Some wardrobe stats (long) - YouLookFab Forum

I was reconsidering the idea of a minimalist wardrobe, the first thread is here: http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....t-wardrobe. Based on that I sorted through my wardrobe again, you can see a picture at the end.

I'm at work right now, alone and have nothing to do (it's a very slow day), so I thought I could do a wardrobe overview. I'm not sure if I have thought of everything, I hope I haven't forgotten something important. Anyway, here's the list!

Loungewear, sportswear and gear, swimwear, sleepwear, underwear, socks and tights, scarves, belts, bags and accessories are excluded, although I could definitely optimize these too.

Pants:
• Faded blue bootcut jeans
• Dark wash bootcut jeans (too long – need hemming)
• Blue straight leg cords
• Black straight leg denim jeans (too short – make shorts out of them?)
• Pink skinnies
• Denim skinnies
• Faded denim clamdiggers
• Light blue denim shorts
• Caramel colored slouchy shorts
• Rust colored culottes

Skirts:
• Full black knee length skirt
• Olive midi a-line skirt
• Patterned midi a-line skirt (Fabric and cut don't go well together - alter?)
• Full floral knee length skirt
• Full floral midi skirt (Sewing)
• Ox-blood red midi skirt (Sewing)

Dresses:
• Black floral boho dress (unflattering - changing the waist?)
• Black and grey checkered dress (only for fall and winter)
• Navy a-line jersey dress (casual, needs layering)

Jackets:
• Denim jacket with sequin detail
• Faded cropped denim jacket
• Emerald green cropped denim jacket
• Black shrunken blazer
• Blue knee length “wool” coat
• Black knee length winter coat (needs to be replaced!)

Vests:
• Cropped denim vest
• Black tailored waistcoat (too small - can’t close)

Sleeveless Tops:
• Pink and white Ikat top
• Blue, green and yellow striped top
• Blue, purple, black and white paisley top
• Black top with a caramel, white and petrol colored geometric pattern
• Black top with lace detail

T-shirts:
• Grey T-shirt with pear print
• Red and navy striped T-shirt
• Navy polka dot Shirt with elbow length sleeves
• Black and white striped shirt with elbow length sleeves
• Navy batwing shirt with elbow length sleeves

Layering:
• 9 Camis
• Purple tissue turtleneck

Blouses/Button-downs:
• Light blue short-sleeved button-down
• Forrest green short sleeved button-down (needs cami)
• Boxy blue button down (needs cami)
• Rust and blue plaid button-down
• Coral, green and white top (Sewing)
• Black cropped top (Sewing)
• Light blue sleeveless button-down (Sewing)

Cardigans:
• Grey merino wool waterfall cardigan
• Forrest green v-neck cardigan
• Short electric blue v-neck cardigan (too bright – replace with a navy colored one?)

Sweaters/long-sleeved shirts:
• Black long-sleeved jersey shirt
• Black jersey turtleneck (needs to be replaced - with a better neutral?)
• Navy turtleneck
• Blue striped cream colored shirt
• Light green striped cream colored shirt
• Light blue and white flecked knit turtleneck
• Grey oversized knit turtleneck

Shoes:
• Black boots
• Tan oxfords
• Blue suede shoes (can only be worn with pants)
• Black ballet flats (not broken in yet)
• Grey ballet flats (prone to giving blisters)
• Black Birkenstock sandals (a bit too small, need new ones)

• Not worn regularly: Flip Flops (for showering on holidays), Teva sandals, hiking boots, two pairs of sneakers, red Converse, red patent ballet flats (don’t fit my style anymore)

That makes 64 items if you don't consider the shoes and I didn't miscount. Not bad! Although you can see that a few items are in my sewing pile or need to be replaced. And it doesn't all work as well together as I want it to. I'm not sure if this is a good number and I should start one in one out, or if I should just add some more pieces to the existent stuff. I definitely need less layering tops and more tops I can wear on their own. And maybe I need to define some rules for the colors?

Thanks for looking at all of this!

13 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

That certainly sounds streamlined (and very thoughtful and organized!) to me. But then, I am afraid to count the items in my wardrobe. I admire you streamlined wardrobe ladies, but I don't think I'd ever be able to do that myself!

Astrid

Thanks Janet! I think it all depends on your style and if it's something you're comfortable with. When you google minimalism you get a lot of things like "Owning 50 things" or "The magical number 100" or stuff like that, but that's not really important IMO. I just read a great blog post about counting here http://www.theminimalists.com/counting/. You can count if you want to, but you don't have to do it. A number is just a number.

Lisa

I think you have a great minimalist wardrobe. I think what defines minimalism for me is not the exact number itself, but if you have enough outfits for:
a. a rotation that you are comfortable with for repeating
b. to do laundry when you are ready doing so vs forced to do so (ie once a week, every two days, whatever your preference is)
c. You wear everything you have in a resonable time frame

Looking at above for myself that is
a. a two week rotation before repeating outfits
b. once a week laundry routine
c. I wear everything at least 6 times in a season (I have roughly 4 seasons so 3 months a piece, wearing two times a month puts me around 6)

I do have some fluidity with this guide for myself. I layer a lot so some wardrobe workhorses are used year round. And I've been working on streamlining my outfit rotations. My main goal these past few months is to eliminate having clothes that sit unworn for many months at a time. That just takes up space in my closet.

Meredith1953

I just did a quick inventory of my wardrobe as it is right now and the overall numbers are as follows....Clearly I have too many shoes and yet no dressy pumps, and I apparently love jackets.

12 jackets
10 pairs of pants
6 shirts
22 pairs of shoes
2 skirts
8 sweaters
9 tops
6 dresses
4 coats

Anonymous

You are so organized! And I'm sure you'll figure out if you have holes that need filling or if you should do one-in-on-out. You could keep it all as long as you're still wearing it all and aren't tired of anything. Usually my new items get more play, but sometimes I go back to the oldies again. If I don't, then I'll want to get rid of them at the end of the season.

I'm not sure if I'm even still in minimalist territory with my summer wardrobe; I'm going to check out the sites you mentioned to see. Thanks!

ETA: Since minimalism is a philosophy, and not a number, I think I'm still in! I use everything I have, that's for sure.

Thanks Lisa. These are some very good points to work with. I'm where I want to be with (b) at the moment, I have a launry routine of once per week and that's alright with me. I'm really not sure about (a), because I never kept track of the things I'm wearing. Maybe I should start doing it to see where I'm repeating the most and what doesn't get worn as often. For me it's also often the matter of wearing the same skirt, top, jacket and shoes, but with a different scarf and tights. It looks different then, although I'm really repeating.

Meredith, it's so interesting to see yourinventory! So much jackets/coats and shoes... I definitely don't have enough jackets. You have twice as much tops as bottoms, if I'm correct - does this ratio work well for you? Or would you say it only works that way because of your many jackets?

Thanks Claire. I think I won't start with a one in one out right now, but I want to try tracking what I'm wearing so that I can slowly purge the things I don't wear much. And maybe that way I'll be able to idenitfy some wardrobe holes too!

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