Before you start shopping for fall weather clothes, switch out your closet first!
We can’t believe (or remember) all the clothes packed away at the start of spring. Do you unpack the drawers or extra closet and think “I forgot I had this!” or “I’m glad I didn’t go buy an [insert what you wanted], because look! I have one here!”
And because we have so much to share, we’re each taking a week to ourselves. Winter Bee is up first, and next week Tangerine Tea will be giving tips and tricks on how she preps for fall weather.
Winter Bee:
I love closet changeover time, because I have a terrible memory and truly forget half of what I own. It also gives me the opportunity to do a quick closet edit, both of the outgoing summer clothes and items I felt iffy about at the end of winter. When I see them again, and I still don’t like them, off to Goodwill they go!
Here’s the starting point with the summer wardrobe:
The Practical Part-
First I take out all of the clearly summer things- fold them and set on a chair. I’m thoughtful about what stays, either by layering sweaters, adding leggings, or a jacket.
Then I empty the drawers of winter clothes, setting everything on the bed. I set aside a stack of clothes I’ll save until January, when I do a quick winter refresh, and the rest go in the closet.
Once everything is hung in the closet, I do a second cull of the summer clothes I thought I would continue wearing. Usually it’s dresses- I think I’ll just add a sweater but there are so many cool weather dresses to enjoy!
This will be my first time through fall and winter not working, so it will be interesting to see what actually gets worn.
When I transition my wardrobe I turn all the hangers backward. As I wear something, I put it back front ways. If I see clothes I’m not wearing, I will make an effort to wear them. Sometimes I do a try-on to figure why I’m not wearing it. Do I not like the fit, the feel, or is it too hard to style? Or did I wear it so much last season I’m tired/bored with it?
The Shoes
I have large canvas bins I keep the out-of-season shoes in. Every fall I am shocked by the number of boots I have. I know it’s only 6 pair but somehow it always looks like more.
The bottom pairs are navy, not black. It is crazy hard to find navy boots! The ones with the brown straps are new last winter. I’m ashamed to say they haven’t been worn yet. They will be front and center this fall.
This year I decided to turn around the shoes along with the hangers. I adore sneakers but I have a sneaking (hehe) suspicion I don’t wear them all. [Rachel and I share our shoe passions in this post.]
The Fun Part-
Every time I transition my clothes, I discover combinations I wish I wore. So I set aside those clothes to wear before I put them away.
This combination I already thought of, but never got around to wearing. The colors are great, but I think this J Jill cardigan has to go. No matter how I wear it, it always looks… off. (I think it’s the sleeves.) Time for it to be donated. The shoes didn’t work either.
Oh well, it was good in theory. ☺
This Tommy Bahama dress was a gift. I wore it for the first time to a funeral recently. The minute I held it up I thought “This would be fabulous with my docs.” My second thought was “Not to a funeral.“
I love the high-low contrast of the dressy knit dress with the edgier (albeit flowery) Dr. Martin boots. I wore the coral wrap to the funeral, which looked very pretty, but I think the this deep pink cardigan is better with the boots. [You can read more about high/low or juxtaposition style here.]
What I’d like with this, and I don’t have, are some lace-top socks that would peep out the top of the boots. I might have to get some!
The outfit on-
The cardigan is not bad but didn’t knock it out of the ballpark. I do love the docs with the dress though! And I found the blue socks which look cute. I might wear this in the spring with a jean jacket instead.
Photobomb by Cinder the cat.
So friends, how do you change out your closet? Or not… Would you like to try any ‘juxtaposition outfits?’ Let us know in the comments!
