WARDROBE

REHAB
5 STEPS TO THE PERFECT CLOSET

B y G e n e v a Va n d e r z e i l
 Let’s Wardrobe Rehab!

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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA

HEY GUYS!
My name is Geneva and I have a confession
to make... I used to be a clothes hoarder.
I used to buy and buy with no concept of
outfits, my closet was in overflowing but
weirdly, I always felt I had nothing to wear.
for how you can not only organise and edit
your existing wardrobe, but how you can
also develop your personal style, choose
a palette and focus your shopping. All so
you can look and feel your best.

But 6 years ago when I was living in London
I started writing on the subject of Wardrobe
Rehab… Fast forward and I’ve learnt so
much about maintaining a functional closet
and developing your style, much more than
I understood when I first started. So we’ve
put together this guide to share 5 steps to
perfecting your closet with tips and tricks
The goal is a wardrobe that’s easy to
navigate, full of pieces that you absolutely
love and are able to create infinite outfits
with. And so that you never stand in front of
your closet wondering what to wear again!
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 Wardrobe Rehab
The diagram velow shows the steps for
Wardrobe Rehab. Turn to the next page to
read more details about all the steps.

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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
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 5 STEPS TO THE PERFECT CLOSET

In this guide we’ll take you through 5

easy steps, giving you tips and tools for
wardrobe success. Take some time to
understand each step and move through
the steps in sequence so that you can
add to the different elwements of your
wardrobe properly.

1 2 3
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA

CULLING PERSONAL STYLE ESSENTIALS

Get it out of your life. You do you. Gather the basics.

An overflowing wardrobe
filled with mis matched items
and impulse purchases is
one of the biggest stumbling
blocks for creating fantastic
personal style and outfits
that are easy to put together.
In this step we’re going to
share you how to cull your
wardrobe and edit it down
to your best pieces, creating
room for a better closet.
Understanding what you like
and what suits you is key to
developing a wardrobe that
works really well for you and
makes you happy. In this
step we help you uncover
your own personal style,
by looking at the items
in your closet, inspiration
and helping you develop
personal style guidelines.
All those times you stood
staring at your closet
thinking you had nothing
to wear, chances are it’s
because you didn’t have
the key items in your closet
that go together and open
up unlimited outfit options.
In this step we’ll help you
understand what essentials
you need in your closet.
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COLOURS
Develop a palette.
Once your closet has the
essentials, it’s time to
understand more about
colours and how they can
be used to create beautiful
outfits. In this step you’ll
learn about how to develop
a colour palette and use
colours in your wardrobe.
And do it so that your closet
doesn’t date!
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SHOPPING
Focus your spending.
Now that you’ve got that
amazing closet sorted, the
last thing you want to do is
ruin it with poor shopping
choices, so in this step we
share a series of tools to help
you focus your shopping and
pick items that continue to
make your wardrobe better
and better.
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STEP ONE

CULLING
THE MAGIC OF THROWING OUT

T E X T BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y B R YA N T L E E
 Step 1 - Culling
The foundation of a well functioning
(and chic) wardrobe that is conducive
to quick and easy dressing begins with
culling.
Culling meaning removing damaged,
non-essential or mis-matched pieces
and helps create a clean canvas to build
the perfect wardrobe upon.
Culling is somehting you really need to
commit to doing. Take a morning out
to try on every item in your wardrobe in
front of a mirror and be ruthless about
every item’s wearability. Ask yourself the
10 questions below and sort your clothes
into two piles, those that are going and
WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
those that are staying.
ASK YOURSELF
• Is it worn out? Remove any items that
are ripped, stained or worn beyond
repair.
• Have I worn this in the past year?
Remove any items you haven’t worn in
the last 12 months. (Although, allow
yourself to keep a small number of
‘sentimental’ items, just be careful that
pile doesn’t grow and grow).
• Does this make me feel confident?
Clothes that make you feel your best
will make you look your best. Remove
any items that are the wrong shape,
colour or cut.
• Does this fit properly? Check the fit of
each item by trying them on and moving
in them, lifting your arms, sitting down,
walking and bending over. Remove any
items that are too short, too tight or
when wearing, require you to adjust too
frequently.
• Is this item out of date? Often fashions,
prints and colours of a past trend will
date quickly and while this doesn’t
mean they can’t be incorporated into
your wardrobe, remove any items that
you haven’t worn recently.
• Does this need altering or repairing? If
a piece of clothing is slightly damaged
or ill-fitted it may be worth taking to
the tailors. This is especially so if the
garment is well-made and of a quality
material like silk, wool or cotton.
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
N O W W H AT ?
After going through your whole closet,
including shoes, accessories and
underwear, your clothes should be divided
into two sections, those that are staying
and those that are going. Put the ones you
want to keep back in your closet, and for
those that you don’t want anymore split it
up into the following sections.
PILE 1. ALTERING (OR DIY)
If they need altering, take these garments
to the tailors or if you have access to a
sewing machine, you can also alter them
yourself.
PILE 2. DONATE
These are pieces that are a bit worn, dated
and not worth selling. Take these items to
a thrift store or give them away to family
or friends. It’s best to avoid throwing away
garments if they are still wearable because
they can be easily reused and will avoid
ending up in landfill.
PILE 3. CLOTHES TO SELL
Selling your old clothes is a great way
of both recycling them (they’ll get a new
owner) and making money from that which
has been collecting dust in your closet.
Use Ebay, Depop or other online apps, or
arrange a clothing swap or sale.
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STEP TWO

