https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Fri, 03 Apr 2026 18:35:20 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251876 Wed, 14 May 2014 23:38:06 +0000 cheryl 1251876@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Susie, I try and wear everything and have gotten to the point if it doesn't get worn in a years time I let it go. I have a very large wardrobe and do not like to duplicate often. That being said there are certain things, my favorite jeans and my favorite pair of cowboy boots for example that get worn a lot more than other items. I haven't been as good lately about making sure everything is getting updated on the spreadsheet. Maybe I can do better for June and take a good look at my numbers. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251720 Wed, 14 May 2014 19:54:30 +0000 Susie 1251720@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Caro, I think joy per wear is priceless! I used to say that I would be happier with less pieces of higher quality/better style that I really loved to wear...yet I failed to actually practice that approach. I feel like I am getting closer to it and having 'black and white' evidence via tracking is helping. </p> <p>Joy, I know that weather played a part in when I wore certain things. What I was wearing in October when it's still pretty warm here wasn't worn as much in January. But I don't think that the weather differences from last year had a big impact, probably because we don't get much snow in general.</p> <p>Marcy, I feel like I have gotten to the point where I have purged everything that doesn't fit. But still there are those pieces that I just don't reach for. They might be "fine" but I like other things better. And to be honest, I do tend to favor the new things and there have been quite a few of those this past year!</p> <p>Deb, as far as changes I'm going to track CPW where I can and I am also now tracking weekend wear too, which I didn't do for fall/winter. And I am trying to cut down on my buying!</p> <p>E, you made me laugh about the graph! Don't tempt me :)<br /> I did wear more pieces than I thought I would need but there were quite a few pieces that I only wore 1 time. So I'm not sure if the greater variety is all that important to me because I certainly could have gotten dressed without those pieces and I must not have loved them if I only wore them once. On the other hand, there is nothing really wrong with having a limited number of items that get worn only occasionally. I have enough space for them and sometimes it's nice to shake things up a bit!</p> <p>Fashion needs to be fun and I don't want to analyze the fun out of it! But I do want to make good choices and spend my money on things that I LOVE and love to wear!</p> <p>Thanks everyone for humoring my nerdy side! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251665 Wed, 14 May 2014 19:04:18 +0000 Vicki 1251665@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Susie, I don't track what I wear, but your 79% total is truly impressive. &nbsp;I'm currently in the curating and refining period and, while I'm stilly buying and love variety (that's my Gemini nature, I guess), I do get of items at season's end if they aren't worn much or don't bring the happiness factor. &nbsp;Angie may queen you as Wardrobe Analyst. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251599 Wed, 14 May 2014 17:48:44 +0000 Suja 1251599@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks for posting this!  I aspire to do this one day but am nowhere close to being this organized. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251449 Wed, 14 May 2014 14:12:30 +0000 Alassë 1251449@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Very interesting reading, Susie!&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251242 Wed, 14 May 2014 05:50:10 +0000 Caro in Oz 1251242@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><span>Thanks for responding Susie :)&nbsp;The CPW thing is really interesting for me. Prior to tracking CPW&nbsp;I would have (&amp; did)&nbsp;come up with very different answers to questions like&nbsp;what do you wear most &amp; what are&nbsp;the best value items in your wardrobe.&nbsp;My memory isn't reliable which is why I'm also keeping a visual record of my outfits. I can already see a change in my spending habits - like you I no longer want those "meh" pieces, I'd rather get better value out the clothes I love &amp; feel great in.</p> <p>I don't (currently) aim for a specific CPW - I was trying to track not judge &amp; I didn't want to confuse the two because that would not be fun :)&nbsp;It probably will vary&nbsp;by type of item. I have some things that were very expensive for me at the time &amp; I'm not sure what the CPW is but I know the joy per wear makes them worth it to me.&nbsp;The flip side of the above&nbsp;is that&nbsp;tracking &nbsp;is allowing me to let go of things I no longer love because I realise their time has past &amp; I have better now :)</span> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251185 Wed, 14 May 2014 03:43:17 +0000 Anonymous 1251185@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Susie, this is fascinating and something I wouldn't have the patience to attempt. I do know that there were things in my closet this winter that got lots of wear but that were worn little to none the winter before because of weather differences. Does this apply to the pieces of yours that were not worn much? