Summer closet reboot: 5 tips from a personal stylist

HOUSTON – Don’t clean out your closet and buy a whole new wardrobe! Consumer expert Amy Davis has five ways to help you save your money and maximize the wardrobe you already have. 

"Everyone will tell me 'I don't have anything in my closet,'" said personal stylist Jamie Bisel. "I have yet to go into someone's closet where I can't make at least 20 outfits or so when they've said they have nothing." 

Bisel's tagline for her business is "Making the most of what you have." 

Misty Ann called Bisel because she wanted to update her look and get and an honest opinion about what works in her closet and what doesn't.

"I have those things that maybe they looked good at the time... and you get them home and you're like 'Oh, I don't know about that.' And so they sit there," Ann explained to Davis. 

In half an hour, Bisel pulled together three new outfits in Ann's closet. Bisel said most of us are making the same mistakes that prevent us from seeing all of the possibilities in our closets, like trying to too hard to match. 

"If the proportions are right, so what if the colors are off," she told Davis. "If you want to wear navy with black, wear navy with black."

Colors and patterns can coordinate; but they don't have to be the exact shade or hue. Bisel is big on mixing prints and repurposing accessories. She used a necklace as a belt to pull Misty's whole outfit together. 

"It's perfect," Misty said.

How you organize your closet can help you picture new ensembles. Break up suits, even if the jacket and skirt came as a set. When accessories will come off an item of clothing, remove them so you will consider wearing them with something else. 

Where most personal stylists will tell you to toss clothes you've had for too long, Bisel says she almost never gives that advice. 

"Pretty much you should save them almost forever because some way you can use them for the right outfit," she explained. Bisel says the only time she will tell a client to  get rid of something is if it just doesn't fit and it can't be tailored.


About the Author:

Passionate consumer advocate, mom of 3, addicted to coffee, hairspray and pastries.