PERSONAL STYLE
It doesn’t have to be complicated

T E X T BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
 Step 2 - Defining Personal Style
In contrast to fashion, style is your own
unique and individual taste in clothes.
Basically, you want the clothes in your
wardrobe to speak your style language
so you’re communicating who you are
through what you wear – and doing it
well. A well defined sense of style speaks
of your own knowledge of yourself and
enforces your self confidence when
facing the outside world.I used to
struggle too! Wearing anything and
everything and wondering why I never
felt confident in my outfit. But over time
I have developed my sense of style, and
we’re hoping to help you do that too.
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
1. RESEARCH AND COLLECT
INSPIRATION
Collect images of aesthetics you like
from magazines, blogs or Pinterest can
help inform you of the styles, shapes
and colours that you gravitate towards.
When doing your research, try to look
past elements of fashion and trends and
focus more on the clothes themselves:
silhouettes, fabrics, patterns, colour
and texture, and try to be realistic
about looking for outfits that you would
actually wear.
2. ANALYSE YOUR ‘KEEP’ PILE FROM
YOUR WARDROBE CULL
The clothes you kept from your wardrobe
cull say a lot about your style as they are
the clothes you feel comfortable and
confident wearing and look good on
you. Now it’s time to understand why.
What are their characteristics? What
do I like about them? What do they say
about my future shopping purchases?
Try to be specific about fabrics, cuts and
shapes. However, you don’t have to let
this pile define you either, but use it as a
foundation to grow and develop.
3. CONSIDER YOUR LIFESTYLE
What you do day-to-day, whether it’s
going to parties, meetings or running
marathons, plays a big part in how
your wardrobe should be shaped. For
someone like me that’s not too hard
– home/studio/weekend it’s pretty
much all the same. On the other hand,
rationalising two very different lifestyles
(the yogi lawyer or student secretary)
means you’ll need to develop capsule
wardrobes for those parts of your life.
It’s important to have your own personal
style influence those capsules too, so
you always feel like you.
4. EXPERIMENT
Now it’s time to play around with your
personal style – because sometimes
what you’re used to doesn’t equate to
what you like or what makes you feel
good. Try these little experiments below
and see how they make you feel.
– Go into 3 stores and try on 50 different
items. Make a pile of the things that
work and those that didn’t. Is there a
pattern?
– Make outfits out of colours you would
never usually wear. How do you feel?
– Have a friend dress you up in an outfit
they would typically wear. How do you
feel?
– Create an outfit with a silhouette
that is the opposite of what you would
usually wear. Thought?
– Using Pinterest find 5 pieces of
clothing that you would love to wear
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 Understand your body shape

Knowing your body shape and what
looks good on you is a (somewhat)
useful tool to helping understand your
personal style. However, we believe
that understanding your body shape
isn’t about boxing you into a certain
formula of dressing or obsessing over
how to look perfect at the cost of being
happy in what you are wearing. On the
contrary, by getting a good feel of what
suits and flatters you most, it gives you
the freedom to experiment, and also
gives you the confidence to know which
rules to break/stick to and when.
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
 D EV E L O P YO U R ST Y L E G U I D E L I N E S