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251176 Wed, 14 May 2014 03:26:29 +0000 Parsley 1251176@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Wow, Susie, I'm so impressed by your thorough analysis!<br />I find it fascinating, but since it's unfamiliar territory, I don't know what a reasonable goal is for wearing the clothes in our wardrobes.&nbsp;<br />79% seems pretty good, but then you could say that over 20% of your wardrobe went completely unworn!&nbsp;<br />I know that I had a number of unworn items over the winter, too. But what conclusion should I draw? Do I have too many clothes, or just the wrong ones that don't fit well and need to be purged?</p> <p>I think the data is interesting, but the question is what conclusions to draw from it. You're way ahead of me, though, because I haven't kept track at all!</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251162 Wed, 14 May 2014 03:17:32 +0000 deb 1251162@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Good job. Do you plan on changing anything for the next season? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251142 Wed, 14 May 2014 02:57:34 +0000 Mo 1251142@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh, I think your pants sound quite different enough to notice! &nbsp;Just curious - nosy noses wants to knows. &nbsp;;) &nbsp;<br />I still don't repeat the majority of my things very often. &nbsp;I have a core handful that get repeat wearings instead of spreading it out more amongst the bulk. &nbsp;<br />For all my dorkiness I'm not sure I could track every outfit every day. &nbsp;Although that would produce a lot of helpful info. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251138 Wed, 14 May 2014 02:53:44 +0000 E 1251138@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>All you're missing is the accompanying graph! I read the whole thing and enjoyed it, but then I'm a nerd too. hehe</p> <p>So you ended up wearing more variety that you thought, right? Do you think your closet's at the right size for you, since you're wearing 80% of it, or are you aiming to make it smaller/larger?</p> <p>I have a large wardrobe at the moment, and whenever I do hypothetical versions of a 'small as comfortable' version, I run into the problem of wanting one of each of my favourite categories in each of my favourite colours and different fabrics/weights for different seasons. I suspect even though I have minimalist tendencies in the rest of my life, a tiny wardrobe isn't for me. But then I feel guilty&nbsp;that I'm not wearing each item more frequently (I think&nbsp;I wear things a fairly even rotation but as I have quite a few, the rotation lasts awhile)! Catch-22 there I suppose. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1251124 Wed, 14 May 2014 02:42:27 +0000 Susie 1251124@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thank you all for reading my novel! </p> <p>Laura, I definitely favored certain items over others. There were numerous pieces that I wore only once or twice. I'd like to reduce the number of those. </p> <p>Mo, I didn't make a conscious effort to wear as many things as possible. I do have a number of different colors in pants so that does help distinguish them. Among my frequently worn black pants, one is a slim leg ponte, one a slouchy style and one a pair of jeans. So to me they are pretty different and I wear them with different types of tops. But I guess it could easily just look like I am wearing "black pants" again! No one else may see the difference, but I do!</p> <p>Rachy, my original calculations would have meant repeating items about every three weeks and I would be ok with that. I want my favorite pieces to get enough wear to justify the cost. I definitely have more than I need. </p> <p>Suz, I don't think I wore any item weekly. The most frequently worn things got maybe 7 or 8 wearings, so maybe twice a month. I don't mind repeating and I definitely tend to favor the newer pieces. </p> <p>Dustt, I thought I would wear outfits consisting of a topper and layer top more often, but I did wear sweaters much more frequently. I probably wasn't clear on the boots...the 10 (of the 12 footwear items that I wore most) were boots (ankle boots really) rather than shoes and they were of various colors including black, navy, red, burgundy and silver. And of those 12 favorites, 8 (including 2 pairs of shoes) were black. So *only* 6 pairs of black boots </p> <p>Caro, I am getting much better at not buying things just to have more variety. It's silly to buy a top, wear it once or twice and then decide that it's 'meh' and end up purging it. I too would rather wear things I love more frequently. I don't actually track CPW currently but I did think that I should add that. I think it would reinforce my assumption that the well-loved things, even if more expensive, end up being the better value. Have you found that to be true? Do you have a CPW that you aim for? I would guess that it varies by type of item. </p> <p>Cheryl, what % do you think you wear? Have you found that you actually wear things more than you thought? Or think that you are wearing something but then see that you really aren't? I had considered the idea of turning hangers but that's too messy looking for me!