5 tips to make the most of the spring sunshine for the closet
Now to prepare the closet for the post-COVID wardrobe and the Say goodbye to the monotony of the COVID wardrobe. Pete Campbell and Ted Chaough were in the award-winning series MAD MEN always on the road in style. Here is the guide in current times.
Good-bye monotony
For video conferencing, we have already become accustomed to a kind of uniform that looks professional, is comfortable and can be easily varied.
For shopping and other errands with a mask the same applies, because quite honestly: with FFP2 masks you lose the desire to style.
It’s worth investing a few hours in the closet now: The result will do you good when the days become lighter again.
TIP 1: All out
Quickly look through the clothes rail along does not bring the desired effect. Everything must go out. Because, to start with the unpleasant:
England’s National Trust was “not amused” this year. In many museums and historic houses are archived precious clothes. Due to the lockdown in England, no exhibitions and guided tours were possible. Silently, all the aisles and closets rested.
And although the expensive garments, some of which can no longer be replaced, are kept by specialists by every trick in the book, the silence over a year has meant that clothes moths have been able to feast undisturbed.
We don’t want to paint the devil on the wall, even if he were dressed in Prada, but caution is called for.
Therefore, clear out the entire closet, wash it out with a dishwashing detergent or, if you were like the National Trust, then spray on a special anti-moth product and let it dry first before putting in a fresh supply of cedar, lavender sachets, scented clothing paper or anti-moth product. All that the common clothes moth does not like.
If you don’t like the smell of most remedies yourself, we have the following tip for you: At Native & Co. a store in London that sells Japanese products and which we have appreciated for a long time, you can buy the Hiba Wood Wild Incense Spray in the online store.
The antibacterial spray repels insects of all kinds, with a very subtle scent of the cypress trees of the Japanese prefecture of Aomori.
It would be a shame, ladies and gentlemen, if your beloved cashmere sweater fell victim to the picky moths.
TIP 2: What should go back into the closet?
The spring sun and a large mirror form your jury.
Really put on every piece of clothing and look at yourself in the bright sunlight in front of the mirror. The harsh spring sun is merciless and your toughest critic.
This almost automatically results in two piles: should go back into the closet or comes away. When in doubt, a selfie helps. We do not always see ourselves neutrally in the mirror. Memories and wishes overlay your own image and make it more attractive.
Taking a quick selfie and viewing the image on a large screen is far more objective. The pile of clothes that don’t make it back into the closet is growing.
TIP 3: Look forward to less
People who love fashion usually have a well-stocked closet. The beautiful pieces hang and lie close together. Not good.
As the pile of clothes that won’t go back into the closet grows, favorite pieces get more air and space in the closet.
Instead of hanging close together, they now suddenly hang with plenty of space and almost curated, like in the best stores in town. This is good for the clothes and for you.
The food was one of the few highlights during the long winter months of lockdown. The spring sun and many a seam or zipper have to do hard work when trying, as it was perhaps a little too much of a wonderful treat after all.
Since you are at work in time, now you still have time to lose a few kilos before you can wear all the beautiful spring clothes without fearing the sometimes still freezing wind.
TIP 4: New shirts the man needs
Most of you tend to be frugal when it comes to buying new clothes. Nothing wrong with that.
But please invest in new shirts. The shirts that looked good with a tie in your past life usually don’t work anymore without a tie.
You are by no means alone in this. Our hearts bleed at the sight of many a Dax board member having his picture taken for press photos without wearing a tie in order to look agile and in tune with the latest trends. A shirt that was formerly worn with a tie, or was intended to be worn with a tie, is often chosen.
Only different rules apply to shirts worn without a tie. The shirt collar should look perfect even without the support of the tie and not “blow” haltlessly over the lapel of the jacket like a sail in the wind. This excludes the majority of common collar shapes requires other collar shapes.
In the button-down shirt, the collar is fixed, after all, it was invented for polo players so that it stayed in place even when riding fast. However, the sporty character of the button-down shirt is not suitable for all industries.
More elegant looks under-button-down shirt, where the collar buttons are not visible, but hidden under the collar.
In the case of the shirt, which is worn without a tie, the collar is much more important.
Collars with a wide opening like the shark collar, also called a Windsor collar or a cutaway collar look great without a tie. If the collar has as much stand as possible (due to the material used, the cut, collar stays and good old starch) it looks perfect even without a tie.
Saving here is penny-wise but dollar-foolish. The wrong shirt does not look agile but stagnant.
TIP 5: The good mood investment
A French friend told us the secret why her mother and her mother’s friends always look très chic:
You always invest in a fantastic garment at the beginning of the season. This can be a dress, pantsuit, skirt and blouse or a costume. What is important is the good quality, the courage to make a statement and the extraordinary something that makes it recognizable as avant-garde.
This piece is then worn, worn and worn, so that at the end of the season it has worked really hard and no longer goes into the closet, but is given away or sold.
Nothing puts you in a good mood more than being newly styled in a stunning outfit with a new color and/or cut. We’ve all been well-behaved in lockdown for months now, and in many cases we’ve also had to painfully experience how fragile life can be.
There is a lot to be said for choosing an unusual piece and having the desire to actually wear it as often as you can, rather than keeping it for special occasions.
This tactic requires that you buy at the normal price and not wait for the discounts of the sale, but we are talking about only one exceptional part, not many.
Classics and basics we usually have more than enough in the closet. These can be wonderfully enhanced by accessories such as sunglasses, a clutch or a brooch and will thus accompany us for many years to come.
Of the pile of discarded clothes, some can usually be sold on second-hand (aka pre-loved) platforms, so Clothing Detox is not a contradiction in terms.
So out of the practical but in most cases also relatively monotonous COVID uniform and into stylish shirts and a new unusual favorite. It’s good for your mood and it also helps the textile trade.
And if the lockdown should last a little longer or occur again remember New York style icon Iris Apfel, who says “I don’t dress to be stared at. I dress for myself.”
Cover: MAD MEN season 7, Pete Campbell and Ted Chaough, The Hollywood Archive, Alamy Stock Photo
