Tuesday 6 March 2012

Spring Clean Your Wardrobe

Now that Spring has finally made an appearance it's time to sort out your wardrobe for the warmer months ahead - but then knowing how changeable the British weather is you may have to bring your winter woollies out again???

We can all be guilty of shoving things in the bottom of the cupboards, and neglecting our clothes. When you have an organised wardrobe it makes getting dressed much easier in the morning and you don't have stare at the mess thinking that you have nothing to wear.

Firstly take everything out of your wardrobe, go through everything and take a critical eye over it - does it still suit you and fit you (you will never slim back into it - be honest), is it still current with what you want to wear ( I am having a cull of my old style, I was wearing a lot of designer pieces but my true love has always been vintage and so although they were expensive at the time I am moving on some of my clothes to make room for a few more vintage dresses!!)

Once you have sorted out what you are going to keep and get rid of give your wardrobe a really good clean, brush it out, clean the floor and give it a spritz with a linen spray.

Pack away all your winter woollies and coats - if you are lucky enough to have a spare wardrobe put them away until next winter, make sure that you put in plenty of moth repellents such as lavender bags or cedar. Or try some vintage suitcases or boxes, or if space is really tight then use the plastic bags that you suck all the air out of and store under your bed.

The next step is to put back all those things you are going to keep - one thing I would say is buy decent hangers, the horrible wire ones that you get from the dry cleaners don't give your clothes any support and especially if you have some precious vintage pieces invest in some padded ones - you can buy in bulk from places like Morplan (they come in boxes of 50 so why not team up with a friend and share the cost).

Put all your dresses together, blouses and so on - try to colour code them so it makes it easier to see what you have. Have your jewellery and accessories on display that way you will be able to co-ordinate with your outfits.  One lovely idea I read that Dita Von Teese had a antique frame with red velvet to display all her vintage brooches.

Another idea I like to do is put together a mood or inspiration board for what I want to wear for the coming season - have a look through some vintage magazines or patterns, or have look on line for some looks that you like, then see what you have in your wardrobe that is similar then when you go out shopping for new pieces it helps you focus on what you need to complete the look - you may find that simply a pair of vintage gloves can transform a number of dresses or a lightweight jacket that will work with skirts and trousers.

Give your wardrobe an overhaul and but a spring in your step and look fabulous for the coming season.