How To Declutter Your Wardrobe
Imagine the joy of an organised, uncluttered wardrobe!
It’s the job just about everyone hates doing and gets put off until you declare an internal state of emergency as you desperately try to find things to wear each morning.
Well that’s at least the way I’d describe how I’ve been feeling for most of the past year… a bespoke tailor able to make his own suits, shirts, smart casual clothing and even alter and adapt things that don’t quite fit. The last person you’d think would be struggling to find things to wear.
Well, it does happen to even the best of us.
Like our clients here at Roberto Revilla London, I’m tremendously busy and rarely have the time to do much for myself especially when it comes to sorting out my own wardrobe for the season ahead. Over the past year my wardrobe has become a jumbled mess of clothes in the wrong place, odd jackets, shirts and trousers with no “mate” matched to them, suit trousers that need re-forking, other items including waistcoats that are a little tight (yes I have been a bit heavier than usual in 2025)… shirts in all states of shape and size due to rogue dry cleaners.
Every morning it still takes me a few minutes to work out what to wear and get ready (thankfully my instincts and ability to improvise when it comes to dressing and co-ordinating outfits are as sharp as ever), but it feels like such a struggle for me.
So this past week I decided enough was enough, it was time to sort out and declutter my wardrobe.
The approach I’ve taken is the way I’d recommend you to do it too, so this will just be a full account of the things I did, why I did them and why I think these methods should help me to stay reasonably organised in future.
The first thing I did at the beginning of the month (August 2025 in this case), was write down on a post it note “BOBBY SORT OUT WARDROBE”; this got stuck to one of the kitchen cupboard doors along with a bunch of other post-it notes, each had written on something that needed doing in or around the home.
This system in itself has been brilliant for both myself and my wife. You can’t miss the gaggle of post-its on the kitchen cupboard door having to walk past and look at them several times during the day. It keeps those to-dos front of mind and in our case it motivated us to get things done – every time a task is completed a post-it note comes off the door and into the bin. So satisfying to see them disappearing – and the home transform along with it!
It didn’t stop avoidance though. Of course I knocked off all the easy, quick wins first. There’s nothing wrong with that, it gets you motivated along with the feel-good factor of completing tasks.
But eventually after 3 weeks or so, THAT post-it was staring at me in the face. “BOBBY SORT OUT WARDROBE”. OK, I thought. Let’s get this done.
My clothes are spread across two of our bedrooms on three clothing rails and in 4 wardrobes. What? It’s my business, of course I’m going to have a fair amount of clothes. Reinforces the point of my wardrobe(s) being in such a state of chaos that I “have nothing to wear” (this translates to “nothing easily at hand”).
The only way to begin was at one end and move methodically through one room to the other.
You likely won’t have this but I have a long clothing rail spare so I set that up – you’d use the bed most likely in place of this. The spare rail/bed is like a holding place for things that won’t yet have a home… items that need alteration or repair, things that need to go to charity, items that have a partner that hasn’t been found yet (for example a stray trouser that might have been separated from it’s suit jacket).
The next thing to do is to actually start. We need to get the train out the station and on the way. Think about your overall wardrobe in parallel with the sections of your life and think about where you want those sections of your life (the clothes that relate to them) to go.
For me this would be:
- Business (suits and shirts)
- Business and smart casual (jackets, trousers and shirts)
- At and around home (tee shirts, sweaters, jeans)
- Cycling and running (jerseys, bib shorts, tops and shorts)
It’s much easier if each area of your life and the clothing you need for it is in a certain zone of your wardrobe. If you don’t have much space you might have to get everything out so your clothing storage spaces are completely clear before you start working.
Starting from one end of your wardrobe grab a handful of items. The first thing we need to do is lean into how we feel about them. Are they things we love to wear, that when we wear them we don’t think about them (if only to think how great we feel in them). If you have any sort of negative reaction to them they probably need to go to the “For Charity” section. Life’s too short to be wearing clothes that don’t make us feel our best.
If your negative reaction is because there’s something about the fit, ask yourself “if this fit me perfectly / better, would I want to wear it?”. If the answer is yes, put it in the “For Alteration Section” and if the answer is no, put it in the “For Charity” section.
Keep repeating this, trying things on if you have to, especially if you can’t remember why you haven’t worn something for so long. Each item that is being kept should go back in the wardrobe and in the “life zone” it belongs to.
Fortunately, I have the space to hang most of my clothes so the only thing I have on shelves or draws are things like underwear and socks. Anything that can go on a hangar does because I like to be able to see everything. I appreciate not everyone has that luxury of space so if you are having to careful, folding is a great way to utilise as much space as possible.
A few notes here from my own organisation which you might like to consider yourself:
- My shirts are split into two places… the ones I would wear with suits are in the “Business Dress” zone, the ones I would wear casually (basically any shirt I would never wear with a suit) are in the Smart Casual zone.
- I put my shirts in colour co-ordination, whites together, then blues, then pinks, then others. Within those colour categories are solids, then stripes, then checks. I like a bit of order first thing in the morning.
- I’ve been ruthless with deciding what stays and what goes. If it’s showing signs of wear, makes me feel the slightest bit “rough” or fits in an uncomfortable way (and is beyond saving with alterations) then it has to go.
- Socks and underwear are stored on shelves, neatly folded or rolled and I’ve bought little clothes storage boxes from IKEA (their Komplement range is fantastic) to separate the socks into socks I wear with suits, casual socks and sport socks (running and cycling).
- If there was something in particular that I really loved the fit or feel of, I made a note of it (brand and size for ready made items, pattern reference for bespoke items). For example, certain pairs of jeans for fit, certain shirts for the fabric feel and certain tee shirts for the way they made me feel.
Keep at this process for as long as it takes – I split mine into 3x two hour sessions over three days. Do whatever is realistic for you but make sure you allocate the time to get the job finished.
Once your done and everything that is staying is in it’s rightful place, bag up your charity items and put them by the front door.
Your alteration items should all have a note on them describing what needs doing, this will make it easier when you get to the alterations tailor and saves you trying to remember what on earth you’re bringing them there for.
A note on the alteration items – I ended up with around 5 suits, 3 blazers and a couple pairs of trousers that are going for alteration. That’s equivalent to almost two weeks of outfits that I’ll get back once they’ve been dealt with! So a wardrobe sort isn’t just great for decluttering, it’s also brilliant for re-activating “lost” outfits.
And that’s it for now – I’ve probably rambled my way through this and no doubt left you with a few more questions than I’ve answered, so as ever, please feel free to drop your thoughts and questions in the comments or email me directly at contact@robertorevillalondon.com and I’d be happy to help.
If you need a great alterations tailor or are looking to commission some bespoke garments, do connect, I’d love to help you with any of that.
Till next time,
Roberto
