Not all of us can live in big houses in the suburbs with walk-in wardrobes – often for practical reasons. Many of us need to be closer to the center of town for work or just for the sake of our lifestyles.
Even if you live in a resale flat, though, you can still accommodate all the essentials you need. It just takes a bit of planning and understanding what’s essential.
Take a look at your closet and chest of drawers. Count up the number of garments you never use and then consider the volume they occupy. You’ll usually find that they take up massive amounts of space. Things like thick coats and wooly jumpers tend to make up the most space, but you wear these items the least. It’s a strange trade-off.
So what does a minimalist wardrobe look like? What do you actually need as a man to keep you looking sharp and fresh? Let’s take a look.
Neutrality
If you want to keep the cost and size of your wardrobe as low as possible, it pays to go “neutral.” When you have a variety of colors, you wind up having to craft very specific outfits for your style to make sense. But when you go down the neutral route, most things mix and match. You don’t have to have a series of “looks.” Your clothes just work together.
Try choosing blacks, greys, and whites for both your informal and formal attire. You’ll find that things go together much more easily and you don’t have to spend so much time planning in the morning.
Choose Quality Items
Going to the bargain store for fashion might seem like a win-win, but it’s not. Like anything else you buy, there are tangible differences in the quality of garments from the dollar store and a known brand.
If you don’t choose quality, you’ll often wind up collecting more clothes than you can store. Old garments wear out quickly, and you’re left with a stack of clothes that are only good for DIY.
Choose Versatile Items
A lot of men get into the habit of thinking that they need specialist clothes. They want a wardrobe for every occasion – something that can accommodate their lifestyle, no matter what it throws at them. Unfortunately, that usually leads to a big closet – with many of the clothes never getting worn.
The trick here is to focus on versatility, not variety. You want clothes that you can wear in multiple situations, not just one or two throughout the year. A black top hat might be a lot of fun to own, but when are you seriously able to wear it. A black cardigan, on the other hand, is something you can put on in any situation.
Be Appropriate
The clothes in your wardrobe should also reflect the kind of life that you lead. There’s no point in having suits filling your closet if you have a manual job on a construction site.
Being appropriate is important. When you’re saving space, you should only keep clothes that are appropriate for your specific situation. If you only wear a suit once every six months, then you probably only need one in your closet – if any at all. But if you’re continually wearing smart casual, it pays to have a few pairs of chinos and maybe a selection of polo tops. That way, you get the most variety efficiently.
Tailor Your Clothes
Lack of well-fitting clothes might be another reason you have a large wardrobe. No matter how hard you try, you never seem to be able to find clothes that hug your body how you’d like – so you wind up buying new ones.
Tailoring your clothes, however, completely changes the nature of getting dressed in the morning. Finally, you’re putting on garments made for your body size and shape – not that of the average man.
Often, just a few small tweaks make all the difference. Find a tailor, tell them your measurements, and then let them get on with the task of creating clothing that suits you perfectly.
Focus On Jackets
If you want to add character to your wardrobe, focus on varying your jackets. Bomber jackets are great and work well with chinos and t-shirts, allowing you to keep everything else simple.
If you have space, you might also want to get a hard-wearing denim jacket – something you can wear in the cooler months of the year as well as the summer.
Finally, you might want to get a trench coat or something similar when the weather turns genuinely cold.
Thanks for reading and y’all stay dandy.
-Diego
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