My Wardrobe, Myself

In my last post, I wrote about some of the ways my summer style has changed since 2023, and I shared examples of the types of pieces I like to wear now. Unfortunately, I think there may have been a glitch with some readers receiving that post, as I didn’t get it myself and the number of views was lower than usual. So, if you receive my posts via email and didn’t see part one, you can check it out HERE, but today’s essay stands on its own and may be read separately without confusion.

This was originally going to be just a two-part series, but I decided to extend it after recently completing a closet audit and wanting to write about that in the context of my summer wardrobe and style. I also realized that with the number of topics I planned to address in the series, the second essay might have been too long to consume in one sitting. So, this will now be at least a four-part series, with the remaining portions being released over the next couple of months.

In today’s part two, I’ll debrief the closet audit that I conducted earlier this month. I usually do my closet audits at the end of a season, but I was inspired to participate in a five-day closet cleanout program put on by the host of my favorite style podcast (who will likely do this again in the fall/winter for those who might be interested).

Closet Audit Overview

Although I tackled my entire wardrobe during that project and purged both cool and warm weather pieces, I’ll only address my summer items in this post. The bulk of what I purged falls into my warm weather wardrobe anyway, as I’d been wearing my cool weather items for months and had already mostly let go of anything that wasn’t serving me during that time.

Whenever I wear something and end up not liking it, or if I put a piece on several times and decide to wear something else instead, I usually set that item aside to sell or donate, or at least relocate it to my “holding zone” for future consideration. I’m not sure how much more selling I’ll be doing, though, as I’m not getting much response on the pieces I listed last month on eBay.

Perhaps the success that I experienced with selling clothing online back in 2020 and 2021 isn’t going to repeat itself this time around. Although I’d like to recoup some of my losses on mistake purchases and little-worn items, the resale landscape may have changed so much that it’s no longer feasible. I only took to selling on eBay and Poshmark after the local consignment stores stopped accepting my mid-priced pieces in favor of designer items only. There may be so many low-priced new items available today with the proliferation of almost-constant sales that the market for secondhand clothing has considerably diminished. I haven’t yet decided what I’m going to do with my castoffs, but that’s a topic for another day.

Today’s post only covers my out-and-about castoff items. I have a higher overall success rate with my at-home garments, and those pieces tend to have a lower cost-per-wear. I don’t make as many mistakes when buying clothes to wear at home and on my walks, so there isn’t as much to learn or discuss there. But I did notice some common reasons for letting go of my summer out-and-about items, which will be highlighted later in this post.

The Importance of Not “Settling”

Before I delve into the patterns I noticed among my recent closet castoffs, I want to touch upon the biggest overarching reason. As I’ve discussed in multiple posts earlier this year, beginning with this one, I’m very selective about what I like to wear. That’s the reason why I get so many of my clothes tailored, even though I also have a body that’s hard to fit. I like things to fit in a particular way, and I’m willing to spend extra money to make that happen. Although I’ve recently realized that I need to allow for more ease in my clothing to accommodate small weight fluctuations, I’ll probably always do some standard nips and tucks to my clothes to achieve the fit that I desire.

What I realized earlier this year is that I haven’t been nearly as selective when shopping as I am when I get dressed, which has resulted in a lot of “wardrobe benchwarmers,” as well as other pieces that I wore but didn’t actually love. I’m working on becoming a lot more careful about what I buy and what I keep, but I still had too many items in my closet that didn’t adhere to my high sartorial standards. I “settled” far too often in terms of fit, style, and quality when shopping before my recent epiphany, so a lot of those pieces needed to go. I’ve also discovered new style and silhouette preferences, which impacted what I decided to keep versus purge.

I have grouped my summer wardrobe purges into seven categories, which are addressed in the sections below.

