.)

La Belle, now I remember! Come forward and take a bow, please. I really appreciate how much your comment helped me rationalize my addiction to prints. Definitely check out the link I posted earlier in the thread. If this small-wardrobe deal is a concept that appeals to you, there is a lot to delve into. I wasn't sure I could really upgrade my pieces on a shoe-string budget, but so far so good. I don't know where you live, but I live in near Phoenix, and even though we have wide extremes in temperatures, I don't need the kind of wardrobe that someone in a four-season climate truly needs. At least it doesn't snow here. I look forward to chatting with you about it!

I just read some of the links posted and am really inspired to reduce my wardrobe to its best pieces.

Awesome minimalist wardrobe. And my sister, who is a professional organizer, would be so impressed with the beauty of your closet. (Sometimes I wonder if we are related, my closet looks nothing like that. Organized chaos is what I end up with on a good day.)

Hmm, I'm re-re-reading and trying to get a handle on how the whole 'seasonless' thing works. This is asking a lot, I know, but any chance you could itemize your, well, items?

Claire, you continue to be one of my style icons and this post had me smiling and nodding my head in turns.
I am so impressed with your compact wardrobe that I am determined to stay on SYC until next summer. (What am I saying? I'll never make it.)
I am a kindred thrifter who is occasionally rewarded by the Op Shop fairy: here again, I am so impressed by your "finds".
My climate is similar to yours so laundry dries quickly; it's either hot or windy or both.
Your road kill tag hooked me immediately but I thought you meant clothes you had found on the highway.DH and I often travel long distances and from time to time have chanced upon such "escapees", the most famous being a Country Road sweater, perfect for DH,that we found, you guessed it, on a country road.

Claire I loved reading this post. You have developed the kind of wardrobe I dream off and am still aiming towards. However I do need two distinct seasonal wardrobes due to our hot summers and cold winters.

I particularly relate to your comment "I have a lot of hang-ups with color, but I feel appropriate in neutrals almost anytime anywhere". I am exactly the same.

Dress me in black, navy, grey, white and I am as happy as a pig in mud. Colour not so much.

Would you agree the success to having a smallish wardrobe is to really know what you like, what looks good on you and to be clear on your style direction?

You are now officially my closet management role model.



I

So cool! I am envious of your perfectly functional and edited capsule. And I kinda do see the romance of your hanger gift story - it makes me smile to picture you two on your laptops together.

I am so speechless, Claire! You have gone from quick study newbie, to DIY experimenter, to DFS volunteer, to sophisticated chic minimalist genius!

Your closet just blows me away! So all the contents are either cotton or silk? You are an inspiration! <Standing Ovation>

This belongs to Best Of YLF...Ever!
So happy for you Claire being able to sort out a perfectly functionable and chic wardrobe, but anyhow I wanted this wouldn't do it for me:-((. I'm sometimes really overhelmed by my needings for dressing so called 6 seazons and a dozen of functions...
BTW I am a neutral girl myself, too (started added color only after years on YLF!)- and so, can really appreciate a beautiful neutral wardrobe like yours is.
Well done, Claire, and I love your printed blouses, the sandals, and pretty toenails a lot!!!!

Thank you all so much.

Ariadne, yes, I'll start another thread and post pictures of each group of items. It might take me a day or two, but I'll do it. I'm flattered that you're interested! Not everyone will be well served by a season-less wardrobe, either sweating in it in high summer or freezing in it in the winter, but after carefully considering my activities, I think it might work for me.

Deborah, I totally agree that in order to go small you have to reduce down to your favorite style formula, silhouette and colors. Someone linked an article about Michelle Obama a while back and it mentioned that she sticks with just a couple of "looks" and repeats them in different colors and fabrications.

love reading your wardrobe thoughts! your closet looks so neat and fit - like in an exclusive shop, you know, and you can see every piece and they all seem to work nicely together. Impressive!

Wow, Claire, this is so impressive! I could never do this -- my climate is too varied, my days too unpredictable, and my style too eclectic -- but I so admire it. This palette works so beautifully for you, and it looks so clean and open and calming.

My closet is quite organized, but it looks far more chaotic because of all the colors, and how densely it is packed!