</p> <p>Karina, I started by using Evernote for tracking my WIW. I have a separate note for each week, Monday to Friday. Since I started tracking weekends too, I have just 1note for all of the weekends from April-Sept.</p> <p>For tracking items worn, I listed all of the items by categories (pants, jeans, skirt, sweaters, knit tops etc.) Then I have the months across the top. I just enter it daily, as part of my morning routine at the office. I like using numbers rather than checks because than I can easily get counts and totals. And percentages </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250993 Wed, 14 May 2014 00:36:53 +0000 Karina 1250993@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This is great! I'm inspired to do something similar. I can imagine this would be a huge help in wardrobe building and future purchases. How did you track? Computer? Check sheet in closet? Any tips or lessons learned in making the tracking process easier? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250990 Wed, 14 May 2014 00:30:08 +0000 cheryl 1250990@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Susie, I love posts like this. I also try and track usage and wearings. I love my spreadsheet, lol. I think 79% is wonderful!&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250963 Tue, 13 May 2014 23:56:09 +0000 Caro in Oz 1250963@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I LOVE this - thanks for posting. IMO you are wearing a large percentage of your clothing &amp; it sounds as though you are getting a handle on why you don't wear things&nbsp;:)&nbsp;</p> <p>I haven't been tracking for a full year yet but already it is changing the way I think about my clothing purchases. Repetition doesn't seem to be much of a problem for me - if I love something I want to wear it often. I have been tracking everything in Stylebook -so I have a CPW record &amp; a visual record in the same place.&nbsp;</p> <p>Susie, when you first started tracking how did you determine the CPW for older items - did you make an educated guess or use some other method? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250960 Tue, 13 May 2014 23:52:38 +0000 dustt 1250960@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>that is the most impressive nerdy list ever Susie - complete with percentages, I'm most&nbsp; impressed that you wore 96% of your sweaters - and how did you get 8 pair of black boots!!&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250954 Tue, 13 May 2014 23:44:24 +0000 Suz 1250954@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Very interesting, Susie. So if I understand you correctly, you wore more items than you thought you might. I have similar questions to Mo's. Did you wear them often, or just once or twice, or what?&nbsp;</p> <p>With a smaller wardrobe, I wear 100% of it....but even with that smaller wardrobe,&nbsp;certain items admittedly get a <b>LOT</b> less wear than others! There are a few things in my closet that I wore only once during the fall/ winter. Other things that I wore weekly, or even more often than that. I tend to get sick of the weekly wear things and need to get rid of them at the end of a season, unless they are simple layering pieces -- suggesting that I could use a bit more variety in the closet. (Yay, more shopping!!) &nbsp; :)&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250894 Tue, 13 May 2014 22:53:22 +0000 rachylou 1250894@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>That's very cool. A calculation of the amount of variety you like v. what you need.</p> <p>If I ever finish The Great purge, perhaps I could stand to type up a list of my clothes and see what I wear and how often... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250886 Tue, 13 May 2014 22:46:09 +0000 Lisa 1250886@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I love wardrobe analysis, thanks for sharing!&nbsp; I was very surprised to see that I only wore 54 items.&nbsp; <p>And of the final total, 26 items were utilitarian in their function<br /> and were for specific activities or as a layering item.&nbsp; These included:<br /> gear items (4), workout outfits (2 outfits, 4 items), thermal layers<br /> (6), tanks (4), LS T’s (3) and scarves (5).</p> <p>That left me with only 28 items for outfit remixing (bottoms [6], hoodies [2], toppers [12], knits [7], shirt [1]).&nbsp; Not nearly as many items and I would have thought I needed.&nbsp; And unfortunately this means I have quite a few items in the 'boutique' (or on hold/holding zone area). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250884 Tue, 13 May 2014 22:44:50 +0000 Helena 1250884@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I love this, and 79% sounds pretty good to me. I do love how you have broken it out by clothing category so you can see where you either overbuy or overkeep depending how you look at it. I might try the same. Thanks for sharing, I love these analyses! