The Devil's In The Details

Just before the Easter break I wrote about spring cleaning our apartment. Well, that felt so good - equal parts cleansing, reinvigorating and mood-enhancing - that I’m now starting work on other areas of life that have been neglected somewhat, namely my wardrobe and my makeup.

It’s actually pretty amazing how doing a bunch of tiny things you’ve managed to put off for ages can make a big difference. Here are some things I’ve done or am dedicated to doing this week.

First and most obvious, filter my wardrobe. Step one is to rifle through and toss out anything I haven’t worn in… say… three months (not including season-specific items). From this, decide which I’m likely to ever wear again. Those that don’t make the cut will either go in a ‘give-away’ or a ‘sell’ pile.

Another urgent issue to address is all those annoying dry-clean only items. As a collector of silk shirts and other impractical-to-clean items, this is a constant issue, mostly finance and memory-based (read - I can’t really afford it and when I can I always forget), so I often have a towering pile of sad and crumpled items waiting. 

There are three particular trouble-makers that my local drycleaner won’t take, as two have painted metal buttons (this was discovered when the paint came off the buttons of one the first time I took it in, beware the deceptive beauty of the T By Alexander Wang silk crepe de chine shirt!) and the other has metal collar tips that apparently leach stains onto the fabric and they aren't prepared to take the risk. Seriously, they are the bane of my existence. I am determined to find someone that will clean these, who is also easy to get to… (love you shirts)

A third smaller sub-group here is the ‘menders and alterations’ – that Cybele silk dress I really should let go but love so much, despite being borderline threadbare from overuse and complete with tear from where I caught it on a drawer handle (a dark day), and my favourite black skinny J Brand jeans, which have always been way too long in the leg, for some reason I seem to have an aversion to getting them hemmed so instead I hardly ever wear them. This is just stupid, and needs to be remedied. I can already feel the joy my ankles will experience when they are released from their bunched-up torment.

Next is what’s on the bottom of the wardrobe, currently in a huge, jumbled, dusty and terrible pile – shoes. Again, a few things need to happen. One is the above filter and file, but the other is what I like to think of as shoe redemption. Often (but not always) the shoes you love the most are also those you wear the most, therefore, they’re likely to be showing that love and wear, in all the wrong places. 

Take a look at those guys and ask yourself – can I save you, and what will it take? In my case, some simple and inexpensive fixes are getting new shoe laces for my patent-leather brogues (one has come unraveled and is threatening to snap at any time) and glueing down the sole on my well-loved biker boots, which have lately taken on the appearance of something a comical hobo character might wear - flapping sole and all…

Others follow in quick succession -

New tights! And plenty of them! Again with the comical hobo thing, every pair of black tights I own (and there are many) has at least one hole in the toe, I’ve taken to only wearing closed shoes so no one can see my shame.

Throw away old make-up! (Realistically I won't ever try to get the last drop out of that YSL foundation bottle, despite looking at it and thinking about it for the last month or so.) And wash brushes and sponges! So fresh!

Actually that’s all I can think of for now… but boy, I feel better already. Deep cleansing sigh. Any other tips, while I’m at it?

x


(Image via songofstyle)