Eleven pairs of jeans, forty kurtis, 20-odd shoes (who’s counting, anyway?), seven dresses with the price-tags still on... if an avalanche of clothes hits you every time you open your closet, here’s disaster relief! Come 2015, it’s time to streamline your wardrobe for maximum efficiency.
Shoes: First off, you don’t really need more than two pairs of basic shoes for everyday use. Invest in one pair of good black sandals, one in brown, tan, beige or maroon - and you’re sorted!
Optional extras include a pair of sneakers for sporting activities, flip-flops for beach-type outings, and a pair of shiny party stilettos for evenings out, depending on your lifestyle.
Work Clothes: A capsule wardrobe for work needs only twelve pieces of clothing. With an average of 22 working days a month (for a five-day week) you’ll be able to go half a month without repeating a dress. To make up the big dozen, you need one perfect pair of jeans, two pairs of formal trousers, a well-cut business skirt, six classic shirts and two trendy tops. Pick tops that can go with jeans, trousers and skirts. Ethnic wear more your style? Look at no more than 15 saris or 15 salwar kurtas - or a total of 15 - as wardrobe staples. Anything extra is a bonus.
Don’t worry – you can shop for a whole new wardrobe every six months, when the fashion season changes!
What to give away: Apart from ‘special occasion’ ensembles like heavy saris, lehengas and salwar kurtas for festivals and functions and party-wear like sequinned minis, evening dresses or cocktail dresses, if you have 31 outfits, stop shopping!
Indeed, if you’ve got so many clothes that you unearth things you can’t remember buying from the deep recesses of your cupboard, it’s time to scale back. Try on each and every single item, discarding anything that’s torn, worn. The good news is, if you’ve got more clothes than you can handle, you can afford to give away anything you totally hate.
And what to save: Those clothes you’ve kept for when you’ll lose weight and fit into them? Pack them away in a suitcase till that shining epoch arrives. Clothes that are in good shape but have gone out of style can also be safely packed away, because you never know – they could come back in style suddenly. Also, you don’t have to throw away everything from the previous season. Classic pieces like plain tees, denim shorts and formal shirts can be carried forward to the next season.
Your wardrobe is the ultimate New Year fashion tool - keep it clean, honed and above all, sharp!