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250883 Tue, 13 May 2014 22:44:08 +0000 Mo 1250883@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oooh, fun! &nbsp;I'm impressed at the 79%. &nbsp;Really. &nbsp;One day I might actually track wear, and surprise myself. &nbsp;I bet I wear 25% of my stuff a LOT, 25% regularly, and 25% occasionally. &nbsp;How's that for scientific?? lol &nbsp;<br />So you tracked work wear, but not casual, weekend, at home, etc? &nbsp;I do think if/when I have a job that does not require a uniform it will majorly skew some of my categories. &nbsp;<br />Were you surprised to wear 23 different pairs of pants? &nbsp;I don't even own that many if I wanted to try. &nbsp;Are they all very different, or do you tend toward a 'uniform', either cut of trouser or color? &nbsp;See, this is what I'm trying to get to the meat of - how many of these items really send a different visual message and how many are subtle duplications no one notices but me? &nbsp;Not saying this is&nbsp;<i>your</i> issue, just that it crops up for me and your post got me to thinking on it. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250876 Tue, 13 May 2014 22:34:00 +0000 Laura (rhubarbgirl) 1250876@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>That's a very interesting analysis, Susie. It sounds like you did quite well as far as wearing items goes. Do you feel like you wore your favorites a lot and then the rest just once or twice, or was it pretty evenly distributed? </p> <p>I should start tracking wear like this and see what patterns I find, too. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/wardrobe-analysis--fallwinter#post-1250870 Tue, 13 May 2014 22:28:28 +0000 Susie 1250870@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Can you stand another wardrobe analysis?? If you like numbers, read on!</p> <p>I have been keeping track of WIW for over a year now. In October, I started tracking the number of times I wore each item. I divided it into 2 6-month periods- Oct-Mar for fall/winter and Apr-Sept for spring/summer. </p> <p>I included the main categories of clothes in my "active" closet. While a lot of my clothing can be worn year round, there are pieces that were out of season for fall/winter and those were moved to another closet. I also didn't count loungewear, sleepwear, gear, accessories, etc. </p> <p>When Mo wrote a post about the number of items she needed to insure that all of them got a reasonable number of wearings, I calculated mine too, based on a 5 day work week and the frequency of repeating that I thought I would be comfortable with. </p> <p>Well, the first thing that became obvious was that I wore many more different pieces than I had determined that I would "need."</p> <p>Below are the numbers I had calculated that I needed followed by the number that I actually wore:<br /> Pants 12/23<br /> Jeans 4/6<br /> Dresses 2/4<br /> Skirts 2/2 (I got one right!)<br /> Tops 13/38<br /> Layering tops 6/12<br /> Toppers 6/11</p> <p>Overall, I had 121 pieces total and I wore 96 of them. So I wore 79% of all of the items in my closet. I think that is pretty high...what do you think?</p> <p>Specifically I wore:<br /> 82% of my pants<br /> 75% of my jeans<br /> 50% of my skirts<br /> 100% of my dresses<br /> 69% of my toppers<br /> 75% of my layering tops<br /> 88% of my knit tops<br /> 55% of my shirts<br /> 96% of my sweaters</p> <p> With footwear, I wore 71% of my 40 pairs. But of those 32 that I wore, 11 were only worn 1 time. So I think I could pare down on the total number since I tend to wear my favorites most often. </p> <p>And I really like BOOTS. Of the 12 pairs of shoes I wore most frequently, 10 were boots! And 8 of the 12 pairs were black. So I can keep buying black boots, right??!!</p> <p>Black showed as a strong preference in other categories too. With pants, I would be wise to be sure that I always have several styles of black pants in my wardrobe...as well as white jeans...because I reached for them most frequently. </p> <p>Same with sweaters...the most frequently worn were black. Interestingly, the 2 items I kept from NAS last year- both sweaters- both made the 'most frequently worn' list. </p> <p>Of my most-worn toppers, one was black and 2 were gray. </p> <p>So what about the 25 pieces I didn't wear? I moved 15 of them to my spring/summer closet and list to see if they get worn in warmer weather. I purged 8 of them. And 2 I am keeping for next year to see if I reach for them then. If not, they can probably go. </p> <p>I am continuing my tracking. For this season, I am also tracking how many times I use each of my bags because I do have a large collection. And I've started keeping WIW for weekends too. I actually have a higher number of items for spring/summer but that's because I've included the shorts, casual knits and sweatshirts that are limited to weekend wear and worn mostly during this time of year. </p> <p>If you have made it this far, bless you! </p> <p>I do enjoy my nerdy lists. I like tracking my purchases too and that, combined with looking at what I really do wear, will hopefully insure that I end up with the perfect sized wardrobe full of pieces that I love to wear! </p>