Thanks for the explanation of splitting wears.

I'm totally guilty of duplicating and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Recent examples:

I bought the BR sloans in windowpane, and in basic black. I have worn the windowpane's several times because they are just so fun. I have worn the basic black exactly zero times, though they fit just as well, and you'd think they'd be practical for work. But no.

Then I did a crazy thing and I duplicated the RL knit jersey dress in not just one color. Oh no. I bought two black (one sleeveless and one elbow sleeve), one plum, one navy, and one green. The two black have been worn the most - I reach for those over and over and over again, especially for business travel. The plum gets second most wear. The green just a teensy bit less, because it's such a BRIGHT shade of green, but I adore it so there's no splitting here - I just need to choose a day when I want to stand out, not blend in. The navy gets the least amount, but that's because something is off about the sizing, it's slightly too small (though label says it's same size as the others) and the shade of navy is not a deep ink - it's kind of dull and flat. Both those two elements mean it should probably get purged. I'd imagined that one would get even more wear than the black, but unfortunately not.

Yeah, crazy that I bought that dress in so many colors? Probably. But I don't regret. It's like having a tee shirt duplicated in different colors. Except it is a dress.

Hooray for YLF! My girlfriends just look at me like my head is spinning when i ask these questions.

So many great thoughts. I need to get some sleep after a long day, so I can absorb all the advice and figure out how to apply. I'll be back to respond to everyone tomorrow!

One quick thing though...Suz, I had the "why don't I just dress from a capsule?" thought this morning. So I pulled my summer work favorites out of the closet and immediately noted that I needed MORE summer work tops! This is an unusual year in that I'm still working heavily when I would normally be fairly slow between June 1 and September. Anyway...I thought, "well, I've been buying lots of Fall sweaters, so I must be all set on that capsule." So I pulled out those clothes and decided that 4 pair of pants (especially when one of them is purple!) is defiitely not enough! One step forward...four steps backwards;-)

Carter, I initially tried to do what Mo did and figure out how many pieces I needed, based on the amount of variety and repetition I thought I wanted. I came up wuth numbers that were much lower than my reality.

For 9 months I've been tracking how often I wear things. I don't have any 'rules' to it, like trying to wear something x number of times, or making myself wear anything. I just choose what I want to wear and then count it!

So now I know that I wore, for example, 23 different pairs of pants for 6 months of fall winter (Oct-Mar) and another 13 pairs for the first 3 months of spring/summer. Now I probably don't NEED 36 pairs of pants so for the category of pants, I decided that 36 is a Max number and 24 is probably a good minimum.

(I just worked on this today, by the way!)

And then I set a range of numbers for each category- skirts, dresses, sweaters, toppers, knit tops, shorts, jeans, shirts, layering tees and tanks, shoes and bags. It seems too arbitrary to pick a specific number but a range makes sense to me. My totals came to 105-150 clothing items, 45-55 shoes and 14-20 bags. What I have is 200 clothing items, 60 shoes and 30+ bags. So not waaaay off but I will really look at the items that I haven't been wearing to determine if they should be purged.

I don't think in terms of an item's 8-10 rating. There's got to be something about it that keeps me from wearing it- and I do try to figure out what that is- but using black and white data that shows if it gets worn is how I am evaluating for keep/purge.

I agree with Vildy response completely. in terms of evaluating individual items I look at colour, fabric, fit and comfort. also, how well the given item wears over the course of the day & do I love it? 10s don't have to be show stoppers - you might be a lot happier if all your basics are 10s. I know I am in terms of items # - it would depend on what you prefer to wear (separates/dresses) and how much variety do you want. e.g. if you are crazy about dresses they will represent the substantial % of you wardrobe. I am devoted fan of Angie's capsules and PPP concepts. you could apply these to shopping your closet and see what you come up with. Suz suggestion of the "boutique" is really good. it could help you to see how many clothes you need over the course of month/season and help you evaluate the clothes you naturally gravitate towards.

