What To Do With Mediocre Clothes | Clothes You Don’t Love, Wear, or Want

“When you know, you know. You know like you know about a good melon.”

I’m paraphrasing, but that famous line from “When Harry Met Sally” also applies to clothes. Sometimes, you just know that you know that you LOVE something and it loves you right back. And sometimes you know the opposite. You know when it’s time for something to go.

This video isn’t about the clothes you love, or the clothes that you don’t love, the ones you are ready to get rid of and purge from your life.

This video is about everything in the middle.

The boring clothes. The ho-hum clothes. The slightly dated clothes. The clothes that you are on the fence about. This is about the clothes you are not sure about.

Here, my strategy for tackling all of the stuff in the middle. (If you want my guidance through this process, join me January 2 for the Reverse Closet Edit Bootcamp).

Do I Need It?

Don’t ever purge something you genuinely need. I’ve seen women purge so much of their wardrobe that they had nothing left to wear, or nothing to wear to work/workout/sleep in/etc.

But if you have duplicates of an item in your wardrobe, or something that checks pretty much the same box and fills pretty much the same role, then purge it.

If you need to work with this item because you don’t currently have a replacement for it in your wardrobe, you’ll want to style it so that you will actually wear it.

Update The Item

The easiest way to update a dated item is to pair it with a more modern item. Then style it (tuck, tie, accessorize) it to complete the more modern outfit.

Here are some examples using dated tops (the cold shoulder top, above, and a black and white printed one).

Replace It

Now that you’ve seen all of the ways you can style this category of item, you might want to consider replacing it, once you know the item is versatile and will work in your wardrobe. So, using the black cold shoulder top, you can add an item in that category to your shopping list, which I suggest keeping on your phone.

Describe it in the broadest terms possible, and then write that down. For example, black long-sleeved shirt, or even neutral long-sleeved shirt.

Donate It

If you decide this category of item isn’t really missing from your wardrobe, or something that you need all that much, then you will feel comfortable donating it. Bless someone else with the item, and bless yourself with the extra space and wardrobe clarity.

What did you think of these steps? And how can you apply them to your own wardrobe?