Spring has most definitely sprung, albeit the publishing of this piece will be most likely be complemented by buckets and buckets of pouring rain! At this time of the season, it is important to clean, rummage, and empty those hordes of clothes and miscellaneous items that you really, and I emphasise really, don’t need. I am the number one culprit of collecting, not antiques, anything! When moving property recently I discovered that my necessities were, according to my new flatmate, a luxury. ‘A grapefruit spoon’, she said with utter bemusement on her face! It was at this point that I faced the fact it was perhaps time to start de-cluttering somewhere, and I chose my wardrobe.
Enter the wardrobe fairy, Danijela Coha, renowned in celebrity circles for de-cluttering the busiest of wardrobes. Rummaging through the softest silk, the warmest cashmere, and the most luxurious couture gowns is a normal day for Dani. Her clients, including Popstar Rita Ora and Fashion Designer Julien McDonald, are testament to the fact that Dani knows luxury and can decipher what should be neatly hanging on those beige velvet coat hangers.
For a wardrobe fairy spring revamp, read on for the instructions – of course there is an order to it…
Empty everything from your wardrobe
This is not for the faint hearted! According Dani, this is not a one-hour job, it is a minimum of half-a-day to dedicate yourself to the confines of your own room. It may seem dreary, particularly if the sun is shining outside, but trust me my results were dazzling.
Yes, No, Maybe
Begin by decluttering your wardrobe. Go through every item and either throw, donate to charity, keep, or leave to decide later (… generally these items end up going!). Many of my most cherished items were binned as Dani showed me hole-after-hole in my tops, and fade marks and discolouration on my trousers and skirts. At first I must admit the experience was painstaking, watching your memories be eradicated. However, after about five minutes listening to stories about Dani’s famous clients I started to take pride when I accepted that that top had seen its day.
Organise and Categorise
Now you are left with the items you want to keep, it is time to make piles of clothes in categories, ready to start reloading your wardrobe. It is at this point that you should swap over your old mismatched hangers for you brand new matching ones (this is of course optional but from personal experience I highly recommend ditching your old ones!).
Re-fill
At this stage you will put your newly organised clothes back in the wardrobe, pile-by-pile. The re-organisation of your wardrobe will depend on how much you have hoarded over the years. For me, I do have a lot of clothes for the average Joe, but I do not have the magnitude of a Hollywood actress. For the more humble clothing collections, it is best to order in style and colour. If you have a wardrobe Carrie Bradshaw would be proud of, order in clothes separately and within each colour, you can have every style.
Re-assess
Once all your clothes are neatly placed in the wardrobe, take a breath, step back, and make sure you are happy with the order. If you look at it and feel your blood pressure rising, it is not right. You should feel calm and at ease when you see your beautifully organised wardrobe.
At face value, hiring someone to organise your wardrobe sounds slightly farcical. I admit it, I too thought this at first. Is it worth the money? Will it make a difference? After Dani’s visit – post initial visit to see the state of my flat – I am a wardrobe organising convert. It is far more than just the appearance, which was a huge improvement, it was about the sense of relief and weight lifted off my disorganised shoulders. Dani believes that your external environment is a reflection of your internal world. Her clients invariably find that a good clear out not only refreshes but also invigorates them, providing a sense of peace and clarity. My aim and her ethos went hand-in-hand, and the results to my mood were astonishing. I had no fear of recycling and donating my old clothes to charity, I had worn their cost and they could be handed on to new owners who would cherish many of my knitted jumpers as I had on a cold day in the countryside.