Once you’ve analysed your tastes, what classic

suits you and your lifestyle, it’s time to
put that all together into guidelines
that will help you shape your closet
decisions and personal style choices in
a meaningful way.
• Lines: What shapes and silhouettes do
you see?
e.g. structured, owing, hourglass, boxy

VISUALS Similarly, while these words don’t

Creating a mood board is a great way
to summarise and establish the overall
look and feel you want from your
wardrobe. This will help you identity
necessarily define the clothes you can
and can’t wear, they give good insight
into your core personality and style
because at the end of the day, the 21
clothes you wear should be able to

certain patterns in the outfits you like or
the types of fabric and colours you are
drawn to. Coupled with a knowledge
of what suits your body type, this will
better afirm what your personal style
is and help you direct your wardrobe
rehab down the right aesthetic path. For
me, you can see I stick to clean, minimal
palettes, figure hugging silhouettes and
simple pops of colour – a classic look.
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represent who you are. To help, we’ve
created a cheat sheet of the above
steps which you can download and print
out here.
Once you’ve got a better idea of your
style, we suggest doing another review
or cull of your wardrobe, this time
analysing your clothing based on what
you have learnt about your style.

WORDS

If you had to explain your personal

style to a stranger as 5 – 10 elements,
what would they be? Consider colours,
shapes, overall themes, moods, etc.
Things to think about include:

• Mood: How do these clothes make

you feel?

e.g. feminine, elegant, modern, casual

• Theme: How can you describe this

style using abstract terms?

e.g. minimalist, bohemian, preppy,

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STEP THREE

WA R D R O B E
ESSENTIALS
Classics that go the distance.

T E X T BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y B R YA N T L E E
Step 3 - Defining Your Essentials
The main reason for developing an
essentials list for your closet is to
understand where the gaps lie, as
a means of informing your future
shopping choices with the end goal
being a perfect closet. The key thing
is understanding what you have and
what you need. To develop this list, we
suggest you ask yourself the following
questions:
1. What could you never live
without?
If someone told you could only have
30 items in your closet, what would
they be? Much like the selectiveness
we have to utilise when we pack for
travel, understanding those key, can’t
live without items is a great process
for developing your essentials list. Be
brutal!
2. Which pieces in your closet get worn
the most currently?
This is more about understanding what
you have now, and those pieces that you
get the most wear out of are the starting
point of your essentials list, whether it’s
a maxi skirt or a Breton striped top.
3. What base colours do you wear?
Your essentials list is about shapes
and styles, and it’s also about colours.
Naturally you want the essentials you
buy to be versatile and create as many
outfits as possible, and therefore it’s
useful to develop a palette for your
essentials. In the next step we’ll talk
about this more but for now, go with
colours that compliment each other and
can also be worn with a large range of
other highlight colours – black, white,
beige, khaki, tan and navy are great
options.
4. What occasions do you find hard to
dress for?
If there are particular times you struggle
to decide what to wear, chances are
it’s because you’re missing key pieces
that could cater to those occasions.
Struggle to dress for a night out with
the girls? Maybe a LBD or something
similar would be useful to add? Never
feel pulled together when it’s cold out?
Maybe a chic overcoat or leather jacket 25
is something you desperately need. List
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out the times you struggle most and try
to understand what key pieces would fix
that.
5. What pieces do you wish you had but
feel you can’t afford?
Don’t avoid including key pieces in your
essentials list just because you think you
can’t afford them – a leather jacket is a
great example of an expensive piece
that is worth budgeting for. It’s worth
marking down your aspirational pieces.
 D e v e l o p i n g Yo u r E s s e n t i a l s L i s t
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
Knowing your body shape and what looks
good on you is a (somewhat) useful tool
to helping understand your personal style.
However, we believe that understanding
your body shape isn’t about boxing you into
a certain formula of dressing or obsessing
over how to look perfect at the cost of
being happy in what you are wearing. On
the contrary, by getting a good feel of what
suits and flatters you most, it gives you
the freedom to experiment, and also gives
you the confidence to know which rules to
break/stick to and when.
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 Filling The Gaps
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
FILLING THE GAPS IN YOUR
ESSENTIALS LIST
Once you’ve developed your list of
essentials, we suggest you start the process
of researching/shopping for the items that
are currently ‘gaps’ – pieces that would
make your wardrobe significantly more
wearable. We’ll talk about shopping in
more detail later on in this series, but a few
tips to consider for now are listed below.
Spend well
When it comes to essentials, it’s a good
idea to spend as much as you can afford
(within reason obviously). That’s because
you want your essentials to be investments
that last a long time and are great quality.
Buying second hand often allows you to get
much better value, and thus better quality,
which is a complete win win.

