How to Refresh Your Wardrobe 2025 (Without Buying ANYTHING)
It’s that time of year again: spring cleaning. It's the time of year when Winter meets Spring, cold meets slightly warm, and layers are a necessity and not just a fashion choice.
Speaking of fashion choices, this is also the time of year when I look into my closet and wonder how I have so many clothes and nothing to wear. We’ve all been there.
The solution? Refresh your wardrobe. By refreshing your wardrobe, I mean taking a good look at what you already have and shopping within your own closet. No purchase necessary.
The problem isn’t that you don’t have anything to wear, but that you’ve lost touch with what you do have.
So it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fall back in love with what we’ve got.
How do we do that? I've got four easy steps that I use to help myself refresh my wardrobe and mindset:
Utilize Pinterest for fashion inspiration
Get your closet and dresser organized
Get creative and have fun with your clothes
Embrace the capsule wardrobe mindset to help you save money on future purchases
1. Utilize Pinterest
Okay, before we dive into the mess of our closets or dressers, let’s first consider who we are currently. Nothing in life is stagnant, including our styles. To refresh our wardrobe, we need to consider what we currently like style-wise.
To do this, you’ll want to create a “dream clothes” fashion board on Pinterest. It’s kind of like a vision board but for style. Once the board is created, start scouring through Pinterest for fashion inspiration.
Here is the two-step process of using Pinterest for style inspiration:
Scroll through different fashion pins and figure out what your style is.
Pin the pieces that you like to your fashion vision board.
This isn’t meant to create a need for new things but to help you consider what you like and dislike. You'll likely start noticing a theme as you scroll and pin various styles. There are probably already pieces in your closet waiting to be styled similarly to these fashions.
Here’s a screenshot of my fashion board on Pinterest. I definitely started noticing how much I like the color maroon and other warm earth tones! Also, I’m a huge fan of florals.
Fashion blogger, M Gets Dressed, has a great how-to for setting this all up if you’re struggling to get the algorithm to show you more of what you like!
Once you know what you like and dislike, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and dive into the trenches- er, I mean, your closet.
2. Get Organized
Image source: Unsplash images, artist: Sarah Brown.
Pulling everything out of your closet is daunting (where did this shirt come from, and seriously, how did I end up with 7 pairs of leggings?). Don’t even get me started on the things I’ve bought but haven’t worn… It’s almost as bad as my pile of unread books.
To refresh your wardrobe, you must look at every piece you own. It’s a necessary evil.
Ask yourselves these questions as you go through your clothes:
Does this item match the style that I currently like, or am I just keeping it for emotional reasons?
How long has it been since I wore this?
Do I feel confident or pretty when I wear this?
And the ever-famous Marie Kondo question: Does this spark joy?
Do you have pieces you haven’t worn in a long time? Your sense of style changes, and that's common. If you aren’t ready to get rid of those clothes yet (emotional attachment is a real thing and you shouldn’t push yourself), just set them off to the side. You can return to them another day. Do the same thing with stuff that no longer fits you. Don't feel guilt over that- our bodies change just as much as our style.
Getting these items out of your closet though will help you recognize more clothes you own that are in your current style.
If you have pieces you can't decide whether you like or not, set them aside in a "possibilities pile." I like to put this pile in a box for a month or two and see how many pieces I miss. Usually, this helps me cut things that aren't quite me anymore.
3. Get Creative
After you've removed the pieces you know that you haven't worn in a long time, it's time for the fun part- because fashion is fun, playful, even.
While you’re working on creating your dream wardrobe with the pieces you already have, start figuring out new ways to wear stuff.
Mix things up. Wear that polka dot dress with the striped heels. Play dress up in your closet, try on outfits, and get creative. In the famous words of Ms. Frizzle: "Take chances! Make mistakes! Get Messy!"
Use Pinterest to Style from Your Closet
Are you struggling for inspiration? Do you have items in your closet that you love but don’t love wearing all the time? Maybe it’s because you just haven’t found the best way to style it yet.
Not only does Pinterest help you hone in on your fashion, but it can help you style the pieces you already own!
For example, I thrifted this adorable cropped strawberry sweater but knew it looked odd with just a t-shirt. So, I typed in “cropped strawberry sweater” on Pinterest for some good ol’ outfit recommendations.
Aside from Pinterest, capsule wardrobe apps, like ACloset on Android, can help you visualize outfits you like and keep track of them on your phone. Speaking of capsule wardrobe, let's dive into our last step in refreshing our closet- embracing the capsule wardrobe mindset.
4. Utilize Capsule Wardrobe Mindset
Armed with a Pinterest board of inspiration and knowing what is inside your closet you can arm yourself with perhaps the most vital mindset when it comes to your clothes and shopping: the capsule wardrobe.
What is a capsule wardrobe? It’s a collection of your favorite staple pieces that you can mix and match easily for various outfits. It focuses on creating versatility with classic pieces, helping you narrow in on your style. For capsule wardrobes, less is more.
This is not to say that you cannot go shopping when you embrace a capsule wardrobe mindset. It just means that your shopping will target particular gaps in the fashion styles you want. You’ll have a list (whether physical or mental) of the things that you want to buy and know that you’ll wear.
It focuses on wearability, asking questions like; How easy is this piece to style with other things you have? Does it match your current style ideals?
For example, in my Pinterest fashion browsing, I learned how much I like the look of simple turtlenecks with dresses and skirts. While out thrifting with a friend, I had a list of items I was specifically looking for, which included a turtleneck.
A good capsule wardrobe mindset helps curb impulse purchases and buyer’s remorse for items you liked but don’t quite love. Thus, it saves you money in the long run.
Final Thoughts
I am not suggesting you ransack your closet and remove most of your clothes, keeping only a few items. I’m not a minimalist- though I admire those who are.
Here's what I am suggesting: take time to understand who you are and what you like, remove things from your closet that no longer make you happy or make you feel pretty, and reinvent the pieces you do like into cute outfits.
Refreshing your wardrobe without buying anything is very satisfying. Almost cathartic.
While refreshing your wardrobe, you’ll likely find gaps in your style that you want to fill. That is okay. I recommend taking your time and not rushing out to purchase immediately. See how long you can go without first. Sometimes that need is just the emotional itch for a little treat- which is a great thing to do every once in a while, but done too much can lead to buyer’s remorse and more clutter that will just add to your stress.