Carter, it sounds like you had an epiphany on your recent trip, and that dressing from a smaller selection was freeing instead of limiting? If so, then start with that capsule, add to it anything you missed on your trip. You could put the rest in storage and see if you long for any of it. (That is rather simplistic, I agree, but it works.)
Another way to look at purging is to raise your standards. Is your style shifting at all? Is there a cut of pant/jeans that you want to get away from? You could start by culling all of them. Do you want to start wearing more over-sized things? You could cull the body-con items. Do you long to wear more natural fiber clothes? You could get rid of the polyester. Have you recently decided you don't look so good in a certain color? Then out go all things in the offending hue. I think I got rid of all my T-shirts in one fell swoop and I haven't looked back.
Decide how you want to present yourself and then ask each garment if it's helping you reach that goal.
As far as the numerical scale, I can only do as well as I can do. Most of my F/W (really seasonless) things get a much higher score than my summer dresses. My summer dresses are invaluable to me. I wear them every day, but they are all thrifted and probably only sixes or sevens at best. But they are better than the clothes I wore the last two summers (on the happiness scale anyway).

this is a really great question. For me an 89 10 and 8 is something that is pretty much a basic tank tops underwear that make me feel great and serve a purpose. 9's and 10's and some dates are things that make me feel lovely things that have texture, things that have movements, and flow, things that are different lack of a better word edgy things that are subdued things that I make my imagination slow and work overtime. The working environment is very conservative and I like to be unique and stand out it allows me a creative outlet on 8th 9th and 10th are things that make my heart go pitter patter.

There have been times where I have been too busy to iron all my freshly washed clothes at once and have ironed them as needed. I found there were items that stayed in that basket for months, this was an easy way to allow me to pass them on. When I looked at each item to try and work out why I didn't want to wear it, it was usually a fit or style that was not quite right or the colour was not flattering, but after being in the basket for awhile it broke the emotional attachment I had and allowed me to really 'see ' it clearly

Oh I love Claire's approach...I think that is terrific advice!

I can't rate my clothes either, especially not with a so detailed rating system. I just purge the things that I don't like anymore, don't wear, that are worn out or ill fitting. I do have some things that I wouldn't buy again at this moment in time and I still wear them all the same - I do have to get dressed somehow and I still like some variety... At the moment I'm all about getting dressed and then forgetting about my clothes. Rating them would probably stress me out a lot because of course there's always something much better out there. Of course I want to make well thought out purchases and only buy pieces that work out in my wardrobe and my life, but for me the rating process stops when I have decided to keep a piece. After that it gets purged only considering the things mentioned above.

Thank you all for your wisdom and examples! In my last couple of purges, I have gotten rid of everything I didn't like, everything that was too worn out to be worn, and everything that really smacked of a decade other than this one (or maybe the last one;-)). Everything I have at the moment appeals to me, at least on some level, but I don't want so much stuff. (I will add that this feeling also applies to my house. I don't really have clutter, but I just need stuff to go away.) Anyway, back to the closet situation...

Gigi...I agree that not everything can or should be a 10. We still need the glue of a black or white tee (or whatever) that fits and looks good but may never make my heart sing or stop traffic. You mentioned "digging through the mediocre items"...yes, that's it!

Vildy...things that need help to work. Very interesting. I've never looked at it this way, but I'm guessing that I have many items that don't get worn often because they need help to work. Great point. You asked if I keep things because I love only one aspect of it. That one is a big 'ol YES. Generally for me, it's a color or pattern that keeps me attached to it. This is the group of clothes I want to remove from my closet, figure out what it is that I like about the items, and if appropriate, find something that better meets my needs.

Mo...I agree. I am ok with some things not getting worn very often. At the moment for me, that is button front cotton shirts. I still love them, but I'm not wearing them much lately. Most of them will stay.

Suz...I've always had a thing for capsules. That's ultimately where I would like to be. I also think that not looking at things from a capsule perspective greatly explains why I have too many of some things (summer work pants) and not enough of other things (summer work tops and fall work bottoms). Once I get the "clutter" out, I think capsules will help me see things much more clearly. I hope that that step will lead me to "just right". I would like for my entire wardrobe (excluding outerwear, a few things for weight fluctuations, and very dressy evening wear) to fit in my closet with room to breathe. At the moment, I have bits of things scattered in guest room and hall closets.

Laura...absolutely it is the "yes, but's" that need to move on! That will be my focus in this round.

Shiny...your pleather jacket is a great example why I have such a hard time wrapping my head around the number scale. I think I need to go for 1. Love, 2. Like and wear, 3. Like but don't wear. It's category #3 that has some explaining to do!

cjh...I think what you describe is exactly what is meant by "splitting wears". I think the key for me is that you exerted effort to wear the yellow top over the blue one because you felt you should wear because you had it. That clarifies things for me greatly.