1. Too-Short Pants

Because I’m tall, finding pants that are the right length is a constant struggle. It’s most difficult with full-length pants, which is why I own so few of them. There’s a bit more leeway with cropped trousers, but I’ve come to understand that they need to end at a “sweet spot” on the leg or they just won’t look right. Even an inch or two too short can make a big difference, and if a style of pant isn’t offered in tall sizing, the too-short issue usually crops up for me (pun intended!).

The pants below are all cropped styles, but most of them were standard sizes rather than tall. They were all supposed to be ankle-length, even though the stock photos didn’t necessarily depict that, as most models are in my height range. Unfortunately, none of these pants were the right length for me, and most of them were also knit pieces rather than woven, which can be clingy and unflattering on my lower body (as I wrote about in my last post).

Two of the pants shown above (both black – top left and right) were in my holding zone because they were too large, but I opted to pass them on because I wouldn’t want to wear them even if they fit me well today. The black-and-white-print pair was made from a woven fabric and was a favorite item for years, but I’m now feeling pickier when it comes to lengths. When I tried those pants on recently, they just looked “off” to me, so I added them to the donation pile. I was sad to do so, though, as printed pants that fit me well have been hard for me to come by (kind of a “white whale” item for me).

The top center pair of black cropped pants fit me, but I felt they were unflattering in the hip area. There was also a stain on the back that I’ve been unable to remove. It wasn’t all that visible, but I knew it was there, which made the pants feel less than polished. The bottom center pair (navy) was a 2023 sale purchase that was probably two inches too short. It was also a knit item, and I now strongly prefer woven pants. The “double whammy” of too short and the wrong type of fabric was what led me to pass those pants on.

2. Too-Low Neckline

I only recently discovered that I don’t like wearing deep-scoop-neck or deep-V=neck tops. They’ve never been my favorite, but I didn’t really understand why that was. I’ve recently discovered that lower necklines accentuate my shorter torso, especially if the top isn’t all that long (which is the case for most tops these days). If I fill in the neckline with a necklace, that can help to balance out the look, but I much prefer wearing either a crewneck or a less-deep scoop-neck or V-neck top.  I sometimes still wear a necklace with those tops, but I don’t feel like I must do so to create a flattering look.

When I was doing my closet audit, I identified four low-scoop-neckline tops to purge, as shown below. I was sad to let go of the first top shown, as I like the black-and-gray-burnout print, but it always felt a bit “off” to me. Fortunately, the other three tops were all inexpensive, so it was easier to let those go. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fabric on those tops (cotton/modal blend), so that was yet another reason to remove them from my closet. They were part of my collection of lightweight Caslon tees that I wrote about back in 2022. For some reason, the sleeveless Caslon tees were somewhat more durable than the short-sleeved ones that I purged awhile back, but they were all “fussy” and easily stretched out, along with being too low-cut.

3. Too-Short Cardigans

For years, tie-waist cardigans have been my favorite toppers to pair with dresses and skirts. I like that they accentuate my narrow torso and waist and are a light enough layer for a slightly cool summer day or evening. However, I started to feel that the tie-waist cardigans that I owned were too short for my emotional comfort and ideal figure flattery. They would sit right at my waist, which looked good in the front but less so in the back (in my opinion, anyway – I admit that I’m self-conscious about my backside).

I was able to find a few tie cardigans this year that are a few inches longer and “bisect” my rear end rather than completely expose it. I feel much more emotionally comfortable wearing those, which has led me to want to wear my dresses and skirts more often. I often run cold, so I like to have a topper on hand for all but the warmest summer days. Last year, I rarely wore dresses and skirts because of the topper issue, but I’ve already worn them several times since acquiring the longer cardigans this summer.

Below are the three tie-waist cardigans that I donated earlier this month. They had all been worn often enough to receive a good cost-per-wear, which is more than I can say for some of my other castoffs. They served their purpose in my closet, but sometimes our preferences change and we need to modify our wardrobe in response.

