The Perfect Closet

"The Multiple Personality Closet"


Now that you've separated, categorized, assessed, and played tough love with your wardrobe, it's time to be sure that your "keepers" are being stored in the best possible fashion.

This chapter will help you access each area of your wardrobe individu­ally while helping you understand how each impacts the other in terms of organization, function, and your ability to dress your best each and every day. In other words, this chapter will help you control clutter one small step at a time.  

Have you ever considered how many personalities you have hanging in your closet? Many women today juggle motherhood, careers, community service, and social calendars like seasoned circus performers!

If you find that you have many different styles of dress in your closet that you need to change in and out of on a daily basis, you should arrange your closet in a way that easily supports the many roles you play both inside and outside your home. This will help you get dressed more quickly and with less stress throughout the day.

For instance, I have two modestly sized closets in my bedroom that I per­sonally use. In one I store my professional and special occasion wardrobes, and in the other I store my more casual things. Because I work at home and am the mother of twin boys, I am in and out of my casual closet more than the other.

In the fall and winter, I have four to five polar fleece tops hanging in my casual closet at all times. A collection of black and gray Lycra leg­gings and body suits and an assortment of cotton Ts and turtlenecks that I wear very casually are conveniently stored in separate crates respectively under my hanging things. They are typically all I need to get dressed quickly on the days when I'm hanging out with my boys, going to the gym, or running a quick errand. In the warmer weather, I put the polar fleeces in my off-season closet located in a spare bedroom in my home and store more seasonally appropriate layering pieces in their place. I also have a few tote bags stored in this closet in case I need to pack a quick bag of these items.

A woman in a fashion seminar I once conducted told me the number of hours she spent changing her clothes every week was wearing her out. At least three days a week she needed to transition from a nonprofit executive wearing a suit to a soccer mom wearing sweats to a hostess at fund-raising cocktail parties wearing black tie and dressy casual separates. A quick con­versation with her revealed that all her clothes were mixed up together, causing her extra stress.