Hey Closet Full of Clothes But Nothing To Wear

There I stood, a sea of colorful plastic bottles swimming in front of my tired eyes. Predominantly in “feminine” shades of pinks and purples each calling out what they believed I wanted to hear. Luscious volume, sleek shine, color vibrancy, no sulfates, no parabens, plant-based. I took a  moment scanning the shelves, to be honest, it was a long moment I may have napped. And then I heard a clear voice breaking through my haze of confusion. I looked toward the heavens for my answer, and then snapped to reality as I heard an earthbound voice next to me say, “There are just too many choices right?” I saw her reach for a bottle and I followed suit. I mean her hair did look nice. 

People, decision fatigue is real! It is the reason why most of us wear about 15% of the clothes in our closets. Spending time in clients' closets and chatting with them about what they wear daily and how they choose to wear gives me the confidence to say that that percentage is probably less, probably 10% or lower. The response I hear most when I ask a client if they are wearing an item is, “I’m not sure what to pair that with,” and “I don’t have time in the morning to figure it out.” The reasoning behind these responses is simple: decision fatigue is real. Too much in front of you equals too much energy spent to manage it. 

I offer a menu of style services, my most popular is a closet… curation or audit, call it what you want! Either way, a closet restyle can free you from the constraints of your everyday closet and from the decision-making of what to wear. Each session varies because my focus is on the individual needs, personal style, work, and lifestyle of my client. My first priority in a closet restyle is to shop what you own and create as many outfits as possible. By getting a feel for what may be missing you can then shop with more intention so that you do not continue the cycle of a closet filled with clothes instead of outfits.

Image taken by Claire Marchand (2019).

There is a big difference between having clothes and having outfits! But we continue to shop even though it has never really solved our problem of what to wear. Adding to the cart all the things that are finally going to make us understand how to wear what we own, creating another area in our lives where decision fatigue sets in. 

I know what it looks like when the busyness of life sets in and snatches away your personal style. For me, I started to wear all black and I’m not talking a cool, creative styled black, nope, I referred to it as uniform black. This was easy for me because it was just one less decision to make that day. Once upon a wardrobe, I was cloaked in all the roles I owned and I felt like I lost a sense of who I was. I had lost my personal style, joy in looking pulled together, and my confidence. I recall being in a popular retail store, with 4 kids crammed into the dressing room, trying on clothes and thinking something was cute. And I also recall not buying it because as I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I thought, is this cute and what will I wear it with? I thought I was way too busy to invest in my self-care and embrace getting dressed in a way that expressed myself. Feeling that your look is polished and pulled together isn’t a vain pursuit, our appearance is the first hello we have with others. It’s a way to express who we are. 

So yeah, some days my pulled-together look is athleisure wear with added details to create a styled look. A closet that can take you from workweek to weekend is a total confidence boost because at the very least we deserve basic self-care. To get a closer look at my closet audit services, follow my Instagram account and get behind-the-scenes footage of me and my clients diving into their closets.

Image taken by Claire Marchand (2019).