The Ultimate Closet Transformation: Your Secret to a New Year’s Editing Success
Have you ever put on a piece of clothing and instantly felt “off”? You love the style, but for some reason, it makes you feel “blah” and you just can’t explain why. You hold onto it because you feel guilty for buying it, or because you think you’ll wear it “someday”. Sound familiar?
Believe it or not, I used to feel that way about a lot of things in my closet. Even though every piece I owned was technically my style, I didn’t feel fabulous in a lot of my clothes and even worse, I couldn’t figure out why.
When I started to think about a major closet overhaul, I stumbled upon a podcast about color analysis, and it truly changed my life.
What is Color Analysis?
Color analysis is when a professional analyzes your hair color, eye color and skin tone and tells you the exact colors and shades that look best on you. The Everyday Style podcast episode I listened to was an interview with Jeannie of Your Color Guru. When I finished the episode, I immediately went to Jeannie’s website and started researching. Right away, I was impressed by the website’s photos of women wearing their best colors versus what they had worn before. Somehow, when they wore their “best colors”, their smiles looked brighter, their dark circles disappeared, and dare I say - some of them even looked younger!
So, I decided to pull the trigger and splurge $250 on the package that offered both a clothing and makeup “color card” (pictured below). Per the instructions, I submitted 5 unfiltered photos of myself to guide the analysis. When I received my color card 48 hours later, I learned something that I never knew about myself: I am cool toned! This simple fact immediately explained why I wasn’t loving my wardrobe…
A LOT of the clothes I owned and thought I liked were best for warm skin tones. My closet was full of tans, browns and warm pinks… my “worst” colors!
How I Started Using my Color Card
While I felt inspired by the color palette, I also felt overwhelmed. I now knew that I had a lot of editing to do. Regardless, I decided to give myself the grace to do it slowly. After all, I still needed to wear something, and upgrading investment pieces (like outerwear and shoes) should never be rushed.
As I sifted through my closet, I realized that I already owned a few items in my best colors. When I began editing, I decided to keep all the pieces I loved (regardless of the color). I also made a point to start wearing the items I already owned in my best colors more often. I firmly believe in wearing pieces that bring you joy, even if they aren’t technically the “best” color or silhouette for you. From there, I made myself a simple promise: I will only purchase new clothing pieces in my best colors going forward.
To make things less overwhelming, I decided to choose a few “accent colors” within the same color family (i.e. shades of blue and green). This way, as I built my wardrobe, things would naturally mix and match. For neutrals, I began to stray away from earth tones and replace them with cool toned neutrals like black, white, gray and navy.
While upgrading has taken time, wearing my best colors has been absolutely life changing! I have the same mix and match functionality as before, except now I love the way I look and feel in every piece. Just a few months later, my wardrobe has become leaner and getting dressed has become easier and more fun! This may actually be the closest I’ve ever come to a capsule wardrobe (my closet is pictured below).
Is color analysis worth the price?
While it initially felt silly to splurge on something as simple as a color card, it has become an instrumental part of building the wardrobe of my dreams. Don’t get me wrong… I still have a few pieces that aren’t my best colors, and I love some of them. But, the majority of my closet now falls within a palette that truly makes me look and feel my best.
To be clear, I would never suggest getting rid of the things you love - even if they aren’t your best colors. For example, I own a tan sweater and tan peacoat that I love and will never part with - and that’s okay! But if you don’t love your wardrobe, this might be the missing ingredient.
Happy editing!
Alexa