Think Neutral
We will talk a lot about colours in the
next step, but in the meantime we would
suggest that when buying your essentials,
you select colours that are foundational in
your wardrobe. This will ensure they are
wearable for a significant period of time
and also versatile for pairing with other
colours.
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Pair it up
When you’re shopping, it’s important to
make sure that you’re buying items that
build multiple outfits. Which is why you
should make sure that you are mentally
pairing outfits in your head when you are
investing in essentials. 4 outfits with any
new essential is a great start.
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STEP FOUR

C O L O U R PA L E T T E
ADDING THAT POP

T E X T BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
 Step 4 - Colour Palette
Because we’re all different, and have various colour preferences, there’s no set rules about
what your colour palette should be. What is key is that you understand how you feel and
look when you are wearing certain colours, and that you integrate them in a strategic way,
rather than buying everything you see. That will ensure that your wardrobe evolves well
towards more and more outfit options. To do this, it’s useful to understand colours as to
whether they are base or highlight colours.

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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA

BASE COLOURS HIGHLIGHT COLOURS

Its useful to develop an idea about what
your base colours will be – these being the
colours that you choose when buying your
essentials. What you want are colours that
transcend seasons, and are able to be worn
for years on end. Good examples of these
colours are black, white, khaki, navy, beige,
tan, camel. That being said, if you wear red
everyday you might include that as a base
colour. It’s completely up to you and your
preferences, but it’s important to be clear
about what those preferences are.
Whilst base colours are great, chances
are will want some brighter and more
individual shades to mix in. That’s where
highlight colours come into play, which are
essentially any other shade or hue that isn’t
one of your base colours. These are great
for mixing into your wardrobe seasonally,
and that’s where buying colour wardrobe
‘updaters’ comes into play. Once you have
a smaller wardrobe with lots of well fitting
base coloured essentials, you can purchase
a few coloured items each season to mix
with your basics to give them a refresher. w
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 Experimenting With Colours
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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
Once you’ve worked out your base colours
and understood which highlight colours
you want to integrate, it’s time to play
around with how you put them together.
These formulas are not a hard and fast rule
but the best thing about them is that it’s
a fun way to experiment with new colour
combinations to see which colours you need
more of and which ones are out of place.
Because black and white are technically
shades though, you can be more flexible
about how you integrate these into the
outfit formulas below.
COLOUR BLOCKING
Block dressing involves keeping one
solid (or main) colour to each piece of
clothing, with colour combinations of no
more than two colours in the whole outfit
(excluding black and white of course). It’s
a fool proof formula that makes you look
put together with minimal effort. A good
way of facilitating block colour dressing is
by having coloured shorts, silk shirts and
other smaller items that will allow you to
mix them in with your neutral basics such
as denim jeans or a leather jacket

TONAL
Tonal dressing involves choosing a single
colour and wearing items that are different
shades of that colour in one outfit. It’s easy
to do this, but does rely on lots of different
shades of the same colour in your wardrobe.
You can create greater or less contrast by
choosing colours that are further or closer
in shade or by adding black or white pieces
or accessories to the outfit.
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PRINT/PATTERN MIXING
Prints can seem tricky to pair into your
outfits. A simple approach is to pick the
colours out of your print and match them
in the other items you are wearing. The
key is to keep the rest of your outfit simple
and choose one or two colours out of the
print itself to match with another part of
your outfit (or accessories) which will help
simplify the palette.
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STEP FIVE

