
Throw it all out. You've heard the advice before, because you are a living breathing female in the 21st century who owns garments. It's the classic advice we give when we do an image consult, but it's the hardest pill to swallow, and it makes some pretty big assumptions.
Throw it all out. It's stained, worn, doesn't fit, doesn't suit you, it's all wrong... throw it out.
It's not bad advice. I've given it, I've taken it. Sometimes it's just what has to happen. But then you are left with a major assumption - the assumption that replacing the clothing in your wardrobe is easy and quick. That's not true.
My first in-person client was a champ at throwing things out (or, more accurately, returning them). I should have known there was going to be a problem when I walked into her house and it was achingly empty. So was her closet. She said she'd often buy clothes only to return them the same day or within a week. She had so little that she'd have been hard pressed to dress herself in clean clothes for a week without doing a wash. I don't mean a week of work clothes. I mean a week of any body coverings at all. We shopped together. She liked very little, bought less... and called me the next day to say she'd returned what we'd gotten together- all of which suited her and her lifestyle.
We can get into this place, where we get so good at saying "no" that we don't say "yes". That's not a big problem for the woman with a shopping addiction who quickly refills her closet, or a woman with plenty of room in her wardrobe budget or a standard figure. For others, the barriers to changing our wardrobes can be huge.
Throw it all out is still good advice for the stained, torn, outsize, worn-out clothing. But I'd like to offer an alternative suggestion for those of us who have trouble replacing quickly.
Clean out your closet, yes. That which must be tossed, toss. (I am so hard on my clothing that my discards are usually unfit for anything but the landfill). But then the secondary items, the ones that "don't quite work", "aren't A+ garments", etc.... if you have two light colored blouses and neither of them is your proper white, maybe you shop before you toss.
That's something that I've been pursuing in my own life. I'm actually trying to triple my wardrobe. That sounds insane - until you see my wardrobe. Because I'm highly skilled with color, selection, fit, etc, I can make my few clothes work until they drop dead - but I'm tired of that life. Also, adding more clothes allows me to be more selective with the garments that I keep. With half a dozen light-colored shirts, I can sit back and decide if that blouse is an A+ or not! And I can shop more carefully (I don't have to have a replacement) and only buy when the shirt I see is perfect.
So, instead of tossing that light colored shirt that's working somewhat awkwardly, inventory it. You can divide your wardrobe into clothes that you love and clothes that are trying to quiet-quit. Write.It.Down. Start shopping with your eye to finding the best items - not just items to fill holes. When the garments don't have to bear the burden of being the Only Good Thing, they can get back to doing what they're supposed to be doing - covering you.
Another reason you might consider the inventory method is that clothing is a (slow) consumable. Very few of our garments are made for year upon year of daily wear. Our foremothers acknowledged this sad truth and understood the lifecycle of a garment, making clothing budgets accordingly. It's time to take this bit of historical truth back - and put it to use.