The Simple Closet

I like order.  Simplicity.  Serenity.  However, life tends to hand us chaos, complication and distress.  A lot of that is outside my realm of control.  But there is one place I can reign supreme!  Yes, it's my closet.


A year or two ago I was reading a book about Minimalism.  What is minimalism, you ask?  Joshua Becker has written a lot about it.  He defines it this way:  "At its core, minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it."  But the book I was reading, was, I think, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide by Francine Jay. In that book she said wise things about learning how to "live lightly and gracefully, with only the objects I find functional or beautiful." I garnered several great ideas from her, but one of the best was concerning simplifying your wardrobe.

After reading her book I went through my closet, evaluating which clothes I really liked, which ones I was wearing but never really liked, etc.  I wanted to keep items that made me feel great when I put them on, not just stuff that "I paid good money for" but made me cringe every time I put them on.  Francine's best advice was to simplify my wardrobe by picking ONE set of base colors (neutrals)-- for instance black and gray OR brown and khaki and only keeping what will mix and match with that palette.  I had a full range of shoes, purses, belts, pants and skirts in black, gray, brown, cream, khaki... I have always operated with that whole variety and thought that's how it had to be done.

I decided to be bold and follow this advice.  I chose chocolate brown and khaki as my base colors.  I love color, especially what I call light bright pastels, and I decided that my favorite colors (green, pink, teal, plum) would all go nicely with either brown or tan.  I never really liked black and never thought I looked great in it.  I promptly (with some trepidation) donated my black and gray pants, shoes, skirts, belts and purses.  It was a bit scary!  Ok, I admit that I kept one pair of dressy black sandals and a few dresses that were black or had black in them for dressy occasions.  Even though I was fearful about "wasting" those things, I haven't missed them at all.

The great thing is that now almost everything in my closet can be worn together in various combinations.  I wear mostly jeans and khakis (I'm a pretty casual person).

Typical fall Lisa-outfit

Typical year-round attire

As I said, I love color and T-shirts suit me to a T.  My friend-- shall I call her April-- looks fabulous all the time in beautiful silky blouses with coordinated jewelry.  It would be great if I could pull off a look like that, but unfortunately I am a sweat-er and have to stick with natural blends.  Plus I am a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl and I have learned to embrace that about myself.

Where was I?  Ok, in the morning I can grab the appropriate "bottom" in denim or khaki:  skirt, long pants, capris or shorts.

Jeans are the best.

Ew, it looks like khakis tend to wrinkle... I am obviously not too concerned!

I have made a brief foray into shorts of various hues.  They complicate my life... just a little.

Then I can pick a bright T-shirt.  All my many T-shirts will look great with either denim or khaki...

And yes, I hang up my T-shirts because it's easier to pop them onto a hanger than fold them and I don't have to deal with creases down my middle.

and if the weather warrants I'll pick a jacket or cardigan or fleece to layer on top.  Done!

I use cardigans rather than pull-over sweaters so I can easily put-on or take-off a layer.

Love these 2 jackets!  The denim one from Christopher and Banks goes with khaki pants. The khaki jacket from Dress Barn looks great with jeans (and a bright shirt of course)

Isn't this cute detailing?  I like it.

The seaming and pleats in the back of this jacket are adorable.

Full-zip "sweatshirts" and fleeces in thin to toasty weights. Looks like I could use more color variety...

This is so freeing.  Shopping is so much easier because I don't even have to look at black... anything.  Keep in mind that's there's a greater selection in the black range than in brown, but that's okay.  There's still plenty of choices.

Less is more for me for shoes:  I have tan sandals, brown dress sandals, brown suede pumps, brown loafers, bronze sandals and brown low boots.  I also have 2 more  pairs of brown boots that I wear in the winter... and sneakers and flip flops...

And I have to say, that taking these pictures has helped me see that I could use a few cardigans and fleeces in the pink/red range.  Hmm.  Time to go shopping?  Yes, please!  In a "minimal" way, of course!

I know a lot of you won't embrace this whole idea and you have a fashion sense that won't be satisfied by mere jeans and T-shirts, but that's okay.  But maybe it's a good time for you to think about what you have in your closet and make it work for you.  As for me, my simple closet gives me a little island of order and serenity in the midst of life that tends to get oh so messy!