How To Easily Organize Your Closet
Seven years ago, I moved into a spacious one-bedroom apartment in Toronto and was spending less than a thousand dollars a month. Seven years later, I’m now paying a little over $1,200 a month and the what was once spacious has now become rather crammed. I built a reputation off the lack of precedents, whether it’s through the way I dress, or the philosophical ideologies that allow to me to stand out as a black sheep midst a bustling society.
We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has been globally unprecedented for over one hundred years; however, being confined to a bedroom awaiting COVID-19 to pass has its own precedents in my life. Losing control over the revolution of the globe can fill a person with so many anxieties, and in my case, I need to bridge the gap of discipline to remain in control of that which matters most.
Wearing a suit has not been a necessity of mine now for three weeks, and rather unfortunately. I have acquired some mannequin busts that have helped maintain a hint of my creativity, and I must admit, wearing basketball shorts and soccer jerseys on the balcony, reading Sartre in the sun is rather relaxing after all. But, waking up in the morning, feeling an itch to do any bit of work, has directed me to my closet and the cluster and accumulation of items that has swelled throughout my career as a shopaholic. It’s not very often that I get bit by the contagious bug of organization, but when I do, I must scratch the red, bloody bump that manifests in my bedroom. Therefore, I decided to write down several ways to organize your closet, that is, until I receive the PlayStation that I recently ordered on Amazon.
I may not always be the best at keeping my clothing organized as I am at social distancing. I have so much of it that I somehow always let myself sink to the point that the initiation of organization gets way over my head. But, eventually, I will need to transition back into this post-apocalyptic world, and I’ll have one new resolution to brag about.
1. Prioritize
In Canada, we have two seasons, harsh winter and harsh summer. It’s very seldom that you’ll be able to find four- season garments that can withstand the entire Canadian climate. Having such a contrast between the hot and cold months, it only makes sense that you separate your wardrobe accordingly. So, now, thanks to this quarantine, I’ve been able to build a divide in my wardrobe, separating the stuff I will be able to start wearing in a month from the stuff I won’t start wearing until October.
2. Care
It is a good habit to permanently keep all of your suits in garment bags, whether it’s current season or not. The number of times I’ve had moths eat holes in my garments is just an unfortunate reality that should never be overlooked. Like garlic to vampires, one thing to have in your closet to prevent the plague of moths is dried lavender; shaking some lavender into some tights or leggings and hanging them around your closet with your suits should prevent the habitation of a materialist’s enemies. I’ve also been told that cedar wood chests help as well, when storing sweaters that should never be hung (hanging sweaters stretches out the shoulders). Several colleagues of mine keep their suits in garment bags with DIY tags tied to their exterior identifying what is in each of the bags (this way they don’t need to open each bag every morning when trying to select something to wear).
3. Shirts
I used to have all of my shirts hanging up in my closet (a separate closet from the suits, because the latter took up so much space). But once my massive collection of shirts began to burst through the seams of the second closet, I decided to fold each and every one of them; I then colour-coordinated them and placed them on a shelf I never used. Sorting through the hundreds of shirts I had (no exaggeration), I could compare two shirts that may appear similar, and ask myself which one I’d be most probable to wear and donate the one I probably won’t get as much wear out of. As someone that irons my shirts and trousers every morning before dressing, my fear of those rectangular creases on the front of my shirt held no justification.
4. Trousers
Trousers I don’t fold. Part of maintaining trousers is to keep preserved their sharp creases, and the manipulated shape they have when being pressed by a tailor (which is extremely hard to master on your own, and since I’ve had such extensive practice being this industry now, I don’t find it necessary to take my trousers to get dry-cleaned any time they need a sharp crease — in all honesty, I very seldom trust a dry cleaner to press my garments properly and do it myself anyways; so it’s always smart to be cautious about who you bring your dry-cleaning to!). Hanging your trousers in half, draping over pant hangers in your closet because it will help my trousers keep their creases; additionally, after 24 hours any wrinkling from wear should fade away.
5. Use your space wisely
Always make sure your garments are not too crammed in your closet, otherwise they can easily get ruined. Suits have an anatomy that form the way they are shaped. Similar to denim, the more you wear them, a suit should begin to form to your individual silhouette, and when they are squeezed into a closet, their structure and shape can become lost. I’ve struggled with this issue a lot because of the number of garments that I have.
Though this may not be as fun to read as Trump’s Twitter account, it should hopefully bring a slightly better influence. Now that I have more space from removing all of my shirts from my second closet, I treat it as storage for the out-of-season garments I probably won’t get any use of until the temperatures begin to drop — hopefully — far after the wrath of Mother Earth has dissolved and left us to transition back to our seats after this intermission.
