Wardrobe Psychology - Why Your Wardrobe Is Packed

We buy clothes we love, yet most of us have a wardrobe we hate. So what's going on? Can someone make it make sense please?

What we wear equates to how people see us. Every time we get dressed we’re giving people signs about who we are, what we do, our ambitions, emotions and even our spending habits. Sometimes these signs are conscious - wanting to be seen in a certain way so people like us or look up to us, and other times we make the decisions subconsciously, because of our internal perception of who we are.

There are a lot of different reasons for why we end up with wardrobes that are overflowing with clothes, and we’re attempting to tackle the top twelve so you can clear out the things you don’t need any more, and build a wardrobe that makes you feel the way you want to.

Why not check out how to detox your wardrobe or find out exactly what a capsule wardrobe is and how you can create one yourself?

You’re avoiding cleaning out your wardrobe

Listen, there’s a reason we refer to the closet as a place to store our secrets.

Dr Dawnn Karen, author of Dress Your Best Life and fashion psychologist says that having too much in our wardrobes can actually stimulate the fight or flight instinct in our brain. Either we'll want to confront it head on, or we'll be ready to run away and hide.

Clothes can hold a lot of memories, so we don’t blame you for putting off the cleaning and organising task for another day, but the longer you leave it, the worse it’s going to get.

For a lot of us, the idea of cleaning out our wardrobe means facing up to past versions of ourselves, and confronting who we actually are versus the potential that’s stored in the clothes we once thought we’d wear.

We get it, it’s not an easy task, but it’s one that will make you feel better once you finally get around to it.

Give yourself a couple of hours, put on some nice music and start working through your wardrobe, organising things that you find.

If things start to feel overwhelming, you can come back to it another day. Breaking the task up into manageable chunks makes it feel less daunting, and having a clean wardrobe will make getting dressed so much nicer.

You Have Serious Storage Space Issues

Are you dreaming of the spacious walk-in wardrobes of American tv shows, but in reality, dealing with a cramped wardrobe that’s more than full at the best of times?

In reality, most of us don’t have the huge amounts of storage that modern shopping habits require, and conveniently forgetting about the amount of things we already own when we hit the shops can mean things quickly escalate and your clothing storage becomes difficult to manage.

That’s why we love the one-in-one-out method for shopping - when you buy something new, find something in your wardrobe that you don’t wear, and say goodbye to it.

And of course when we say “one-out” we don’t mean sending things to landfill!

Use a takeback scheme or donate the things you get rid of to someone you know will get the wear out of them that you aren’t.

You’ve Succumb to Fashion Peer Pressure 

Keeping up with the Jones’ is a phenomenon that sadly, most people can relate to.

Especially with a social media culture that encourages constant sharing of what we’re up to and what we’re wearing, it can feel like everybody has things that you don’t.

This can push us to buy excess stuff, as we constantly seek to keep up appearances and have what everyone else does.

When you feel the urge to impulse-shop because “everyone else” has a certain item, ask yourself if you really need it, and what you have that makes you unique and special.

Do you really want to be just like everyone else?

There's a Gap Between Who you Are and Who You Want to Be

It's not easy to admit, but a big reason that a lot of us don't love the clothes in our wardrobes is because we don't feel like the kind of person who wears them.

Having great intentions when we go shopping, and buying things that an aspirational version of ourselves would love, but getting them home and feeling like an imposter when we try to wear them out - sound familiar?

Our self-confidence can put a big stop to us being able to feel good in what we wear, and sometimes our intentions just don’t match up with reality, meaning a wardrobe full of things you don’t actually wear, but can’t get rid of because of the elusive “one day” that you might have the confidence to.

The pieces in our wardrobes that we don't - or even can't - wear become a symbol of our squandered potential, and serve to make us feel royally awful about ourselves as we actually are.

How can you feel confident enough to wear the items that you can’t let go of?

Challenge yourself to try them on, and if they make you feel excited, test them out outside of the house. And if they make you feel bad, it’s time for them to go. Life’s too short.

You Wait Too Long To Return Things

Everyone’s done it at some point, when you’re just too busy and the package sits beside the door, as you think, “I will get to that soon,” only to find out with dismay that the return date has long since passed when you finally get round to returning it.

It’s frustrating to donate or resell something we’ve paid good money for, especially when the tags are still on, but keeping stuff you aren’t going to wear is only taking up valuable space and making your wardrobe feel stressful.

Wipe the slate clean by reselling or donating the things you’ve got right now, and make a point to shop and return more consciously from now on.

Missing returns can be easily avoided by making smarter shopping choices, choosing good quality brands that you know will fit you, and that you really need and want.

