The Plus Sized Autumn

Before color analysis, I felt like this chronically. I had things that I liked the style of, or liked how they fit me, but I was never happy with the contents of my closet. Nothing felt right. But what can you do when you’ve already had your colors done?

Spring is a time for renewal: we open windows and let the stale air out our homes, we clean, moods shift for the better, and there’s an “out with the old, in with the new” attitude. With the seasons changing and weather looking better, it’s completely normal to be feeling tired of your closet this time of year.

I’ve been very intentional with my purchases since my color analysis, but I have a lot of experience and still know how to overhaul my wardrobe. I usually start with a purge. I do all my laundry, making sure I have everything together, and hang or lay everything out where I can see it easily. Then I sort through it piece by piece. Sorting it out by type of clothing (tops, dresses, pants, etc.) can help if you’re overwhelmed with this.

As I go through my clothes, I’m sorting things into different categories: keep, loop back to, sell/donate, and trash. If I can check “yes” on everything I’m looking for, it goes in the keep pile. If it’s a “yes” for some things, it goes in the loop back to pile (as long as it fits!). Sell/Donate is for things that are in good condition but I won’t be keeping, and the trash pile is for things that are too worn, stained, or have damage.

Here’s what I’m looking for and what’s going through my mind when I’m sorting:

1. Are there signs of wear and damage, such as holes or tears, fading or stains, pilling, or worn areas between the thighs or at the underarm seams?
2. Does this fit me correctly? Not just size-wise, but the length and bust?
3. If applicable, does the neckline droop or need constant adjusting? Is it too low or too high for me to be comfortable?
4. Is this in my color palette? If you don’t know your seasonal color palette I highly recommend getting analyzed by House of Colour! For now, feel free to skip this step or replace it with, “Does this color make me feel good?”
5. Does this honor my body and my style profile? If you haven’t had a style analysis done, feel free to skip or replace this with “Does this flatter and enhance my natural body shape and proportions?
6. Am I comfortable in this? Is it easy for me to move around in, walk in, sit in, bend over in? If it’s uncomfortable now, it will still be uncomfortable at work, school, the grocery store, or in any other setting!
7. Do I feel confident in this? Does it make me happy?
8. If it’s not a yes, it’s a no.

When I’ve gone through all of these things, I hang my keeps back in my closet. If I had anything that I wanted to loop back to, I hang that in a separate spot. My sell/donate items get sorted into two storage totes for transporting. I always start with the sell items: they get posted to Poshmark and/or taken to a local resale shop. My donate bin gets to be taken to a local thrift store. If there was something in those piles that I think a friend or family member would love, I always offer it to them first.

My trash pile gets put in a trash bag, and this may ruffle some feathers, but it gets thrown out. Occasionally I’ll offer it to people in my life who sew, but since I make it a point to only trash what isn’t usable anymore, this doesn’t happen often.

So, say you’ve done all of these things, had your color analysis, and had your style analysis. What do you do when your closet is just feeling…blah? I’ll admit that this isn’t something I’ve run into post-analysis, but I did struggle with it before I knew my season.

These are some things I’ve done in the past that worked well for me, along with some ideas suggested by friends, family, and the ever-so-handy internet:

1. Rotate clothes out based on mood, season, activity, or as needed every few weeks for novelty.
2. If you have friends who wear the same size as you, have a clothing swap party! You can keep it simple if that’s your style, or make an evening out of it with snacks, movies, and fashion shows. Most of us did that when we were younger, right?!
3. Purge your closet, and take things you aren’t interested in keeping to a resale store like Plato’s Closet or Clothes Mentor. Most stores like these offer a higher payout if you trade your items versus sell them outright, so if you choose to do that, you can basically get a free shopping spree.
4. Try a new way of styling the clothes you already have in your closet. Maybe that sweater looks better over a dress, maybe those jeans that are a little too short would make great shorts! I’ve started tying some tops in a knot at the side of my hips, near my belt loops, when I want an alternative to a front tuck. I never would have thought to do that until it was suggested in my style analysis!
5. This one isn’t for everyone, but I recently dyed a top that I didn’t like the color of. I loved the style and the fabric it was made of though, it fit well, and it was comfortable…so I bought a bottle of RIT dye! I’ll put those details in a separate post and link it here in the future, but right now my process can be found over on my Instagram.

There are a lot of options for when you’re tired of your clothes. Some options are more straight forward while some involve effort, but I hope that you’re able to take my suggestions and mold them into something that works for you.

If you have questions that I haven’t answered in this post, or if you have something you’d like to add or get clarification on, please reach out to me. I welcome constructive feedback and I love getting suggestions from my followers/readers! Thank you for being here ❤