I did a quick pass though my closet this morning to pull my favorite and most often worn work items for cooler weather (late fall/winter). My day-to-day work attire is nice casual. Not included here are the skirts, dresses, dress slacks I wear for closings, open houses, industry meetings, listing appointments, etc. That's a much smaller capsule, so I thought I'd tackle this one first.

Within this category, the dressiness of a day's outfit really depends on which client I'll be with. I like to keep my outfits somewhat in line with my clients so I'm more relatable. For my lower pricepoint clients jeans or pants with flats are good since they're mostly weekend shoppers. For mid range clients, I'll dress up a bit more since they're often coming from work. On the super high end (multimillion), it's a struggle not to dress down as much as they are, so I almost always wear jeans with them. They're always in shorts and flip flops, gear, jeans and tee shirt. My 65+ clients are almost always dressed up, so I do take it up a notch for them.

Posting the pics below to get your thoughts/impressions on colors, style, what may not belong, anything and everything that comes to mind. There are 52 items in these pictures. I'm not sure I'll know if that's too many or not enough until I see how many outfits I truly love from these combinations. I didn't limit how many I pulled from any given category.

Some quick notes on each category:

Pullover sweaters: There are 20 here. 18 are V necks, 2 are scoop necks. 10 are neutrals, 10 are colors. 19 of them are solids. 16 of them are hip length/tuckable, 4 are tunic length (below the crotch). I really like pink.

Buttoned shirts/bouses: there are 11 that I can wear a bit this time of year. I do not wear them under pullover sweaters because the two layers would drive me nuts. 9 solids, 2 prints. 9 cotton, 2 silk. 4 work better untucked, 1 is best tucked, 6 can be worn either way.

Pants: 8 pair of non-jeans (on the left), 5 pair of jeans. Of the 13, 2 are bootcuts, 4 are ankle length (mild winters here), 4 are slim straight legs. The bootlegs I can only wear with heels, 2 pair I only like with flats, 9 can go with either. Lots more neutrals in this cold weather grouping than in my spring/summer group.

Toppers: I don't wear these very often because I start to suffocate with layers. Of the 8 items here, 2 are jackets, 2 are knit motos, 4 are long, flowy open cardigans. I like them all, but they don't get out much these days.

I'm thinking that my next step might be to put together outfits with these to make sure that every item works in one or more favorite outfits. Good plan, or would you take a different approach.

Other thoughts on what you see?

It look like you have a consistent uniform and most of your colors fall in the cool family.

Oh wow! You're like me re: liking to repeat similar silhouettes/items in different colours. Looking at these photos was such a treat!

Right away I notice lots of solids. And smooth fabrics. And structured/tailored fits. Adds up to a very neat, polished appearance! Just general impressions, I'm not sure that helps your closet editing at all.

I know you said in your response that you just have too many clothes, so I'm guessing you definitely want to decrease your numbers, but it also sounds like you don't love everything you own (since you want to narrow it down to all 8-10s). So I'd start by sorting everything into 'love' and 'not love' piles, then see how many outfits the clothes in the love pile make/if they play well together/etc. Then add in from the like pile to fill in any holes, or expand if you want more outfit options (not liking to layer means you'll need more tops & bottoms to make different outfits than if you were also using toppers) taking note of them for possible future upgrading. Whatever's left in the like pile I'd put in a 'holding zone' that I couldn't easily see but could access if I find myself really missing something. Eventually I'd donate what hadn't left the holding zone!

I don't know if that helps or not, but I hope you keep documenting your editing. I love meta wardrobe analysis!

They're so pretty on display! I do see a color palette rather than a rainbow of tons of colors. And, boy, that's a lot of pullovers

To what Alasse said about colours, in the first photo that green sweater at the bottom and the oatmeal open knit 4 up from bottom on the left both jumped out me as 'not belonging' to the rest of the sweaters. Which doesn't mean you should necessarily get rid of them, just that they're not the same cool, saturated tones. And the open knit one has a much rougher texture than the others.

Alasse-the consistency really struck me too when I grouped them like this. Too consistent maybe. I don't want to be boring or ridiculously predictable. I could use some thoughts on that.

E-these are my 'love' piles. You should see what's still in my closet! Ridiculous. I'm on to your step 2 tomorrow, I think. You have a very good eye! The two sweaters you highlighted are the two that aren't homogenous. Neither is really my color, but I still really like them. I don't wear them as often as the others because they don't play as nicely with the rest. Will look forward to your comments on them when I put up outfit pics.

