Jenn, you've shown me your pinboard with 203 items. At first it looked like it was about black clothing, but then there was a white shirt. There were lots of longish things swept to one side, but not everything. I don't think that's what you see when you look at that board. Are there themes in it that are immediately apparent to you?

On the second board, that you said was about dissecting an outfit, I see an outfit, some other outfits where the pants are similar to those in the first outfit, and then a bunch more stuff that doesn't appear in the first outfit. Nowhere is there anything making connections between any of the outfits. When I've tried to use the app, I've been frustrated that things I've pinned slide around, so I can't even line them up in a way that shows connections.

Random Pinterest question, because you obviously know more about it than I do: can you control privacy settings? When I used it a very little bit, I was surprised, and not in a good way, to see people who I was not planning to discuss my home decor with were following me. It was embarrassing!

Maybe the key here is Lisa P's first question "have you set yourself a framework yet?" No, I have not. That is what I'm trying to do, by looking at things I've liked well enough to buy and hang onto. I suppose I can see that after I have identified some style markers, I could search for how others have worn them, but why not just google it?

Jenn and Lisa P, no offense taken, and I hope my tone hasn't offended you either. I've been fairly blunt and straightforward, simply in an effort to be clear. Please don't read any emotion into that.

You can make any board secret, so no one else will see it.

I find Pinterest results to be more focused, and honestly, prettier, than Google results, but maybe you're not visual in the same way, so something else will work better for you. Playing on Pinterest is a form of daydreaming for me. If you don't find it fun, then you're probably right that maybe something like JenniNZ's method might be better.

(Your analysis of my board is very literal...The things I took from it when I was trying to define my style were: relaxed silhouettes, lots of neutrals and muted colors, plenty of texture, lower contrast pairings, earthy rather than crisp or bold.)

Jenn, I am absolutely not a visual person! My son has deficits in his ability to interpret non-verbal information. I am not as extreme as he is, but it is the weakest of my modalities. When you list those themes, I can see them, but i still don't see how that helps me define my style. I'm pretty sure now that I'm not a Pinterest person. But I'm also sure you guys were giving me suggestions to help. Thanks for the explanations and links to past discussions and your boards.

I think in some ways, what I'm trying to do with the closet is what you do with Pinterest, and you highly visual people are much better at it than I. After I pull out anything stained or overworn, what's left? Whether it's an image board or a bunch of clothes that I've liked, the next questions are the same, aren't they? Are there elements that keep popping up throughout? What are the commonalities that attract me? I've never done this before (which is why I'm so glad people are chiming in!), but I assume that as I go through, the commonalities and connections between different parts will become apparent, and then ways to combine things will crop up. Or, if they don't, that might be a time to search online, because then I will have terms I can search for. I'm not very good at putting words on fashion things. I can use basic terms like peplum or French cuffs, but those aren't going to help as much as creative labels that describe the feel of a thing. I'm lousy at those--sure hope Rachylou doesn't lose interest and abondon ship, lol.

That totally makes sense since you like your current wardrobe. Some people (like me) start out feeling like their current options don't represent who they are or the image they want to portray. If that's the case, you need to go elsewhere for inspiration.

I see Pinterest as a place to store images I like. You can save to Pinterest from anywhere on the web, and jot down a note about it.

One of the things about going through your closet is, it's an item by item exercise. What we haven't tackled is the gestalt and overall impression of outfits you like.

I would do a few short image searches - just look at the first page of results - on search terms like 'fashion apocalyptic,' 'fashion lagen look,' 'fashion funk', 'fashion arty' ... just to name some possibilities since you like a RATE aesthetic. Note your reaction, don't click through, and then try another search on another style.

Ok, on a break... so short and sweet

Back to the pictures. If I tally votes, then 2, 6, and 11 are winners /keepers, because they each got more than one mention. But I don't think that's the right way to read your comments, because you had a lot more to say than up or down on specific items, and there were two votes for either dump them all or nearly all of them.

