I have had the same closet design since I was 12.
Color-coded. Skirts in the corner. Stuff I never wear on the right.
This design works just great for a 12-year-old who just cares about finding something that’s clean and semi-matching.
It doesn’t work so well for a 24-year-old who was thinking to herself every morning, “I feel like I have nothing to wear,” even though I had plenty. Too much, probably.
It was then that I realized that the problem was probably not in the pieces themselves. It was probably in my organization of them (or lack therof). You see, a closet design where the sweaters are put right next to the t-shirts which are right next to the cardigans which are right next to the dressy shirts is probably not the most effective in finding a good outfit. In fact, it is a rather pitiful excuse for an organizational scheme that almost had me reduced to tears of frustration every morning.
Yes folks, tears of frustration from poor closet design. It happens sometimes.
I’ve never tried any other closet organization in my life. I had no idea where to start. So I just kinda went for what seemed to be a semi-logical separation of shirts (which you can all admire in the photo above). This is roughly my train of logic: obviously, I should no longer have long-sleeved shirts mixed in with short sleeves. Since I’m always searching for my cardigans, those should be separate. And I probably should have learned something from all my What Not to Wear reruns, so I separated all the prints out too. These are the different “categories” I came up with:
-cardigans
-plain solid-color shirts
-long-sleeve shirts (solid-color, cotton or light material)
-sweaters
-collared shirts
-“fancier” short-sleeve shirts
-blazers
-shirts with a print (but not collared)
The sad thing? The fact that the five shirts above are my only printed shirts in the whole collection.
Man, I am BORING.
New goal: no more buying solid colors until I feel a little less bland in my style.
And here’s the final results, folks—lots of mismatched-looking fun.
We’ll see how long it lasts. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Wish me luck.
I need it.
In case this whole scheme doesn’t work out though, what works for all of you? Do you even have a closet design? Or am I the only organized-chaos-in-your-closet freak out there?