Susie...I know you've been working on this too. I've been following! I was doing well tracking my wears through the end of March, but then I just got so swamped at work that I haven't really done it since. I have done ok taking WIW pics most days, so I will go through them when things slow down to try to recreate my tracking list. I agree that can be hugely valuable!

Lari...how I wish all my basics were 10s! That seems very "French". I am also a huge fan of capsules. I just need to implement them.

Claire...yes, having a limited number of items in my suitcase was great. I will confess that surprisingly hot weather in Paris made some of those items useless and caused me to go buy a couple more hot weather tops. But on the whole, the capsule appealed to me. Less does seem to feel freeing to me these days. As I mentioned up top, less of everything is very appealing. I am so over MORE. I'm not ready for minimal, either emotionally or practically, but LESS is sounding really good!

Carter, this is really instructive:

"That one is a big 'ol YES. Generally for me, it's a color or pattern that keeps me attached to it. This is the group of clothes I want to remove from my closet, figure out what it is that I like about the items, and if appropriate, find something that better meets my needs."

I'm a frequent and pretty emotionless purger (I don't like it, it's gone and I never regret it) and YET -- one place I have got stuck at times is precisely this moment. I really, really, really like something about the piece...even though I don't like wearing it.

Like you, it's usually the colour or the pattern.

So things like that can last the longest in my closet even if going unworn.

Maybe making a note of some kind about those pieces before banishing them...or even turning some into scarves or whatever? Finding a way to keep it in your wardrobe without cluttering your life.

But on the whole, when I do free myself of those items, I quickly find better replacements, even if I imagine that I wont. Replacements that actually fill the NEED that those items no longer fill.

Great thread!

Yes, color does me in. I'll keep things that are really good colors, and also buy wrong things in great colors. Really have to work on that.

I never used the wear-splitting term, but I get it--I think of it as competing for "wear-time" and for CPW.

For me the concept holds true for several things and is at bottom a form of overduplication and not having enough days or occasions to wear all the items:
1) Over duplication of the same item in different colors--when just one item or 2 works very well with a lot of things. It's not wrong per se, but works against a goal of CPW, smaller wardrobe, and also, wearing things regularly in the first year or so you have them with the idea that at some point you will tire of them. So there's no point in having lots of "depth" I'm not wearing this year, hoping to pull out another year, because I may have moved on. So, duplication needs to give really different looks (simple example is a black top and an white top) or bring an orphan item to life, as a special color might.
2) Overcollecting for a certain capsule, maybe not imaginary lifestyle but wrong percentage of lifestyle--sorry to day, that is "fun" items, dressy items, even some things considered smart casual. I need a few outfits that I love and can rely on but not dozens. Here is where I can do more cross-capsule--something that works for both work and smart casual is ideal.
3) Not dupes, but less perfect items. If I have them, I "should" wear them, but if I wear them and then wish I'd worn my true favorites, how is that helping me? So asking the question, does this new item feel like something I'd really rather wear than what I've already got? I recently returned some items after seeing that given a choice, I didn't like the new outfit options better than what I had, so it would just "compete" for wear-time and space.
4) Over-buying in general--there is a point at which one could have lots of "10" items and simply not be able to make use of them! That doesn't really happen so what really happens is that items fade from favor.

I continue to think Gaylene expressed it well when she used a concept like, if you go out and buy too many items in a season or year, that may work right then but still won't keep you current next year and the next, so running a bit leaner but feeling able to refresh more often can be better than getting all "set" with a large collection.

To me that also means relaxing on perfect 10's for everything. Being reasonably satisfied and not too critical (gah! my outfit is not perfect!) is more realistic and gives you resources (space, time, $$) to discover some true gems and really enjoy that. Constant searching for perfection in every aspect is usually is not satisfying.

Quick thought on splitting wears now that I understand the term: I am big on this. I feel a great need to have enough clothing that I'm not running it all into the ground and replacing it like mad. I have a pair of cutout boots right now that I've done that to and I'm rather heart broken. I can get another pair in the general style, but not that exact style.

Ok re. this: 1 is a baseline fit, then 2 may be fit + flatter. 3 may be fit + flatter + works in your color scheme, and so on.