Claire! I hardly get to the forum these days and ironically check off-topic first (some v interesting and deep conversations there). But the moment I saw a new Claire conversation I had to, just had to. And what a lift! I adore you in roadkill! So chic. Very elegant. Even more so than the closet I'm in awe of. That is beyond inspirational. It is the epitome of well curated...and mostly thrifted? Talk about treading lightly on the earth! But then you spoke of the laundry solution. Like Suz, I wondered about that. And am stuck speechless with admiration. That is dedication and organization indeed! As we Indians like to say, 'Wah, ustaad!' (Roughly, 'bravo, maestro'

While your closet capsule may be limited in size it has maximum potential and impact...nothing minimal about it! I bow down to you, you are an inspiration.

Claire, this is definitely a wardrobe nirvana. It is so important to find what is right for you, isn't it? I know this size of the wardrobe would never work for me but for a moment it was nice to imagine it can
Love the roadkill: so elegant, so Claire!

Okay, you have GOT to do a step-by-step of how you worked your way through to this gorgeous, minimalist wardrobe. This hoarder needs help!

How did I miss the kitchen drawers pic?! Hmmm - I'm contrasting yours with mine, and (maybe not surprisingly) there seems to be a correlation of the contrast between your closet and mine, and your kitchen drawers and mine.

So, I have work to do in my kitchen as well

Anyway, August is good! I should have my daughter's abandoned bedroom freshened up to a guest room by then!

Claire I have been lurking lately but have already grabbed the 10 piece book on kindle since you started this thread... I LOVE this minimalist closet approach and you do just look gorgeous every time we see you. YOU as well as your clothes look lovely so they just compliment (!) your sleek grooming. I am a fellow minimalist wardrobe aspirer even though I do a bit too much of the buy. It is interesting that at nearly 2 months into my living out of hand luggage to make observations:
1. there are STILL pieces I don't wear (lol!) and surprise surprise they are button downs and a jersey twin set I bought at the last minute just in case before I left!
2. I am mainly rotating around 5/6 items and 2 jackets and some scarves... I know I spent SO much time before I left selecting those items for 'perfect' fit and versatility. I had budget and some of the jersey tshirts, while on sale, were a bit eyewatering in price. However these 3 are rotating almost daily AND are obviously my core pieces like your silk tops - they are work horses to the extreme!
3. The pieces which are not perfect are obvious when you are working the 10 piece idea... I made a quick post recently that really I am not fond of the skinny silhouette on my frame so wider leg jeans would suit be better; my black work trouser really needs a more modern silhouette and I am still hoping I will find a replacement on tour; my coat needs replacing as its losing its oomph, a few tears...
4. I AM NOT BORED - I can see in your wardrobe you have enough variety in colour, print and the way they can all work together that you make soooo many looks! I have grabbed some 10$ scarves in the street on the way and so I can have a leopard day, a brights day, a formal day etc
5. Thank dog I had thought ahead to stay in apartments with laundry facilties to make this happen!
So am devouring your wonderful post/s and the Jennifer Scott ideas to be focused for my wardrobe when I get home. Thanks Claire!!!

When I clicked on the first photo I gasped. Your wardrobe reminds me of the capsules on Vivienne files and I adore that blog and the concept of a capsule, small, versatile wardrobe. Your closet looks so cohesive and this just made the light bulb go off for me.

I've been working to streamline my four season wardrobe since I joined YLF a few years ago. I've gotten down to about 150 items (from over 300 and that includes my footwear). But one thing holding me back ever since is that I have a LOT of colors/items in my closet and they don't remix with too many pieces. I have bold colors (emerald green, cobalt, black and white stripes) AND soft colors (denim blue, teal, turquoise). I'll need to revisit my closet this weekend and see how I can organize/streamline better.

One thing I keep struggling with is my base colors. I always have blue, but I often bounce between brown and black too. I know if I just picked one I could cut down on my closet size, but I find I like to switch between mixing blue and black days with blue and brown days based on my mood. I just can't seem to pick a base color. How did you decide on one color?

What an inspiring closet, elegant Claire!!! You are a wonder!

I only have a couple minutes to spend on the forum this morning and I could say so much more, but "impressed" and "inspired" Claire. It's so amazing how confident and directed you are in your wardrobe. Something I am aspiring for. Thanks for sharing.