Mo-I do have a thing for pullovers! This particular grouping is probably split fairly evenly between long-time friends and more recent purchases. As I mentioned in some post the other day, my top half style has really remained fairly consistent for quite some time. Also, so happy this is a color palette rather than a rainbow! Does that mean I'm not over the top on the color wheel? At least for the cool seasons. I might be a tad more colorful in warm weather;-)

Love, the dress code of your clients, the multi-million buyers. I'm with them in spirit!

I have one question...as the pullover & blouses are so similar to each other, did you purchase them all at approx. the same time? I only ask, as you wouldn't want all your sweaters to die at the same time. I guess if I were sure this was my style for the foreseeable future, I might think about staggering the wear.

CC-the pullovers are evenly split. 10 I've had for years and 10 have joined the group in the last year or two. 4 of the blouses are several years old, the other 7 are more recent purchases. Interesting thought about staggering the wear. Do you mean put some away for this year and then rotate them in and others out next year?

I would start by putting my true loves to one side. Then put together outfits for activities I actually spend time on. Then see what's left over in terms of loves and mehs.

Thank goodness I'm not a pack rat! I had to clear out my closet in prep for the new tile flooring we're having installed.

I get rid of stuff that's not color perfect, doesn't fit properly (unless it's an easy alteration, in which case I decide if it's worth doing), is getting worn out, isn't being used, or doesn't fit my style. I'm getting better at shopping and am making fewer and fewer buying mistakes, so this year's closet editing has not been as much as in years past.

Sounds like you are a real estate agent? I think with a job like that where you don't see the same people every day, and as you mention you want to match the formality/vibe of your clients, having a lot of slightly different items makes sense. Have you done any tracking of hat you do and don't wear, or could you recreate it from photos? That might help you figure out what you're wearing and what you're just not, which could lead to a further realization of what holes you have, especially with accessories, or things that will just never work for you.

Oh Ruth, I hope you don't think I'm a pack rat.

Yes, Laura, I'm a R/E agent. For the most part, I don't see the same people everyday. It is possible that I would see the same client several times a week for an extended period if I'm getting tons of showings on his/her home. I also do tend to see the same agents over and over. I can also see the same weekend buyer client every Saturday and Sunday for 6 to 12 weeks. Overall, I don't have to have a ton of variety, but I really don't want to be so predictable that clients start to take bets on what color V-neck pullover I will wear today. I really need to pay attention to that. Until several weeks ago, I didn't photograph my outfits. I really wish I had. I've been sporadic about it since joining YLF. I do have a good idea of which of these items in the pics I reach for most often over the years. However, our weather just started getting cool in mid November, so there are still several of these items I haven't worn yet this season. I am really hoping that once I have a better grasp on this closet edit, that I can start the new year with much more consistent picture taking/tracking so I can continue to refine without going through another complete overhaul (at least until warm weather returns).

Sorry, Carter! No, I didn't mean to imply that you're a pack rat. I was typing what I was thinking at the moment; that if I were a pack rat, I'd be in a world of trouble right about now. It's easier for me to cull my wardrobe a few times a year than it is to wait until the last minute.

My best words of advice:

It's important to have a wardrobe that works for your personality, your body type, your personal coloring, and your lifestyle. Knowing all this information makes the decision-making process easier.

Don't buy anything that's not as fab or better than what you already have.

Hope this helps.

Would it help to see some of my work WIWs from the last few weeks? It's funny...I can pretty much guess which clients I saw which day based on my outfit (or at least who I didn't see that day).

I need to spend sometime to view the others comments here, because there are lots of good one's to review. A quick few thoughts...I started by pulling entire outfits at first, because I was starting the rebuild my working closet from scratch, so initially I needed as many outfits as I felt comfortable wearing in one week (I would have thought that was 7 one for each day, but I like to repeat so it was more like 5 bottoms and 7 tops). Then I build more outfits by adding in as few pieces as possible. I continue to expand my closet now based on the number of outfits with the bottoms as a limiting factor. I don't mind repeating bottoms so I have less of these versus tops. And I try to make sure the tops I add, go with at least one (or more) of the bottoms. I am slow to add entire outfits, because that will grow a wardrobe really fast in size, but not necessarily the remixing potential of your pieces ie (if you add an outfit that's say a green color scheme and your base color before was around black, you may end up with a stand alone outfit that does not remix well in your closet).