I think you're on to something and need to finish the scale, lol!

I have never really thought much about my clothes on a 1-10 scale, but maybe it would be useful to try.

Getting uptight about "splitting wears"? This just sounds way too strict to me. I am glad someone explained what that even means, because it just didn't compute with me at all. Granted, I am far from a wardrobe minimalist. But take that splitting wears idea to the extreme, and one could argue, well, I have one pair of jeans, why do I need all these others? I have one pair of boots, why do I need all these others? Sure, every single one of us could survive with just the clothes on our backs if we had to (barring weather extremes), but we're on a fashion forum. Clearly we are interested in some aesthetic variety!

A very fun read! I just want to add to the discussion that, although I do use the 1 - 10 rating system, I do not use the rating system to rate every single item in my wardrobe - but rather, I rate each outfit. I don't expect every item to be a 10 - but I expect every item to contribute to an overall outfit rating of a 10!

ETA: I also track what I wear - and at the end of the day I give it a rating based on happiness factor, because that is most important to me. If the outfit does not get a "10" - I make a note of what is "wrong" and what I need to do next time in order to reach the "10" rating. Sometimes, it is as simple as the belt is the wrong width or the shoes hurt my feet - very simple 'fixes.' Other times it may be the proportions are 'off' and I make a note to try it with a different top or bottom before I wear it again. On occasion it may be that I just didn't feel like myself in the outfit - and so I make a note to just not wear that outfit again - and I write down what (if anything) I am going to do with the individual pieces that made up the particular outfit. i.e. take to consignment shop, hem up pants, etc. When I am trying to decide what to wear - I just look at my log - and pick out something that got a '10' rating.

Helenedith, great point! Ironing is a huge hurdle for me. I have 3 "favorite" sleeveless tops that would be perfect for the current season, but they have been hanging waiting to be ironed since last Summer! Did I metion that I really don't enjoy ironing? I also have a couple linen blouses that I also love. However, I don't reach for them because I'd just have to find time to take them to the cleaners. Pretty sure you have ironed out a key issue for me;-)

Astrid, I wish purging came so regularly and matter-of-fact for me!

Suz, I think you're right! I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half this afternoon and used the time to mentally go through my "yes, but" list. I can already tell you that there are a couple of color stories in that list. Right color (or almost the right color), wrong item.

Unfrumped, so hear you on color! I think you've nailed the splitting your wears issue. Thank you also for sharing Gaylene's wisdom. So incredibly brilliant, yet such a Duh! moment. I'm going to have to tattoo that somewhere.

RL, I totally agree about duplicating favorites. I think that splitting you wears intentionally can be a very smart thing!

I agree with your thoughts about taking splitting wears to the extreme, Janet. That's where I was struggling with why it was an issue. For my definition going forward, it will be as cjh described so well.

Marley, of course you're right! No one but me ever sees the item by itself. It's all about the outfit and how the pieces combine to create a 10. I think keeping this in mind will help me not purge things I will someday regret. Great wisdom!

I l ike what Janet said, about over-doing the wear time thing. I have quite a few work pants, for example. So obviously there's a balance. I had found, though, that I was kind of hoarding things so they would not wear out--a fear I could not replace--or, i was buying too many items in similar styles not realizing that over time I might shift, and then I began to realize, what's the worst thing that could happen if this or that fell out of rotation? Every year I'm likely to find more things to like than I can get, anyway. I also had the experience of "saving" shoes and finding the material was deteriorating in the box. Or a dressy outfit kept under wraps for "some day" that one day I put on and then go, what was I thinking?
So, I do still keep or shop for those elusive comfortable but grownup lady dress-up shoes I only need a few times a year, but I'm also trying to create outfits that work with items I can actually find, and wear more regularly.

Great read Carter!
I aim to keep only 8-10s these days, and having this in place helps me greatly with my one-in-one-out policy.
I aim for 10s (perfection) knowing that it can't really be achieved, but that it sets the bar really high.
I rarely duplicate because of the space and clutter aspect, but when I do it is exactly the same item kept for when the other wears out.
My closet has 18 cloth hangers plus a few pant hangers, and I have a separate coat cupboard as well as 1 shelf for pants, 1 shelf for handbags.
A chest of 5 drawers holds T-shirts, long-sleeved tops, knits and Summer/Winter workout wear respectively.