But I'm honestly not sure how I should interpret comments. What I see here are a bunch of mostly neutral shirts that add a little extra something--embroidery, French cuffs, a peplum, tucks and darts, and could either add a little something extra to the support piece role or could carry the show for a song or two, with color elsewhere adding to their inherent interest. The two that feel most boring to me are the ones you pegged as best of the bunch--the green one and the turquoise blue one. I don't feel that either of those offers anything more up close than if you saw me on the other side of the road. I'm not sure if I'm disagreeing with you, which would be pretty rude of me after I've asked your opinions, or if it's the difference between being right here and seeing pictures.

I think what I'm inclined to do is move #10 to the "out" pile and the others to the holding zone until it's time to start making outfits for here or for some kind of work life (I assume that will be a fun little fantasy at first, then suddenly get very real, perhaps very fast). For my current life, I see wearing them in some kind of sticking-my-tongue-out-at-the-stiffness kind of way. I don't envision a future job with the kind of stiff dress code that would require these, but I don't know for sure yet, and wouldn't it also be possible to wear them ironically in a work kind of way?

I'm starting to think that liking my wardrobe isn't the issue as much as liking my style is. I think I have some nice things (and probably some things that should go) but I've always had a fairly strict pairing of A with B but not with Y because then what would X go with? I want to get rid of obvious losers, but the Gestalt and new ways of mixing are what I'm going for here (which is probably why Angie says to do it so fast). Pattern mixing is one weakness I enjoyed before. I'm sure there are other ways to creatively move things around that I haven't caught onto.

So you would clear out only one shirt out of 11? And that's the one you decided on yourself? Your cull will take an extraordinarily long time at this rate...

as far as not having your body in the condition or location ( whatever that means) you wish it were ....well , welcome to the club . There are many of us here who struggle with that ; I'm personally committed to keeping those thoughts and struggles to myself with the knowledge that it's always a work in progress for any woman , and that positivity goes a long long way to getting on with things .

Nope. Not accepting that defeatism. There were specific things that led to me putting that weight on and to the depression (which itself inclined me to more weight gain). I've taken off 40 pounds of it in the past year. At this point, I'm focused on inches and % body fat, not weight. I decided to start going through my closet before meeting those body goals, not to give up completely. If you have chosen to give up so thoroughly that you won't even talk about it with others, that's your own choice. I have made changes, am determined to make more, with my body and with my work/where we live, and always stick my fingers in my ears and try harder whenever anyone tells me I can't. No hard feelings. You and I don't know each other's situations, but hearing that i should continue to live with it as i have for the last eight years is not something I can accept. I wish you all the best.

Jenni NZ, please don't see that as me rejecting advice. The way I'm going through my closet now is, I think, similar to the way the stylist you mentioned went through things you liked to discern your style. Putting things in a holding zone does not mean I am keeping them. It means I'm waiting to decide until after I've figured out what I'm looking for. Right now I want to pull out things that obviously don't work and assess the rest to see what my style is. Then, once I know that, I can decide what to keep and what to get rid of based on it. I can't see the gestalt of the overall wordrobe from just the solid long-sleeves shirts, so how could I know which don't fit it?
It seems to me that you were assuming a different goal. Can you explain please?

I thought you might be culling a bit more than that. I understand you're working on your style, totally. I just thought you might remove things that were, say, too big. There were several comments that some of the shirts were too big and that you were "swimming in them". And as you are so passionate about the weight loss I thought maybe you would only keep too-small stuff for motivation not too-big stuff? But if you want to keep almost all in the holding zone to see if there is a style detail that still sings to you while you are working stuff out, that's fine. I'm not really thinking you're rejecting advice. I just was truly quite surprised that 10/11 would get kept! Do you understand? I'm not upset at all. On the contrary I'm having fun with your ruminations.
I think that maybe if you keep that much it will make discerning what sings to you more difficult... already in this thread though you have also said there are details up close in these shirts that appeal, rather than from across the street. So that's another learning point?
I think if Angie were allowed into yours or my wardrobe she might want is to cull quite a lot. In fact my 2010 stylist did get me to cull one outfit she called frumpy and I took her advice, but still didn't properly understand. I think I am getting it slowly. She was mainly helping me buy more as I had gained a lot of weight in the previous 3 years from 2007 ( saw her 2010). Hope that helps.

