Suitcase Style

My closet is full and I have nothing to wear. This is the story of my life. Luckily, my brother married a fashion guru this past August and she introduced me to the concept of "Suitcase Styling." The concept is that you put a minimal amount of clothes together for a maximum variety of outfits i.e. 16 pieces (2 pants, 2 skirts, 5 shirts, 3 sweaters, 2 jackets, 1 coat, 1 dress)= 40+ outfits. The idea was amazing and I couldn't wait to try. 

When I went through my closet, I realized my wardrobe consists mostly of gifts, cast-offs and thrift store clothing. I also have a really hard time letting things go and I'm not naturally organized. Recipe for a perfect storm? You better believe it. I'm a hodge podge collector of anything, cute, cheap or potentially useful. I have way too much stuff. Enter Style Suitcases. I found that among my mass of nothingness, I had about 12 of the first 16 essentials. Mind you, I had a baby a while ago so some of my things don't fit anymore, but that still doesn't do me any good.

I started with my dresser. I pulled out my 12 good things, plus a few extra sweaters and bottoms, and stuffed the rest in a garbage bag. (I'm not letting those things go quite yet. I want to organize them into different seasons so I minimize what new things I have to buy). My dresser went from bursting to practically empty. Wow. The best part was when I wore one of my outfits to church on Sunday and everyone said how much they loved my "new" outfit. Double Wow. It's like I'm drastically pruning my wardrobe and new life is bursting out of it.

So do you want to give it a try? My favorite site is so far is this one.  I love the idea of little suitcase wardrobes you can interchange with the seasons. And of course Pinterest is an excellent resource. This idea is especially budget friendly and it helps me know what I need to buy so I don't just pick something up at the thrift store because I think it's cute and a great deal.  Here is another more generic guide but the rules are almost identical.