4. Stretched-Out Tees

T-shirts tend to have the shortest longevity in my wardrobe, but they’re also a staple item for me given my casual lifestyle. I’ve found that tees that include at least a few percentage points of spandex in the mix tend to last longer, but I still own multiple legacy pieces were purchased prior to my coming to that conclusion. The four tees below had lost their shape over many wearings and washings, so I elected to let them go during my recent closet audit.

I was sad to let the above tops go, as I still liked them in theory. However, they didn’t adhere to my “polished” style guidepost (you can read about that topic in this 2020 post, but I also plan to revisit it soon), and I felt less than fabulous in them. There were also aspects to most of them (other than the basic cobalt tee) that felt “off” to me, too. The ruffle bottom on the striped top felt too feminine to me and lacked any sort of “edge,” and the print on the navy tee felt too “busy.” The red tee was mostly good, but the cap sleeves aren’t the most flattering on my aging arms. I now much prefer a standard short sleeve that offers a bit more coverage, or a tank top that shows my entire arm rather than cutting it off at an awkward spot.

5. Twist-Hem Tops

I struggle with outfit proportions because I don’t like to tuck in my tops. Not only does tucking make me emotionally uncomfortable (because of that back-side self-consciousness I mentioned earlier), it also doesn’t create pleasing proportions on my short-torso frame, especially with the high-rise pants that have been so prevalent in recent years. Tucking my tops only serves to make my torso look both shorter and wider, so I keep my tops out instead and do my best to wear tops that aren’t too long.

I thought that I might be able to mitigate some of the proportion issues in my two-piece outfits (toppers often help to balance proportions, but it can be too hot for them in the summer months) by wearing tops with a twist-hem detail in the front. Such a detail mimics tucking to a degree by raising the hem at the twisted point.

I still think this is a good potential style hack, but the twist-hem tops that I bought were still too long overall. They were more of a tunic length rather than ending at the high hip area, which would have been more flattering. The tops I purchased were good in theory, but not in practice, so I opted to let them go. I never felt fabulous when I went to wear them (I almost always took them off), and the look didn’t feel true to my personal style.

I purged three tops below during my summer closet edit. Fortunately, they were all purchased via Amazon for a low price, which I like to do when trying out a new style to minimize the financial risk. I probably should have just bought one top and waited until I was sure I liked the style before adding more to my wardrobe. Lesson hopefully learned!

When I wear a two-piece summer pants outfit now, I stick to wearing hip-length tops and adding a low-heeled shoe to improve the top-to-bottom ratio. The proportions of the resulting ensembles still aren’t perfect with my untucked tops, but they’re good enough for me, especially since emotional comfort in my clothing is one of the most important factors.

6. Fabric Issues

I mentioned fabric issues earlier when covering my too-low-neckline tops, but I also let go of a few other items for that reason.  I didn’t like the way certain pieces felt or how they held up to washing and wearing. The five items shown below were purged for fabric-related reasons:

Let’s start with the two pairs of pants. I know that many women swear by linen garments in the summer, and I’m aware that linen can be the absolute best fabric to wear on a hot day, but I’m not a fan of it. I’ve tried to embrace linen multiple times, but I just can’t get on board with the wrinkles and the stiff feel of the fabric.

I thought the burgundy stretch-linen pants might represent a good compromise, but even though there was more “give” to those pants, the wrinkles still got out of hand in my opinion. The gray pants looked nice on, but I just didn’t want to wear them. I don’t feel polished with all the wrinkles, and I don’t find linen comfortable to wear, so I plan on avoiding it moving forward. Fortunately, it doesn’t hot enough where I live for linen to be a necessity, so I’ll opt to wear other fabrics instead.