What I'm hearing is:
- you like the decorative/construction details in the white shirts, which make them special to you.
- you look good in deep colour.

ETA: ...so I'll add 7 to my keep list

That is not at all what I meant, by that comment  - and I'm bowing out of the conversation at this point.   Good luck with your project.  

I've resisted getting involved in this discussion because it seemed more like an intellectual exercise rather than the traditional closet clean-out/style refresh (which I'm more familiar with). This is just a random suggestion, but maybe go through your things and jot down what you like about them. Use that as a springboard for moving on to the next stage of your fashion journey. Let go of the things you haven't worn in the past year, because it's very likely they won't be worn again. It's an emotional experience, for sure, but well worth the effort. Good luck!

Thanks, Xtabay. I don't know what a "traditional closet clean-out" looks like, because I've never done one. What you describe is basically what I thought I was doing, but taking pictures so others can do it with me. There are a lot of people on here who are much more visual than i and who can gather that information from something like a Pinterest wall of hundreds of pictures. That is amazing. I can't imagine doing it when everything is all lined up and presented to me like that, and it's even harder when I'm surrounded by pieces of clothing.

Jenn NZ, sounds like i need to go back through the comments more carefully. Thanks.

A traditional closet clean-out is something you do on a regular basis so you aren't drowning in old stuff that you no longer wear. It keeps you from feeling weighted down and overwhelmed by a lot of useless articles that could better serve you by being thanked for their service and passed along. If it seems to be requiring an excessive amount of navel-gazing or agonized soul-searching, call in reinforcements (e.g., your best friend or a professional organizer/style consultant).

Again, good luck with your project! (And please wear pants when posting pix.)

fashiontern....
i've been reading this post and a couple of other's that you've posted in the past couple of days and allow me to make an analogy
if you live in New York City and get in the car with no thought other than west, eventually you will get out of NYC, but there's a lot of west beyond NYC, you could end up in Newark, Chicago, Iowa, Dallas, LA or a million places in between. there's nothing wrong with any of those places, its just hard to pack if you don't know where you're going...and its even harder for others to offer anything but vague directions without understanding the were you are headed.
forgive me, but you seem to be in the car and moving, but with no real defined destination.....
think of your personal style as the destination, and the shirts/blouses/shoes/pants as the sign posts....where do you want to end up --style wise?

Just a couple of thoughts after reading through this thread (I have also read most of your other threads, they have been interesting reads!).
Some thoughts in random order, meaning #1 is not necessarily the most important.
1. What are your shopping habits? I ask because if you are still adding x number of items and only culling y, your wardrobe will balloon.
2. How much room do you have to store/display your clothes so that you know what you have. Out of sight is mostly going to be out of mind, especially for everyday wear.
3. How good are you at wearing all your clothes? In reality there are only 365 days in a year, that means you can only wear so many clothes. Generally speaking, the vast majority of clothing is not collectable. When organizing a wardrobe you have to keep in mind that what's not getting worn is likely not going to earn a place a year or 2 down the road.., unless you would go on a several years long shopping fast.
4. Are you the kind of dresser who likes to wear many different styles and therefore needs a larger closet? I ask because some people, like me, like the IDEA of many different looks but in reality I have a very limited style when it comes to dressing because putting together variations takes time and effort. I have found, for myself, that I would rather use my time and focus on other things. This is a personality issue, I believe.
5. How important is it to you to have a clear and concise closet? I am one who cannot think clearly when things are not organized. Messy space, cluttered mind- that is me. Some people are not affected by that.
Just some thoughts! You are tackling a monumental task from what you have shared so far. Try not to give up when the going gets tough. It will be a time and energy saver in the long run if you can get your style and dressing habits sorted to your satisfaction.

Well *that escalated quickly.

I think they all look frumpy, worn out, or out of style. Since you asked for opinions.

I've also got to say that my first reaction was "who the heck posts photos of themselves trying on clothes with only UNDERWEAR on the bottom?" Nobody needs to see that.

I've refrained from chiming in until now because I wasn't clear what your goals were and thus how anything I could say might advance them. But now I have a couple of thoughts.

