DIY wardrobe workout

As this week is turning itself into wardrobe week on the blog, I thought I'd give you a few insider stylist tips to help you care for your closet. This is assuming all the talk of rubber hangers, folding templates and drawer liners has got you going, and you're already dreaming of your very own Mariah-esque (keep dreaming) super-organised wardrobe. You could, of course, be yawning away into your uncoordinated Tshirt pile and wondering what all the fuss is about. But I'm guessing if you're a fan of this blog, you might want to read on. Seriously, just reading it makes you feel all virtuous and organised. Kind of.

• Closet detox: Take all your clothes out, put into piles of 'throw out/give to charity', 'amend/repair/dry-clean' and 'keep', then sort them into seasons and store away the clothes you won't be wearing for months in zip-up plastic garment bags or fabric clothing covers so air can circulate (the whole vacuum-pack thing just adds creases you will never get out). Store heavy items and coats on wooden hangers so they don't lose their shape. For more precious garments, such as vintage and designer clothes, wrap and fold each item in acid-free paper (try John Lewis) to stop dyes running and protect delicate fabrics and detailing, then keep them in a storage box. 
• Spring clean: Now it's time to get down and dirty, wiping down your wardrobe and drawers with a cloth and non-bleaching spray, such as Cif or Dettol's surface cleaner. Once dry, prevent any smells building up in your wardrobe by placing a few fabric conditioning sheets around, or sachets of lavender (moths hate lavender. Mind you, if it reminds you of your granny, you might want to stick to wooden anti-moth balls or the Bounce sheets. Smelling like a granny isn't always the best pulling tactic).
• Start organising: Now you've stored away the season you're not wearing and given your wardrobe a  clean, you can start decanting this season's clothes back into your newly cleaned wardrobe, utilising non-slip hangers, folding templates, boot inserts, whatever takes your fancy (again, see Practical Princess and Total Wardrobe Care for amazing wardobe organising tools). Also worth checking out are storage solutions from places like The Holding Company and Muji, as well as pretty and stylish options - canvas garment boxes, trunks, printed garment bags - from Cath Kidston and The White Company.
• Find your sorting style: How you organise your clothes is quite a personal thing, and depends on your lifestyle, the type of clothes you are, how anal you are... But you could pick from the following options: sort into shirts, tops, trousers, jeans, skirts, dresses and jackets, with Ts, camis, vests, leggings and sweaters folded neatly into piles on shelves or in drawers; hang clothes in outfit combinations for the week so you don't have to think about what to wear each morning; colour coordinate, keeping similar and tonal colours together so you end up with a spectrum of pleasing shades; keep everyday/casual/work clothes on one side and evening-wear/going out clothes on the other.
• Create outfits: Take pics of yourself wearing outfits you feel fab in and upload them onto a document you can print out and stick to the inside of your wardrobe door or in a drawer, so that you can access it easily for 'What the hell shall I wear?' days. Also, if you have a smart phone, check out the nifty outfit-generator apps such as Closet Lite and Stylebook, where you can upload photos of your clothes and categorise them, planning what to wear, seeing what goes with what. If you're not so handy with the uploading stuff, just write a list of outfit combinations with a humble biro and keep that handy instead, just like Posh does. Maybe.