Saturday, January 31, 2009

The (Forgotten) Art of Wardrobe Building


Each day during this cold, mostly grey month of January, Valet have brought us a new tip, trick or tool to ensure that 2009 is the year we up your game on the looking-good and living-well front...as well as providing inspiration for the odd post or two (my favourite being our personal uniform post). On day twenty eight the chaps at Valet have reminded me of the need to both purge and organise my wardrobe. Susie is constantly picking my clothes off the back of chairs and rehanging them within the wrinkle free safe haven which she goes on to inform me is called 'the wardrobe' before muttering more words under her breath. I am guilty of preferring to have my clothes close to hand rather than hanging in a wardrobe. My method of getting dressed in the morning doesn't even require the opening of a door or drawer because I have what I need on the back of my trusty chair...Of course, I do have a wardrobe and it is full of clothes but I just prefer to have my favourite pieces out on show...much to the bemusement and annoyance of Susie...Through a combination of this nagging and the looming threat coming from EJ (who takes a great amount of glee from informing me that she is going to rummage through my wardrobe in a mere two weeks time) it is about time that I spent an afternoon folding, ironing, arranging and charity shop bagging. Upon looking through our archive it came to my attention that it was about this time last year that we dedicated a post to salvaging wardrobes...a lot has changed over the course of the last year and it is certainly time to attack that wardrobe of mine all over again.

The Valet advice is threefold:

1) Take a visual survey and pull out the pieces you haven't worn in the past year. If it doesn't fit or you don't plan on wearing in the next couple of months, toss it.
I certainly need to do this and think a small bag at the very least will be dropped off at a nearby Charity Shop next week..

2) Look at your shoes. Dump the beat up sneakers you don't even wear to the gym, and take worn-out wing tips to be resoled. Now might be a good time to replace affordable standbys. I have at least pair of shoes which needs to be resoled, new year, new sole.

3) If there are seasonal items you'd like to keep, but are done wearing, take them to the cleaner and have them boxed for storage.
Is anyone this organised? This might be a step too far for me...

Methinks it is time to grow up and after purging my wardrobe, I will continue the pursuit of building the perfect wardrobe. I have been inspired by reading the E. Tautz website (after being pointed in it's direction by A Continuous Lean). This of course will not entail me taking hold of a hammer and a bag of nails but instead will require the thoughtful and measured collection of sartorial pieces...given the current world situation, I think it is the perfect time to advocate astute shopping. It is time to treat the wardrobe as more than a mere piece of furniture which I barely use. I will leave you with inspiring words from E. Tautz and I will purge the wardrobe...maƱana.

The art of wardrobe building is not fast or haphazard; instead it is developed and nurtured over time. A mans wardrobe may rather eloquently tell the story of his life less ordinary.

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