It appears to me that you are trying to discover your own style, and rather than doing it as an intellectual exercise (reading and analyzing in the abstract) or a visual exercise (Pinterest), you have chosen to analyze your current wardrobe to discover your style preferences. Coupled with some reluctance to let go of items that might serve you in the future if not now.

Allow me to share some processes I followed when I first started getting a handle on my style, with similar objectives.

The first thing I did was to move all my clothes to one part of my two-part closet. Only after they were worn did I put them in the other side. This was a more visual version of the backwards-hanger technique.

By the second month, it was really obvious that I reached for the same colours and natural fibres again and again. Eventually that made it easier to let go of items that only met some of my standards. (Interesting to me at the time, this included most gifts and hand -me-downs, and things I bought that MIGHT be useful because I couldn't resist the price.)

Once I had narrowed down the stuff I actually wore, I started paying attention to what I wore with what. I came across the idea of capsules. It's used much more broadly now, but I understood it to mean a group of items that can be worn together in different combinations, unified by something such as colour scheme.

I discovered I had two such capsules in my wardrobe: all the tops, bottoms, and toppers that went with a taupe, red, and black plaid shirt (and each other), and one based around a navy and blue print dress, with several other blue printed items in that capsule. One thing that eventually helped me do was pass on the expensive down winter coat in teal that fought with everything I wore it over.

Perhaps a similar approach to analyzing via what you already have and wear will help you move forward.

Cheers.

O

Xtabaly, aha! You are talking about what Angie calls a "refresher" whereas I'm doing what she calls a "renewal"!
Once you get a basic collection down, it does make sense to go through it regularly, I quite agree, and probably will do so after this process.

Kkards, your analogy explains why I'm resisting culling at this point. I'm not in the car driving. I'm looking at all the options out west, or things that came from those places, and determining which place I want to go. Taking your analogy a little bit further, it's like planning a vacation. That can mean camping, activity, theaters & museums, gastronomy, being pampered, totally chilling or many other things. So before you go on vacation with someone, you brainstorm what kind of things you both want to do, what kind of weather you want, if the landscape matters, city or country, etc. Once you know what kind of place you want to go, then you start researching the different spots within your reach. When you decide on your destination, you will adjust your activities to fit.

Right now, I'm brainstorming the "places" and deciding which one to go to. Once I know that, the culling can begin, based on the destination.

It has taken me a while to figure this process out, and all my painful little steps and happy aha moments are documented on YLF for all to see. Some people may have been more private. I am, however, becoming more certain that this is the procedure I want to follow. I see that posting my closet in batches makes that difficult, because as Rachylou mentioned, figuring out a style is a gestalt thing. There is no way to do it by looking at just the long-sleeves dress shirts. I probably should not have posted them on their own, and I see the frustration that has resulted.
Thanks for your comment and the great analogy.

Tina, that is really thoughtful and pulls together all the issues. Thank you!

Thirkellgirl, Insuppose that depends on what your trigger level is. LisaP seemed very concerned that she sounded argumentative. I prefer people lay things out in a streaightforward way, so have zero problems with how she said what she said about Pinterest. Being so clear let us really get to the issues to discuss. I really appreciate that.

L'Abielle, that is so helpful! Thank you!

I *may* have some resistance to letting things from my closet go, but that is nothing compared to my tendency to like everything I read about, and many things that I see pictures of, even if I would not like the same items if I could actually put them on.
There is a bend in my closet. I have hanging shelves and a shoe bag in the first part of it, could use that section as you describe

I have a lot of Pinterest boards. I never go back and look at them, lol. I use them more to train my mind. I sort images that appeal to me - things that get my attention, things that I'll pursue in real life, things that are almost me, things that are cool but definitely not me... etc.

I used to, and still do, like to play dress up. Work out how to do this style and that style. Problem was, I had a closet full of one-off outfits that weren't me. Very inconsistent and non-functional. Pinterest is a way to play, but not pay...

I may do the rest of the closet posting on Pinterest, because I want feedback from people who can look at a bunch of images and see commonalities, so it only makes sense to use a tool that lets you do that. It will be the most me-centric board out there, me in a different garment in every single pic. And I'll follow thirkellgirl's advice

After that, the cull.