Closet Inventory #5 (Fall 2018) + Wardrobe Planning Update
It's that time of year again! I've been sharing an inventory of my closet since 2014—can you believe it? (Check out past inventories: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.) I love seeing how my closet evolves over time, especially with all of my life changes (grad school to real-world job). Here's how things are looking this time around (this year, I included last year's number in parentheses for easy comparison). At the end of the post, I evaluated the progress with my wardrobe plan for 2018. Let's go!
TOPS: 94 (96)
Sleeveless: 9 (8)
Tees (all sleeve lengths): 18 (19)
Blouses: 9 (11)
Collared button-up shirts: 19 (16)
Cardigans: 10 (10)
Sweaters: 25 (27)
Sweatshirts: 4 (5)
BOTTOMS: 38 (37)
Shorts: 7 (7)
Skirts: 13 (16)
Pants: 6 (4)
Jeans: 12 (10)
DRESSES: 13 (13)
OUTERWEAR: 20 (18)
Vests: 3 (4)
Blazers: 5 (3)
Jackets: 6 (6)
Coats: 6 (5)
SHOES: 47 (47)
Sandals: 12 (9)
Sneakers: 4 (4)
Flats: 12 (13)
Heels: 4 (4)
Boots: 15 (17)
If you counted, that makes a total of 212 items—only one more than last year! I've said in the past that my "sweet spot" seems to be around 200 and that seems to still be the case. I'm happy that I've been able to maintain the size of my wardrobe. I feel as though I've been doing a great job purging items that aren't serving me anymore and not adding too many new pieces. This count doesn't include utilitarian coats/shoes, lounge/sleepwear, workout clothes, and anything I currently have listed on Poshmark, though this count does include a few items I'm planning to list on Poshmark in the next few weeks.
None of the categories saw huge changes from last year. I did add some more collared button-up shirts, pants, jeans, and sandals while decreasing my sweater, skirt, and boot collections. I'm not surprised by the change-up in bottoms; I knew that with my job, I'd be wearing my short skirts a whole lot less and wearing pants/jeans a whole lot more. I'm a little surprised that my sweater and boot collection decreased slightly but I'm sure I'll make up for it now that we're heading into fall. ;) It's interesting that my dresses collection remains the same—I apparently had constant turnover the past year. I haven't been wearing my dresses a whole lot so I expect that to decrease more in the next year unless I find perfect work-appropriate frocks!
My closet organization hasn't changed in the past year, so I won't be rehashing that (feel free to read last year's closet inventory if you would like to learn more about that). I will mention two things: 1) I hang my midi skirts and linen pants with my dresses and 2) I still haven't fully organized my jewelry... LOL. Sigh. I should just take a weekend and figure that out because I'm constantly misplacing necklaces and leaving earrings in various places around the house...
Anyway, let's look at how my style stats have changed! That's my favorite part. :)
Most of you know that I'm obsessed with the Stylebook app. I think it's the #1 most used app on my phone. I'm on it all of the time! It does take a lot of initial effort to get everything imported, but now I love tracking what I wear and checking back to see what items are getting the wear I thought they would and what items aren't getting worn as much. (I've been thinking about writing a post detailing how I use the app... Let me know if you'd be interested in that!)
The Stylebook app was updated in the past year and a bunch of new ways to look at the stats were added! Now you can set a range while looking at most/least worn items and best/worst cost per wear. Here's what I've been wearing the most over all time (above left) and over the past year (above right).
Some of the items included in the all-time list are also included in the list from the past year, not surprisingly. I can't believe I've worn my trench coat almost 200 times! Some of my pairs of jeans and pants have seen a ton of wear, mostly thanks to my job and the fact that I wear them year-round. It's interesting how my jeans, pants, flats, boots, and outer layers make up most of the "most worn" in the past year. A lot of the items are relatively season-less but I suppose I do wear my boots and coats pretty much nonstop in the winter months!
I find the cost per wear stats to be so interesting. Here's my items with the best cost per wear (CPW) over all time (above left) and best CPW over the past year (above right). There's only one item under $1 CPW, which is actually a mistake on my part! Once an item hits $1 CPW over all time, I remove the price so it no longer appears in this list (and make a note on the item with how much it cost). I like watching the CPW drop to $1 since that's always my target when I buy a new item, and removing the items with extremely low CPWs make it easier for me to see at a glance which items are close to hitting that $1 mark. Guess it's time to remove the price from those sandals. ;)
The items with the best CPW over a single year don't mean that much because CPW depends on how much the item cost to begin with. I might wear one of my really nice sweaters just as often as a pair of gloves, but the gloves are going to show a lower CPW than the sweater just because they were less expensive. I prefer the worn history metric more when looking at a reduced range of time. Still, it's fun to look at stats! I love seeing the CPW drop, especially on the more expensive items.
2018 WARDROBE PLANNING UPDATE
Back in February, I wrote out my wardrobe plan for the year, and I think it really has helped me stay on track when shopping. Let's go through each point I made...
Get rid of itchy/ill-fitting garments / I have listed a ton on my Poshmark so far this year and still have lots more to go now that we're heading into fall and winter. I've been more ruthless than usual about paring down the items that I don't wear as much, especially those that I don't wear because of material or fit.
Repair/replace closet staples / I haven't had to do this as much as I was anticipating. I had one pair of jeans fixed due to holes but that's all I can recall. Nothing has needed to be replaced yet. I did downgrade my white Everlane tee to sleepwear because it had become slightly misshapen and discolored and I hadn't worn it in so long because of that.
Focus on machine-washable materials / For the most part, I've been doing a good job at only buying items that can be machine-washed, but I've purchased a few items that need ironing or steaming after each wash. It'd be nice to not have to worry about that as much with new fall purchases, since, like I've said before, I'm lazy!
Refresh my denim collection / I've added more pairs of jeans this year than I thought I would, but they've all added something new to my outfits. It's fun to mix it up when you wear denim as often as I do!
Figure out my dress style / Eh. Not going so well. I purchased a couple of new dresses, but only one was in a new-to-me silhouette: a shift dress. And neither dress is appropriate for work, unfortunately. I think I need to get out of the mindset that I can't spend over $100 on a dress because when it's my entire outfit, and when it fits me and my personality perfectly, then it is most likely worth it.
Add work-appropriate garments / Sleeveless/layering tops, blazers, longer skirts, and pants all fell under this umbrella. I did add another blazer, another cardigan, a couple of midi skirts, and a new style of pant (wide leg!) to my wardrobe so far. I'm definitely struggling with sleeveless tops and other good tops for layering. Dressing for summer has been somewhat difficult to keep interesting because of that, so thank goodness we are heading back into sweater weather soon!
For it being my first time setting a wardrobe plan, I'm proud of how well I've been sticking to it, and I don't think anything really needs to be modified, removed, or added. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if I kept most of these same goals in next year's wardrobe plan! :)
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And before I go, here are some items on my mind for fall ...