Interesting. These outfit photos show a fairly streamlined set of colors: black, brown, beige, cream, and rose (Do you prefer warm or cool colors? these seem like a mix).

In order to figure out what the next step is, it might help to know where you want to end up. Are you just trying to figure out what to purge so you can trim down your closet size, or are you trying to figure out how to refresh your style?

Lisa, I look forward to your additional comments!

Liz, I know there is excess in my closet, so I would like to eliminate the items that don't combine into outfits that score 8-10 on the happiness/fab scale. I also want to ensure that I have enough of those fab outfits that I don't have to worry too much about clients seeing too many repetitions during our time together. I have no desire to have "just enough", but I also don't want way more than I could possibly need. My main neutrals for cool weather are black, gray, chocolate and cream. I haven't worn much gray lately because I just replaced my gray jeans, but I've given away my old black boots and haven't found a replacement yet. It's looking like my key colors are pink-red-purple and shades of blue/turquoise. I think cool colors are right for me, but if anyone thinks differently, I would absolutely love to know!

On the colors, it's also hard for me to tell from photos (unless the lighting is fantastic), but it does seem as if you lean toward cool. If you prefer cool tones, that might help you narrow down items right there. Two of your neutrals, chocolate and cream, usually have warm undertones. You can continue to mix warm and cool tones, of course. But if you want a way to narrow down, you could decide to focus only on black and gray and phase out the chocolate —the color, that is. Keep eating it, of course! : )

Oops! I should clarify Liz. I mean DARK chocolate...the color of my hair. I think of dark chocolate in the cool spectrum. Is that not correct?

Great post and plans!
Lots of good advice already and many YLF threads on this topic.

Small summary advice// do think of it as a process, and not wham I'm done. Maybe make some realistic goals and not, "
at the end of break I will have a perfect wardrobe full of only things i love snd can wear 5 ways. Else you risk being discouraged or may also add new things too fast. At least that was part of my experience, and now I realize more about how with every step I learn something that I need to pay attention to before the NEXT step. Plus, you'll keep changing , if you're alive! Blogger advice tends to sell the idea of the fix- it fast.
Enjoy that you have plans to evolve.

Thanks, Unfrumped! I'll need to keep rereading your post. I tend to want everything done now.

Looks like you're making great progress. Well done, Carter. Love how you're creating item capsules, and mix and match capsules. THIS is wardrobing.

Thank you, Angie! I greatly appreciate your continuing review of my process. Please send out the flares if I stray off a workable course.

*chuckle*

I see nothing but great work and awarding you an A+ on this assignment.

I haven't read all the comments (just skimmed them), but what I see in your WIWs is that you are generally a simple dresser but add pop through your accessories, esp. jewelry. That is probably why the shots of clothing in your closet looked so "predictable"--the clothing is more the base of the outfit and not the star. Maybe before you start editing, you want to ask yourself if you want to continue changing things up with the accessories and stick to simple pieces for clothing, or whether you want to experiment with using the clothes themselves to make the statement and cut back on accessories.

I don't think figuring out which colours/silhouettes/fabrics flatter you best & then wearing them most of the time is boring, so I wouldn't worry too much about that!

If these are your favourites, than you probably have enough here for all kinds of variety (31 x 13 = 403, so if even a quarter of your top & bottom combinations actually work you're looking at 100 different potential outfits before factoring in toppers & accessories). And as most of your bottoms are neutrals, I doubt you'll have any wardrobe holes. If I were you, I'd put whatever was left of these categories in the holding zone right away. Do you want to narrow down your pile of favourites too? In that case, putting together some outfits is probably a good idea or looking at 'duplicates' (either in casual/formal register or colour wise) and remembering if you always pick one or the other.

I do think of dark chocolate as cooler toned. I can't tell 100% from the lighting in your outfit pics whether you look best in warm or cool colours or more saturated (like your sweaters) or muted (like your button downs). But for what it's worth, I will say that nothing overpowers you in your outfit pics, which probably means the more saturated colours are good for you, and that I prefer the outfits that aren't all-black or black + very dark colour; a bit more contrast/a bit of brightness in the outfit seems to be most flattering. I also prefer the cooler bright pink of 4 to the warmer bright pink of 7, so I think your instinct for cooler colours is probably on the right track. Of course, there's no need to be totalitarian about these things!