Spring-Cleaning: If It Doesn't Fit You Must Toss It

I’m conflicted about The Chew.  Mario Batali and Michael Symon are fantastic; I love the show’s food focus and my good friend’s husband works there.  My hesitation centers on the choice of wellness personality. Daphne Oz is charming, smart and a vegetarian but stumbles over nutrition info and certainly wasn’t cast for her cooking skills. It’s nepotism in action and it is what it is.  Anyway, I digress (so what’s new), I still DVR it and Clinton Kelly consistently cracks me up. Clinton was the host of What Not To Wear. On Saturday,  I watched an episode in which Clinton did a segment on Spring-cleaning your closet. I’m paraphrasing but he said anything that doesn’t fit must go. If it’s too small it’s depressing to think about and why keep “fat clothes” it just encourages you to go back there. He suggested trying on every item in your closet.

This reminded me of a recent session with a client. I was trying to incentify her to lose weight. I asked her if she had any goals she could pinpoint maybe an upcoming trip or a certain size she wanted to be. Without missing a beat she said, “Lauren, I have a closet full of goals.” I think most women have a range of sizes in their closets. When I edit, I generally toss things I no longer love or don’t wear versus the fit. What Clinton said struck a chord, why hang onto stuff that doesn’t make you feel good now? Clinton would be against the concept of reference clothing.

With this on my mind I decided to approach my jeans with the Clinton directive.  I have a favorite pair of Joe jeans I wear with heels and a Current Elliot selection I wear with boots. I consider myself a proud purger. or whatever the opposite of a hoarder is, but there was a full cast of denim understudies still hanging around. I psyched myself up, noting in my head that our bodies change and that certain things may not fit. I tried on the first pair and they looked fine; I started a “keep” pile. This seemed like beginners luck but pair #2 was pretty good too. I don’t know why this was surprising given the fact that I eat very well and enjoy exercise but it was. There were jeans I forgot I had, various washes (don’t judge) and the jeans my husband likes the best. In all I tried on 17  pairs of jeans. One pair is going. They fit albeit snuggly but dug in in all the wrong places.

 Who needs that? There was also one pair I am taking to the tailor, is it possible I was 4 inches taller last year?

While I didn’t end up giving away much,  I finished knowing I had options other than my two preferred pairs. I will have no disappointment when I pull something out from the pile ready to wear it and I know what not to wear.
Do you have more than one size of clothing in your closet? Any items you’re hoping to fit into in the future? Or any larger clothes “just in case”? And do you watch The Chew?