Microtrends: Whoops, You Blinked and it’s Out of Style

In the last ten years, microtrends have swept into our shops and caught all of us out from time to time. Fashion cycles have sped up to a point where no one can keep up, and our wardrobes are paying the price.

That must-have dress of last summer, or those patterned trousers that every second person was wearing are now sitting in your wardrobe and making you cringe when you accidentally pull them out.

Micro-trends are unsustainable because they tend to only be worn for a very short period of time before everyone gets fed up of them. Choosing clothes that you know you’re going to wear for years to come will stop you falling into the trap of having the “it-item” that becomes uncool after its second wear, and means your wardrobe will be full of pieces that you can feel good in for years to come.

Imagination vs Reality - You’re Shopping for Your Future Self

The case for your overstocked wardrobe might be that you aren’t actually shopping for the life you lead.

Does a daydream about a summer vacation while you’re stuck in the office prompt you to spontaneously buy new swimwear? Do you entice yourself to finally go to the gym by stocking up on brand new activewear?

When we don’t feel like our life is in alignment with the person we want to be, it can be easy to buy things that we don’t need as a way to take “action.”

If this is something that you’re guilty of, sit down and write a list of who you aspire to be, and where that differs from your day-to-day life right now.

Honestly ask yourself where you can close the gap and live that life, and where you probably don’t have the space, energy or capacity to do that right now.

Letting go of an expectation that we know isn’t going to become a reality can be one of the most freeing experiences.

You Don’t Know How to Store Your Clothes Properly

Your wardrobe might actually just be feeling stuffed to the brim because you haven’t got the right storage solutions, and investing some time and money into storage solutions could be the answer.

Scan the space at the top and bottom of your wardrobe, and ask if you’re really using the space you have well. Can you add in storage boxes under your hanging rail? Or use double-hangers to organise things better?

An easy solution is to keep your seasonal clothes separate from your everyday wardrobe (you’re not going to be wearing your festive knitwear in the height of July are you?). Store seasonal things in plastic boxes and vacuum storage bags to declutter and make getting dressed a breeze.

That Big Bad “Shame” Feeling  

There’s a stereotype that people - especially women - love to shop, but according to Greenpeace it actually has the opposite effect on our happiness.

Binge shopping can actually bring up feelings of guilt and shame, so it’s really important to be making conscious shopping choices wherever you can, not only for the planet, but also for your own mental health.

The study shows that most of the time we don’t shop because we actually need things, most of the time we make purchases because we want to relieve stress, boost our confidence or gain status and recognition. But the excitement of buying stuff quickly wears off, and we’re left wanting to buy more to fill that gap.

Getting to the root cause of why our wardrobe is so full means working out a healthy way to make ourselves feel fulfilled without buying stuff, which will lead to feeling far better in the long run.

Sentimentality and Obligation 

Most of us have things in the back of our wardrobes that we hold on to out of either sentimentality or obligation.

(Icky-green bridesmaid dress from your best friend’s wedding ten years ago, the outfit you wore on your first date).

If your wardrobe is full to the brim, and these things are taking up the valuable space you just don’t have, it might be time to say goodbye.

Take photos of the things that hold a lot of memories, give them a date and write down the story of where you wore them, and then let them go.

You Feel Guilty about Getting Rid of Things

Sustainability guilt could be what’s holding you back from having a clean and clear wardrobe. When you’ve worn something once, or even not at all, holding on to it for “what if” reasons can delay the guilt of getting rid of something that you know was an unsustainable purchase.

Look, you’ve bought it already, and you’re not going to wear it any time soon. The important thing is to get rid of things in a way that impacts the planet the least.

Send things you don’t wear to a takeback scheme like ours, donate them, or recycle them through Recycle Now to make sure they don’t end up in landfill.

And next time it comes to shopping, make sure you’re doing it consciously, with your own set of ethics in mind.

How To Set Yourself Free

There are a multitude of reasons that can lead to your wardrobes being over-filled, and most of them have deeper roots than just liking buying clothes.

How do we let go, and make sure it doesn’t happen all over again?

Fashion psychology professor Dr Dawnn Karen suggests that slowing down the shopping can be a great way to make sure you love what comes into your home. Leaving something in an online shopping basket for a few days while you decide, and checking up on it to buy a few days later if you still really want it will stop you from making impulse purchases.

In general though, by coming to terms with who we are, aligning ourselves with our aspirational self where possible, and also letting go of false notions where we need to, we can combat the too-full wardrobe phenomenon, and set yourself free.

Check out how to seasonally transition your clothes, and why not shop pre-loved?