While I’ve said many times before, summer is an atrocious season. In South Texas, the heat and humidity are so intense from mid-May through October (and sometimes into December). While the season itself is and never has been my favorite, fashion is and always continues to be a way to beat the heat by keeping your cool. With summer officially starting this week, there’s no time like the present to check out your own closet and make room for some stylish summer fun!
If you shop as much as I do, then I have naturally come to a point of no return in which you begin looking for places to store all of these wonderful clothes. Some weekend in June, I generally like to reassess my entire closet in one blow. I pack up all of my sweaters and winter clothes and freshen up my closet with my favorite pieces from last summer. When storing away bulky garments, I use these truly incredible vacuum bags. They come from Amazon, and they work wonders! A hand pump is included, but I prefer to use a vacuum cleaner to easily remove all the air. These sealed bags protect against moths and other bugs while keeping all of my bulkier clothing tucked away until it’s needed.
Playing dress up with my own clothes (mainly to check sizing) provides some hilarious getups that make the group chat a marvel. This usually takes a few hours, but I set up a couple of piles along the way - donate, sell, and giveaway are where they generally start. Donate and sell are pretty self explanatory, but giveaway is about immediately thinking of someone special that I would want to carry on the joy of my clothes (if they don’t want it, they can always give it away themselves)! As I have gotten older, I have found that I shop smarter and look for clothes that I’ll be able to take further than one or two wears. I’m all about a price-per-wear, and being able to keep garments for multiple years to wear and restyle is important to me. This is why my donate and sell piles are important - if something simply doesn’t fit, it’s time to move on.
Pro-tip: Pants are pretty easy to size without actually putting them on. The waistband can be folded around your neck for a quick size check. The proportions of your waist and neck are very similar, so you can hold the sides and put them around your neck like a cape to see the waistband. Keep in mind, that this has so many different exceptions.
Finally, getting your summer wardrobe in order is such a gratifying feeling because all your fun summer pieces get to take the prime spotlight again. I use these thin, velvet hangers to keep my wardrobe rack neat and orderly. This wooden garment rack and shelf combo that I have is from Target and is no longer available, but they currently have this one that features a metal frame and a sleek, modern style.
Cheers to summer styling! Xo, C.