Lolita Charm: Spring Cleaning

Monday, January 18, 2010

Spring Cleaning

It's the end of another fashion season. Even though where I live, Connecticut, still has plenty of snow on the ground, the fashion industry is already thinking spring lines. Every store you go into is having their semi-annual season switchover sale, and despite the cold and smell of anti-freeze, somebody is thinking florals. Or corals. Maybe both. Amazingly, as it always feels in New England, we may have survived another winter. I think it's a hold-over from our colonial days and mooching off Squanto. God, spring?! Are you serious, dude?

So now there's the huge question. If your stores are having their semi-annual sale, what are you supposed to do with a wardrobe packed to the gills with velvets, heavy sweaters, and plaids you thought would match well with autumn leaves? Or, if you're in the southern hemisphere, the time of strawberries and sun will be drawing to a close, and it's time to hunt out winter coats. It's time for the big turnover.

If you've never done a 'wardrobe cleaning' sale before, never fear! Here's an easy step-by-step guide so that when the seasons creep up, you'll be prepared.

Step One: Go through your entire closet.

Sort it into three piles:

I love it! Pile: These are pieces you would never sell. You couldn't image not having these pieces to fall back on, or they still feel beautiful to you, or maybe you've got a sentimental attachment to them.

I love it! - but it's the wrong season Pile: The same as above, but out of season. If you're going into spring, it's time to put away your furry bolero. If you're in the southern hemisphere and going into winter, your strappy platform sandals need to be packed away.

I don't wear this/It doesn't work for me (fit, flatter, match anything) Pile: The dresses you avoid or have forgotten about, the shoes that make your ankles look fat, or the skirt you always keep hoping will fit. If you can't put it on and summon an outfit around it, then it's not helping you and needs to go - however painful that might be, if you really like the piece.

Step Two: Take your entire 'Not Working Pile' and do a status check. Is everything in good condition, minimally damaged, or beyond sellable quality? I have some dresses that look brand new and a pair of shoes I've worn so long the entire lining has come out. It's pretty obvious which things are sellable and which aren't. Once you've decided what can be sold, break it down by brand and by category. Then assign everything a fair price. Items that are more worn or slightly damaged can be sold if marked down and damage is well documented. It helps if while doing this you are keeping some sort of list or notebook. I still use my Hello Kitty diary for any scheming or list making or even book-keeping that occurs in my lolita ideas. Tally down your total worth if everything sells, and then use that as ground basis for your new budget (but don't count your chickens before they hatch - not everything may sell, or right away).

Step Three: Take inventory. Now that you've decided who's staying, what are you missing or light on? Did you just get rid of all of your old jumperskirts, are are you down to one blouse? Count up how many you have of each big item. I broke mine down into tops, cardigans/light outerwear, jumperskirts, onepieces, and skirts. Usually you can see where the hole is. For me, I realized I'd half as many jumperskirts as anything else, and only two tops.

Step Four: Get creative. Decide where you want your spring style to go or what you want your spring season to be about. Flip through magazines, watch costume-loaded movies, or go through your Inspiration folder (you do have a folder of lolita images you love saved to your computer, right?!) Then make some notes on your piece of paper, or make a collage of photos in a photo editing program, with Polyvore, or just with paper and glue. In a transitional season like spring into summer, it also helps to organize your style by month. Every month, I consider what I'd most like to wear, so I know which items will go through the whole season and what is more of a passing fancy. After all, the style I have in mind for February can be very different than my ideas about June or July.

Step Five: Look at your list of what you need and then decide how this fits in with your season's 'personal trends'. For example, perhaps you've decided to go with a berry theme this season. If you're low on cardigans, then you should look for one that incorporates that berry theme - like a sweater with crocheted strawberries on the sleeves.

Step Six: Sell the items you are culling from your wardrobe. If your sale isn't successful right away, buy from your list only the items that are more important first, or just one at a time. A word about large wardrobe sales: you might want to split your sale into two separate lots, to make it easier to manage. Rather than going to your local post with eight packages, you can pace yourself by four one week and four the next. This will also make it easier to keep track of payments and comments.

All set? That's it! Now enjoy your new, fresh wardrobe!

Got advice on how you turn over a wardrobe? Leave a comment!

Labels: shopping, spring

8 Comments:

At January 18, 2010 at 8:28 AM , caro-chan said...: I need to do this so bad XD These are great tips, but I just have such a hard time distinguishing between "Love it" and "Love it but never wear it".

I can never do the whole Seasonal dressing thing though, I mostly just wear the same clothes year round, with different amounts of layers depending on the weather. Maaybe one or two things that I think of as a "Summer outfit". Thinking things out, like what I want to wear month by month just seems like too much work for me XD
At January 18, 2010 at 12:25 PM , Corvida said...: Every time I sort things into a "never wear" pile, I end up convincing myself that I should repair, take in, let out, or use the pieces in altered clothing projects. Only I can never find the time to do any of that, so the pile just gets bigger and more clutterous. It also doesn't help that an entire load of my favorite tees and cutsews were destroyed last spring when someone in my building decided to dye their clothes back and not clean out the washing machine afterwards... *shriek*... I'm still hanging onto them all, convinced there's a way to salvage them.
At January 18, 2010 at 12:40 PM , Anonymous said...: Your tipps really come at the right time! I will move rather soon and half of my belongings are clothes. The place I'm moving to is bigger than the one i live at right now, but there are so many things that i don't really need. But what i do need is money, so i guess i'll have to start somewhere.

But I'm not one for the whole seasonal thing seing as i love to layer my clothes and don't have a lot of "one season only" clothes. ok, my wintercoat, but that's definitley the only piece of clothes, that doesn't see summer AND winter ^^

but there are some things i could sell, so maybe now is the time for that. thank you very much for your advice ^^
At January 18, 2010 at 1:36 PM , ~NiKi~ said...: I make this every season but with my no-lolita clothes. The problem is: here where I live you can wear summer with winter clothes so a lot of t-shirts and trousers are usable all the year. With my lolita clothes the only problem is the summer, here in Spain sometimes is really too hot to wear them even though you use a jumper without a shirt
At January 18, 2010 at 4:10 PM , Hello Naka said...: i love this blog so much ^^
At January 18, 2010 at 6:26 PM , Melody said...: My resolution this year is to replace 60% of my wardrobe. It's time to try new colors, and say goodbye to some ugly, overworn and pedestrian clothing. Not to mention the stuff that I have had for years and never worn.

I'm all into layers for quick climate changes here in Portland, OR. It is raining a lot of the time, so you see a lot of hats, umbrellas, hoodies and wet hair. This is true all seasons but Summer, so there is less time in light summer clothes than the layers of the other three seasons.
At January 18, 2010 at 10:30 PM , Victoria Suzanne said...: @Caro-chan: I figure if I haven't worn it in the last four to six months, then it's in the 'never worn' pile XD

@Corvida: I'm a convincer too, so I just have to steel myself, do it, and don't look back! I need to be tougher on accessories too...

@jingfeng-im-juli: you're welcome :)

@Niki: oh Spain must be very hot, I don't blame you! Sometimes it is too cold here for lolita :(

@Naka: heh thank you ♥

@Melody: I'm interested in trying new colors and redefining my style too, a great reason to turn over your wardrobe!
At January 19, 2010 at 11:51 AM , Anonymous said...: I'm soooo bad when it comes to closet cleaning.
I really need to do this. Right now my lolita wardrobe is not enough to the point where I need to get rid of anything, but my regular mundane clothes definately need to be trimmed down... >.> to make room for my new egl clothes XD
Very helpful article.

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Spring Cleaning

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