5 Tips for Building an Organized Wardrobe

*This post is sponsored by the team at Old Navy, who were also with us at Camp Mighty.

Women’s Belted Cap-Sleeve Knit Dress $25, Perfect Crew Neck Tee $8, The Rockstar Super Skinny Jean $19, Faux Leather Ankle Boots $28, Pop-Color Blazer $40, Softest Sweater Scarf $17, Ankle Strap Flat $25

My closet is out of hand. If your home environment reflects your interior life, apparently a librarian and a go-go dancer are at war in the communal dressing room of my brain.

Fortunately my friend Anna Beth has a system for getting dressed that’s helping me edit things down. She touched on it in her Mighty Closet, but did a whole panel at Camp Mighty outlining how to edit your closet and home. The panel was sponsored by Old Navy, so she chose a bunch of their clothes from this season to illustrate her points. So if you need anything to round your wardrobe out, these are a few of the slides from her presentation. My five favorite tips:

1. Get your classics in place.
This is the part I neglect. You know, the “foundation” part? Once you have basic traditional pieces in place, you have a wardrobe. Stop there, or build, but if you’re having trouble getting dressed, it’s probably because you’re missing some classics. Anna Beth’s are pictured in these slides, but Tim Gunn also has a great wardrobe basics list, and I did a piece on wardrobe classics for The Morning News a while back that’s also a good starting point.

Metallic Stripe Sweater Dress $35, Women’s Sequin Ballet Flats $25, Leopard Wool Blend Coat $59, Pin Dot Tights $8

2. “Neutral” isn’t just black.
Classic prints like stripes and polka dots, as well as metallics and animal prints, tend to go with everything and also add a little interest.

3. While you’re building, restrict your palette.
While you’re choosing your basics, decide on a neutral — black, grey, white, navy, beige, brown. This way everything you build on matches everything else. I like navy and slate grey because they go well with each other, gain character as they fade, and make the bright colors I love look more upscale.

4. Enjoy yourself.
This part I have down. I’m an avid thrift store and bargain shopper — so there’s an constant influx of inexpensive, interesting clothes, which I then Gollum until I can’t find the things I actually need. Getting dressed should elevate your mood, but your clothing budget will stretch further if you mostly rely on fun pieces only to punctuate your basics.

5. Embrace the uniform.
Most days, Anna Beth wears some variation on T-shirt, blazer, jeans, scarf, belt, boots, and one piece of accent jewelry. My uniform is usually a dress and some flats with cardigan. Pay attention to the building blocks of the outfit you wear most, and then invest in variations on that theme.

So easy, right? Basics in a neutral color of your choice, add some fun pops as punctuation, and invest in uniform pieces when you get a better feel for your style. Brilliant, Miss Anna Beth.

Photo by JetKat Photo

You’ll find all of Anna Beth’s tips on ABChao.com if you want more info.

And now I have a little piece of nice news. During AB’s Camp Mighty presentation, Old Navy gave each attendee a free pair of jeans and gave us a bunch to donate as well. Go Mighty found out that Larkin Street Youth Services needs both jeans and gift certificates as part of its holiday gift drive for the homeless teens they support. We’re sending certificates for 50 pairs of jeans (thank you Old Navy!), but there’s a whole wish list of simple things they need by December 14.

New clothes are such a confidence booster for everybody. While you’re shopping for yourself, consider throwing a gift certificate or clothes in your cart for the kids and sending them over. And if you do? Please let us know in comments honor-system style, and we’ll enter you to win your own free pair of jeans from Old Navy. Cute stuff for everybody, boom.