As for the three tops show below, there were different fabrication issues with all of them. The black top on the left didn’t breathe well, and it had also become pilled over time. The striped Henley didn’t include any stretch to hold it together, so it ended up looking shabby after multiple washings. I wore it a lot, though, so I probably got a decent cost-per-wear out of it. The same cannot be said of the zebra-striped top, which I never should have bought. I loved the look of the top, but the synthetic fabric both looked and felt “cheap.” It was also hot to wear during the summer because it lacked breathability.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, summer tops have become the trickiest closet item for me to shop for. Sure, there are lots of them out there, but it’s been tough for me to find many such garments that could become ‘wardrobe workhorses.’ For some reason, I’ve fared better with sleeveless tops versus short-sleeved ones, and I’m not really sure why that is. Perhaps they’re somehow made better, or maybe I’ve just gotten lucky. One thing I know for sure, though, is that I much prefer tops with a bit of stretch (spandex) in them, as those fit me better, hold their shape well, and offer more longevity.

7. Uncomfortable Shoes

The final category of castoffs from my recent closet audit is uncomfortable shoes. My feet have become increasingly fussy in recent years, which I’ve read is due to the loss of padding in the bottoms of our feet as we age. While I used to be able to wear higher heels and shoes with minimal arch support and shock absorption, that’s no longer the case. I also can’t wear inexpensive shoes most of the time, either.

These shoes were all purchased either on sale or for a low price, so my losses aren’t great, but it still doesn’t feel good to have wasted money. I bought the first three pairs while visiting my mom last summer (from either TJ Maxx or during the Dillard’s end-of-summer sale), while the fourth pair was acquired after liking the way they looked on a friend.

What I’ve learned is that with shoes, the way they feel is much more important than how they look. Of course, the ideal is to find shoes that both look stylish and are comfortable to wear, but that’s gotten harder for me as I’ve aged. But I also don’t need to have a large shoe wardrobe anymore. I’m fine with having a small collection of footwear for each season, but I can still be too susceptible to the allure of a sale. Being mindful of that pitfall will be critical for me as I work to keep my closet size down and cultivate a workable wardrobe filled with pieces that I love and wear regularly.

Conclusion

I’m sure that as you read through the categories above, you could see that “settling” was a big reason for why many closet pieces didn’t work out for me. You probably also noticed that overbuying was another big issue, especially when it came to sales shopping. Although not every castoff piece could have been avoided by refusing to settle and more prudent buying, that could have saved me from many of my mistake purchases.

Some of my purged items were not originally “mistakes.” As one example, the short-tie-cardigans were worn often, but my body and style preferences shifted over the years, which is okay. I also couldn’t have necessarily known that certain garments wouldn’t wear and wash well. That can be an issue for even the most careful shopper, but we can learn certain “gotchas” over time, like the fact that particular fabrics can lose their shape more easily than others.

I know that I’ll never be a perfect shopper with a hundred percent success rate, but it’s frustrating that I’ve continued to make stupid mistakes after blogging about wardrobe and shopping topics for so many years. But I cannot turn back the clock and undo my wrongs. I can only move forward, armed with knowledge and a commitment to improvement. So, that is what I will do, and this post can serve as a powerful reminder of the nuances that often separate ill-advised purchasing from smart shopping. When we know better, we can do better. I have done better than when compared to the height of my compulsive shopping issues, but there’s still a lot room for improvement – and that’s what I aim to do!

Your Thoughts?

Now it’s time for you to weigh in, if you’d like. I welcome your thoughts on what I’ve shared today, as well as about your own experiences. I’d love to read about your closet audit experiences and what you’ve noticed about the items you’ve opted to purge.

If you’ve been able to identify patterns in terms of the types of pieces you tend to pass on, please share. Additionally, if you have closet cleanout tips – or tips for smarter shopping, I know that I and your fellow readers would be grateful to receive them. So, please share away!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll be back soon with a look at some of the successful closet additions I’ve made to my summer wardrobe this year that are helping me to be happier with my outfits. That’s kind of the “flip side” of what I shared today and should be more uplifting. But I hope that you learned something from today’s essay and will derive value from the remainder of this series.