Organising My Wardrobe Using the Allison Bornstein Method

Trust me, clearing out your wardrobe can be fun!!!

As we’re transitioning into Autumn and jumper season, it felt like it was the right time to clear out and reorganise my wardrobe.

Usually, my process involves taking EVERYTHING out of my wardrobe and categorising items in piles by type. This helps me see how many of each type of clothing item I have and if I’ve worn it recently. If I no longer like something or am not wearing it, I’ll either sell it or give it to charity.

However, I decided to do things a little differently this time. I followed stylist Allison Bornstein’s ‘Closet Editing System’ after watching her go through the process in this YouTube video. She’s also got a series on it on her TikTok if you’re interested.

The method is supposed to make sure you enjoy wearing all your clothes and aren’t just wearing things because you have them.

I’m just going to jump into the 5 steps of her system!

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Step 1: Pull out all the things you wear on a regular basis

As it turns out, I wear a lot of basics that are quite casual and oversized. I also wear a lot of blue.

This first step is to see what clothes you’re actually wearing on the day-to-day.

When I did this I was shocked at how little I wore of my wardrobe on a regular basis. I even rummaged through my laundry basket to make sure I’d gathered everything up. Obviously, this doesn’t account for the things I wear regularly in Winter but still, it’s not very much.

Looking at the clothes on my bed, all I thought was that I could literally just own this capsule of clothes and I’d be perfectly happy.

Step 2: Take out everything you never wear

This was easy for me because every time I get dressed, I see all the clothes I never wear and feel a twinge of guilt.

This pile doesn’t look that big but it definitely had considerable height.

Step 3: Categorise the ‘nevers’ into three sections

The three sections are as follows and how to deal with them:

• No - I never want to wear this and I don’t like it → get rid

• Not now - I don’t want to wear this now but I don’t want to get rid of this now → put in storage

• How? - I love this but I don’t know how to wear this → figure out how to wear

Here are my 3 piles along with my ‘regulars’ and collection of animals :)

I did an initial sort but felt like I could be more ruthless so went back through the piles. The ‘not now’ pile was probably the largest as it included occasionwear, but I made a mental note to wear more of those items.

Surprise surprise, a common theme of the ‘no’ pile was impulse purchases.

Step 3.1: Call your Mum to get confirmation on the things you should get rid of

I have taken the liberty to add another step to Allison’s process which you don’t need to do but I felt you should know that I always do this when clearing out.

I am almost incapable of making a decision without asking someone else for their opinion. There were a few items I was on the fence about so I phoned my Mum to get confirmation on whether I should get rid of them. She said just sell them and not feel guilty about getting rid of them since they’d had a lot of wear in the past. Deep down I already knew this.

Step 4: Use the ‘regulars’ to revive the ‘how’s’

This step of Allison’s process involves pairing the items you don’t know how to wear with items you wear on a regular basis. This helps you create new outfits that feel like you whilst wearing things you don’t normally wear.

Allison suggests taking photos of these new outfits and making a folder on your phone so you don’t forget about them.

Here are a couple of my ‘hows’s’:

I have this yellow H&M cardigan that I really like but never wear. I’d recently screenshotted Molly Mae wearing a Zara cardigan (below) that the whole world seems to have and thought it looked quite similar. So, I tried mine on with a white mock neck top and a pair of blue jeans and tucked it in. The end result was much the same as the Zara cardigan. I have since worn this outfit!

Credit | @mollymae on Instagram

Another ‘how’ item I own is this pink checked car coat from Topshop. I’m actually quite sentimental about it as I bought it when I worked for Topshop. Pink isn’t a colour I really wear nowadays so I think this coat comes across as a bit too feminine for my current style and therefore don’t wear it. It’s also not very warm.

I tried it on with the same white top and blue jeans as before and liked it but thought it wouldn’t be a very warm combination for Autumn/Winter.

After adding this pink Arket jumper as an extra layer I decided this was more ‘me’ as the outfit felt more oversized and boxy. Also, I know I just said I don’t really wear pink but this jumper is the exception. Maybe I’ll wear this combination this week.

This was a good exercise for me and I think you could do it independently of a wardrobe clear out to come up with some new outfit formulas.

Step 5: Reorganise your wardrobe and categorise

The last step is to clean and reorganise your wardrobe. Personally, I aim to categorise my clothes like I used to tidy the Topshop sale; by item type, then by sleeve length, and then by colour. Trust me, it will be so satisfying and easy to find things the next time you get dressed!

Understandably, this can seem like a huge task but it really doesn’t take very long to put everything back into the closet when you have a system to follow.

After this, I put all my ‘no’ items on Vinted - more on this another time.

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It might sound weird to some but I really love clearing out my wardrobe so this was actually a very fun process for me. It only took me about an hour and a half to complete.

Allison’s process made me really consider whether I actually enjoyed wearing my clothes or I was just keeping them because I felt I should. It also helped me realise that I was wearing very little of my wardrobe on a day-to-day basis and made me excited to carry on with my cost per wear projec. - more on that here.

What I did discover, especially after phoning my Mum, is that I was holding on to quite a few things because they’d been gifted to me. I felt guilty passing them on despite them having lots of wear. However, I do know that it’s okay to pass things on when the time is right and you’re no longer getting use out of the item.

If you’ve tried Allison Bornstein’s method or clear out your wardrobe in a different way, let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading,

Lily

P.S. If I know you in real life and you want to clear out your wardrobe, just shout because I love doing it!!!