Year-Round Wardrobe Management

Bridging Between Seasons

Now that you’ve built your very small wardrobe and thought out your capsules to augment it, it’s time to examine how to make this system work for you from season to season. Generally speaking, you will need to review your closet inventory two to four times a year as you change out your closet seasonally.

There is something incredibly satisfying about storing away a past season’s clothes and bringing out the new season’s attire. When you’ve finally packed away your winter clothes it is a celebration of the warmer weather. Likewise, welcoming you’re your fall/winter wardrobe back into your closet is a settling in in anticipation of the colder months and holidays yet to come.

Begin to think of your wardrobe in terms of two seasons -- winter and summer. In parts of the world where you have a long, cold winter, the greater part of the year will be spent wearing your cold weather clothes. Likewise, if you live in an area where it’s warm and sunny for the majority of the year, you’ll be wearing your summer wardrobe for a longer amount of time.

Between these two seasons are the transitional periods of spring and fall where you will need to bridge from cold to warm and from warm to cold. Most people do not need entirely new wardrobes for spring and fall -- what they do need are some key transitional pieces.

In order to plan effectively for the changing of the seasons, your clothing should be divided into winter, summer, and transitional wardrobes. You will want to have gone through the wardrobe planning process for both your summer wardrobe and your winter wardrobe. Your transitional wardrobe will be much smaller and will include pieces that are too light for winter, yet too heavy for summer. Examples of these would be long-sleeved yet lightweight blouses or twin sets with a sleeveless shell. These items are perfect for the in-between temperatures of spring and fall.

The Transitional Wardrobe

Let’s look at how to create a transitional wardrobe to move from summer to winter and from winter to summer.

For explanations sake, let’s assume that you are moving from summer into fall. To bridge the seasons, you will want to find five tops in a transitional weight. Each of these tops should go with both one of your summer bottoms and one of your winter bottoms. For the sixth outfit, instead of finding a transitional top, find a transitional bottom piece that will work with both one of your summer tops and one of your winter tops. This will give you a little variety.

As summer moves toward fall, bring out your transitional pieces. Since the weather varies so much as the seasons begin to change, you will find yourself wearing one day a summer outfit, and the next a transitional one. As the weather progresses more towards the colder winter weather, bring out your winter wardrobe and retire your summer wardrobe. Now you can blend your transitional pieces with your winter wardrobe in the same way you did with summer. Once you are fully into winter, retire your transitional pieces until the weather once again begins to change in the spring.

The more extreme the difference between your winter and summer weather, the more important your transitional wardrobe will be. However, if you live in a climate where there is not much variation between the seasons, you may not need transitional wardrobe pieces. As the weather begins to change, just bring out the next season’s clothing and wear what feels appropriate for the day until the seasons have truly shifted. Then retire the past season’s clothing until the weather changes once again. The less extreme the difference, the less time and thought you will need to devote to bridging the seasons.

Some people may want two transitional wardrobes…one for spring and another for fall. It really is up to you. If you have very lengthy transitional periods, you may want to invest in two separate transitional wardrobes. I have found, however, that one works surprisingly well. Especially if the colors in the transitional pieces are neutral and not season specific.

Retiring Clothes for the Season
Transitional points in times are great for reassessing your wardrobe needs. As you put away the past season’s clothing, do a quick survey. Are there any items that are worn and will need to be replaced? Any that no longer fit well? Now is the time to get rid of them. Eliminate these items from your wardrobe planning worksheet so you know there will be empty spots to fill. At this point you aren’t planning your shopping spree yet, just eliminating the clothes that no longer serve you. There is no need to wonder what you’ll replace them with just yet.

Are there any pieces that you just know you aren’t all that into any more? Rather than eliminate these pieces at this time, put a note on your wardrobe planning worksheet about how you feel and why. Sometimes after a season of storage, and with the possibility of recombining pieces, you may feel differently.

Were there outfits that you absolutely adored? Put a note on your worksheet about how you feel and why. Keeping track of this information is not only helpful for when you pull the clothes out again, it can help you continually refine what you look and feel good in.

Keep in mind that on average you will replace 1/3 of your wardrobe a year. This comes down to three-five outfit’s a year, or four-five pieces a season.

Pulling Out Next Season's Clothes
In this transitional period, you’ll also have your next season’s wardrobe coming into focus.
Take your wardrobe planning worksheet for the upcoming season and quickly scan. Look over the holes that you know you will need to fill. Read any notes you left for yourself as you retired these clothes last. Are there any pieces that, after several months of rest you know you’d still like to trade out?

Pull out your wardrobe. First remove the items you know you want to replace. Keep together the outfits that you know you just loved. Among the rest of your clothes are there any new combinations that you can create? At this point, don’t be afraid to try different combos together. After playing around, once again, fill out your template for the season and make note of any holes that need to be filled.

This process can be very helpful to go through with a friend. A friend may have a fresh way of looking at things and some neat insight into your wardrobe. Ultimately, however, make the decisions yourself.

Now comes the shopping! Armed with the list of what you know you need, look up your go-to stores/catalogs and begin to think about what you’d like to fill the gaps with. Have an idea of the styles and colors you need beforehand so that you can forgo looking through items that you know won’t fit in your wardrobe right now. Have fun!

Once you’ve invested the time in the initial wardrobe planning process, updating and maintaining your wardrobe is purely fun. Over the course of time you can experiment with new colors and new styles. And if you plan on incrementally upping the quality of the clothes you introduce into your closet you will be surprised at how quickly your wardrobe’s overall quality improves!


Return to the Home Page

Contact Jennifer