FOCUSED SHOPPING
INVESTING WISELY

T E X T BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY G E N E VA VA N D E R Z E I L
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Step 5 - Focusing Your Shopping
Personally I’ve found that maintaining a
well curated wardrobe comes down to
one basic principle: focused shopping.
It’s not practical to expect you not to
shop (who would want that?), but it’s
about knowing what you want to buy
and taking steps to avoid any purchases
you don’t need. This can be a hard thing
to adjust to, and don’t worry if it takes
time.
THE FOUR PROMPTS
The key to a functional closet is adding
to it in a considered way. This means,
knowing what you need before you go
shopping, trying to avoid sales and
giving yourself a day to think about a
new item before buying it. In considering
new purchases, a useful tool I utilise
when shopping is a set of prompts that
help me confirm if a purchase is going to
help (or hinder) me to create the perfect 39
wardrobe. These questions are:
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1. Does it go with 4 outfits?
2. Does it fit with my personal style?
(More on that here)
3. Does the fit and fabric work for me?
4. What function does it have?
A few other tips for maintaining your
closet with focused shopping are
included below.
 Rules For Shopping

ESSENTIALS FIRST reasonable to hold back a little and

When putting together your list of
essentials in Step 3 of our Wardrobe
Rehab, there were probably a few things
that were on your list but you didn’t own.
If there are things that you need that
will make your wardrobe more wearable
such as a navy blazer or well cut pair of
black trousers, put these items on your
list and save up to buy the best quality
you can afford. Go without anything
else and keep that item in mind while
you are saving.
KEEP IT SIMPLE (AND NEUTRAL)
Buying basics and essentials in a neutral
40 palette (or colours that you wear a lot
based on your personal style) such as
WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA
buy pieces that sit in the middle price
ranges because you are more likely to
have multiples so the usage of each will
be low. Because these basics function
mainly as wardrobe fillers as well, they
can also be easily rotated around or
replaced.
THE FOUR WAYS RULE
When I’m shopping, a great trick I have
learnt is to assess each item is whether it
can make up 4 outfits. This is a valuable
test that ensures that not only is the
item versatile, it allows you to consider
before you buy, what you’ll wear it with
so you can easily start wearing straight
away. I love doing this for all the items
I buy, and we’ve done it with my navy

black, navy, white or beige increases blazer here – you can see these outfits
their versatility and decreases the cost in action in the video below!
per wear. Keeping it neutral also means
you are more likely to be able to create
a couple of different outfits with pieces
from your existing wardrobe.

INVEST, INVEST, INVEST (IN FABRIC

AND FIT)

Invest in quality pieces. When you can,

check out designer consignment or
vintage stores. Often you find better
quality and more unique pieces than you
do in high street stores. It’s definitely
no secret that the saying “you get what
you pay for” rings true when it comes
to buying clothes but it also pays to
shop smarter. Knowing which items to
go all out for and which to hold back on
a little is key to covering all the bases
in your wardrobe. For garments such
as a trench coat that you get a high
volume of usage out of, it’s important
to invest as much as you can in them
as these pieces need to be well made
and durable. On the other hand, basics
such as t-shirts, camisoles and hats, it’s
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 WORKING WITH A SHOPPING LIST

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WA R D R O B E R E H A B BY G E N E VA

Before you go shopping whether in person or
online, have in mind a specific goal you hope
to achieve at the end of your shop. Make a
mental list of the items you would like to buy
– such as any missing from your essentials –
and be specific with the colour, fabric and fit.
To help you, we’ve created a shopping list
printable to help you focus your buying on
your next shopping trip.
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 Enjoy Your New Closet

WA R D R O B E R E H A B C O M P L E T E !

Congratulations on completing Wardrobe Finally, to continue maintaining your

Rehab! By now you’ve got a wardrobe
that’s easy to navigate, full of pieces that
you absolutely love and are able to create
numerous outfits with. You;ve also got a new
understand of your personal style, making it
easier to maintain that amazing closet, and
feel good in what you wear. Hopefully you’ll
never agin stand in front of your wardrobe,
baffled as to what you shoudl wear. Hello
new you!
wardrobe in the long term, try to work through
it and organise it as much as possible – have
a quarterly or bi-annual clean out to get rid
of anything that you don’t wear. And don’t
feelt bad if the odd item sneaks in and isn’t
perfect, it’s all a learning curve.