Confessions of a Stylist-Detoxing my own Closet

As a professional ‘veteran’ personal wardrobe stylist in NYC since 2001, part of my job is helping women detox their wardrobes.

So I’m not only helping my clients look and feel better through their own style makeover I’m facilitating great change in their closet.

So it was surprising to a few close friends that I would hire others to help do my own spring clean.

“Why wouldn’t you do it yourself?” They would ask.

I have most of the time done it by myself but this time I wanted bigger results and faster.

I wanted to get rid of more stuff than I would purge myself.

I also knew that the extra hands and moral support would come in handy.

This winter as things got busier with my business I found less and less time to keep my closet organized and functioning.

I found myself in a bit of an outfit rut.

Wearing either jeans or all brown or leggings with a vest.

I felt like I was only wearing a small amount of my closet. And that clothing was being neglected.

A slight weight gain also made most of my pants not fit.

So it because more and more challenging to get dressed.

The weather wasn’t turning warm yet so I couldn’t wear my dresses yet.

I wondered if I was just tired or had outgrown most of my closet style wise.

I also was missing a pair of vintage pearl earrings that were a gift from a cousin, my favorite nail polish, my cherished multi metallic Ferragamo flats. How did I lose a pair of flats!!??

How is that possible?

I knew I was ready for a massive closet purge.

My two helpers, Fay and Elle, showed up on time and set up an empty rack to sort through everything in the closet.

Our goal was to sort through clothing and accessories only. Omitting jewelry and underwear.

One of them would sort through every item with me and helper #2 would just beautify keepers and re-install them into the closet. Helper #2 was the one doing the expert folding and displaying my items by color.

In just three short hours we edited my main walk in closet and bedroom closet.

They removed 4 massive bags of stuff from my apartment.

Some shipped to be donated and the rest to be sold at auction on Ebay by a specialist. For me having this removal of items was key because I don’t have the patience to sell individual items and past jaunts to Beacon’s Closet proved unsuccessful and a waste of my time.

The crazy thing is that I don’t think I miss anything from those bags and I couldn’t even tell you exactly what went out.

I’m just glad they are gone!

The change in my closet was dramatic…see pics and I felt so high that night naturally that I had a hard time sleeping.

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Now I could really see everything in my closet and make new outfit combinations.

My closet was the most beautiful it had ever been honestly.

Not only were the clothing and accessories beautifully displayed but she had made sure to group the hangars so that visually my closet was even more appealing to the eye.

My first concern was that since I’m not an expert at folding, that I wouldn’t be able to upkeep the closet to look this beautiful.

That it would get sloppy really fast.

I’m a virgo, but honestly I think I’m a sloppy-ish clean up for company type of virgo.

I don’t sweat the small stuff because I don’t have the energy for minutia. I believe in doing the best you can and living your life.

As we were going through items I found myself saying…oh this is one of my favorites. I love it so much…but it’s tired. I found myself clinging to items that no longer served me.

My helper made a list of things to replace which solved that issue fast.

And I found myself falling in love with my closet even more. It’s not that I needed to get rid of everything I just needed to rediscover what I had.

I found the cherished pair of pearl earrings that were hidden in a drawer which was a bonus.

After the detox I found myself reaching for items that I hadn’t worn in a while and making up new combinations of outfits.

The high when I step in my closet is undeniable and I’m now calling it ‘my happy place’.

I now understood first hand the notion of ‘shop my closet’.

(Note this reaction does not happen to all of my clients. If you didn’t have wonderful pieces already in your wardrobe and are mostly detoxing fast fashion you won’t feel this. )

It also revealed to me that a massive hole in my wardrobe is well fitting pants, workout sweats, gold flats, and nice dresses to wear for clients when it’s really hot outside.

This gave me confidence to do some shopping online and offline.

I found an amazing Elie Tahari red dress that I can wear at my cousin’s high school graduation that is sleeveless and also work for tooling around NYC with clients.

I found some pants that are flattering on me-bootcut which is not an easy feat.

I ordered some shoes on Zappos hoping to replace the still missing Salvatore Ferragamo Doreen flats.

I also ordered some Spring dresses from Nordstroms that will work for multiple of uses.

I now feel optimistic and energized about my personal style.

Here are a few of my takeaways:

1. Just having all the hangars match makes a huge difference
2. Maintaining an organized closet isn’t as much work as you think
3. Getting support and extra hands in the process takes the project from a chore to a delight. And 3 times faster
4. If you can’t see it, you won’t wear it!!
5. Even experts need support

I want every woman to feel this good!!

So if you’re ready for your own Spring cleaning and style makeover why not schedule a <<Style Assessment call with me here>>

I have a number of solutions for you whether you live in NYC or not.

You’ll get a feel for how we can work together and of course there is no obligation for this call.

It’s my gift to you.