While going through the multitude of pieces I am culling from my wardrobe today, I had an interesting thought about my clothes and their personalities.
Everything in our wardrobes has a personality, take that blue velvet dress for example. She is for romantic evenings, dinner dates and impressing with elegant ease. She doesn’t shout, but she likes to be noticed. She is simple, yet luxurious. In stark contrast are things like the very functional denim jeans, a loyal friend that is ready to go out at any time, whether that be to the grocery store, to a party or to bail you out of jail. The friend everyone needs.
So I began to think, what if we looked at the contents of our wardrobes as we do at our friends? Are there relationships that just aren’t working anymore? Perhaps there are creatures in there with those negative personalities that always bring you down. The ones who tell you you’re not quite special enough, or you’d be ok if you lost a few kilos. The sneaky ones that sit quietly until you need them, then they turn around and stab you in the back with their overly clingy fabrics and bad hemlines. No one needs mean girls in their wardrobe.
Decluttering with clarity can be the hardest thing when emotion is involved, especially when it comes to memories, but just like the girl friend from high school who once held your hair back, they are now just poking you on facebook. They aren’t actually serving any enriching purpose in your life right now.
A lot of the ‘personalities’ I’m clearing from my closet are actually lovely. They’ve been there for the tea parties and shopping outings, but there are now so many friends, the conversation has become so loud that it gives me a headache. Time to clear the deck.
I don’t want to see new and inspiring pieces “hang out” with the negative in my closet, or their purpose will be drowned out in the noise. Instead, I’m looking at this task with a more creative set of eyes, forming positive new friendships between old pieces, letting go of those who just aren’t cutting it at this party. I want friends living in there who always make me look my best, help me out when I’m in a hurry and make me feel like a million bucks.
If you look at your closet right now, I’ll be you could find at least five “negative” culprits in there. Start weeding them out and make room for more positivity in your wardrobe, and the rest will begin to follow.
This is such a brilliant way to approach a de-cluttering of your wardrobe! I think I have a few mean girls, but most of my dresses are simply delusional: they think my waist is way up there when it’s actually down here and they refuse to accept that fact. This miscommuication is doing no-one any favours, so clearly they have to go.
Thanks for sharing such a novel approach to this!
I did this twice last year in both my wardrobe and my hubby’s. What a great feeling it is to get rid of what doesn’t work any more. Currently we are going through the whole house and garage and hosting a huge garage sale in a few weeks.
Stellar observation. I tend to view my clothing in much the same light, too. I also find – though not per se the same thing exactly – that there are some garments that if I experience something truly negative/stressful in, I can never bring myself to wear again (or at the least, not for a very long time). It’s as though the memory of that unpleasant event is imparted in the fabric itself and I relive it (not literally, but in my mind) each time I put it/them on. I rarely raise this point because I find that when I do in person, most folks just raise their eyebrows at me and can’t relate, but I sense that you’ll understand, dear Candice .
<3 Jessica
Jessica, I most certainly can relate to not wearing something that I associate with an unpleasant event or circumstance.
I also relate to these mean girls you’re speaking about Candice too. I’m trying to better my cleansing process with regards to my wardrobe, my current process involves cleaning out at the end of every semester. I’m finding it difficult to shift a little weight I’ve put on in the last 12 months, but there’s one or two items I can’t bear to part with right now in the vague hope I can shift some of the weight and feel comfortable in them again. At the end of summer, if they aren’t fitting any better, then it’s time to get rid of them. Thank you for this timely reminder.
I started decluttering and it felt so good to let go off my frumpy friends and dark and dreary ones too. Love your analogy it really males sense.