How to freshen up your wardrobe for the New Year

‘Tis the season to make some resolutions and since you’ve clicked on this article, we can assume that a wardrobe refresh is one of yours. It can be daunting where to start, especially if you are stuck in a style rut, or you have an awful lot of outdated clothes. 

But we’ve got some great practical tips that will help make a potentially painful process easier, from identifying your style and gaps in your wardrobe, to cleaning and organising your revamped wardrobe.

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Get inspired

Cleaning, trying on clothes and shopping the sales is tiring so you’ll need some inspiration to gee you fired up the task ahead. Reading Marie Kondo’s book or watching her Netflix show is a good place to start if you want to embrace minimalism, while perusing #capsulewardrobe posts may help you edit your clothing collection.

Flicking through a fashion magazine and Insta influencers can help you identify trends that you like, while thinking about style icons can help you pinpoint the styles you lust after. Pinterest is a great tool for collating inspiration. Having looks you admire pinned on different boards can really give you a good idea of ways to style the clothes you have and a few items that would be really useful to buy.

Have a good clean out and edit

Marie Kondo recommends taking all your clothes out of your wardrobe, drawers and cupboards so shock yourself into how many you have. We can confirm it’s an eye-opener, but if you’re trying to cram a wardrobe re-jig into the occasional free hour, another system may be to edit a different item of clothing each time. For example, you could sort through your jumpers one lunchtime and coats another.

Many organisational experts suggest creating three piles: donate, recycle/bin and keep to edit down the clothes you have, and considering the ones you have not worn or fit a fantasy version of yourself only, is a simple way to decide which to let go of. Another, is if they do not fit or bring you joy. Whatever your system, you’re sure to rediscover forgotten gems, free up space and feel inspired.

Take care of your clothes

you have jackets that need dry cleaning or missing buttons or tears that need mending. We recommend doing all those annoying tasks to fix up old favourites. 

A de-bobbler or fabric shaver is a great piece of kit in which to invest to give your knits a new lease of life. The gadget gets rid of all the bobbly bits helping our jumpers look good as new. It’s also a fun activity. Instagrammers love The Steamery’s Pilo 2 shaver, but less stylish budget options that perform the same task are available.

Replace any tired basics

By this point you have probably binned yellowing white T-shirts and holey jeans – well, we hope so – but you might have noticed you now have some gaps in your wardrobe. We recommend stocking up on the basics you know you need and will wear religiously. For many, that’s some reliable plain t-shirts, a good pair of jeans and joggers. Some brands do great multipacks if you’re feeling lazy.

To get a good idea of the essentials that make styling your other jazzier pieces simple, it’s worth googling people’s #capsulewardrobes but it’s worth remembering that one person’s essential is not another’s. Try and tailor your must-haves to your lifestyle and not to match another list.

For inspiration look at our best T-shirt and best jeans for men guides.

Invest in a couple of trends to update your look 

Basics are great, but can get a little boring. To keep your wardrobe fresh and exciting it’s worth keeping abreast of fashion trends and adding a couple into the mix that you’ll enjoy wearing. For example, if you’re a fan of preppy fashion you might want to buy a sleeveless sweater, or if you like a pop of colour, you might want to embrace the trend for all things psychedelic. Whatever your style, there’s almost certainly a trend that can elevate the rest of your wardrobe. 

You can check out our guide to wearable 2022 trends for Spring/summer, which might help you snap up a bargain in the January sales. But, if you see something you like and can imagine wearing it to multiple situations and with different items already in your wardrobe, it’s probably a good investment.

Organise, organise, organise

Once you have edited your wardrobe, mended any broken items and shopped for new ones that will enhance your personal style, it’s time to organise your clothes to make them easy to wear and more enjoyable on a daily basis. 

Maybe you’re someone that responds well to grouping colours together, or you like all your jackets and shirts in one place. Whatever your preference, work out a system that’s easy to maintain and if you’re feeling fancy, invest in some matching hangers to make your wardrobe appear extra organised.

Similarly add dividers to your drawers to separate your underwear and keep your jumpers in good shape. Marie Kondo has a great trick for folding t-shirts and other clothes so they look uniform and easy to spot. It’s possible you might get so into your system you want a folding board for next Christmas. Brabantia does an amazing one that’s even designed to hang in your wardrobe.

All these steps might seem like a lot of work, but trust us. Swapping to an organised wardrobe from a ‘floordrobe’ will fill you with inspiration and allow you to experiment with new looks and waste less money on unsuitable clothing. Investing some time in revamping your wardrobe will certainly pay style dividends.