Feel like you’re coasting through from one wardrobe disaster to another? Honor Marks tells Julia Rebaudo how to get it all sorted
It’s not always such a straightforward connection to make – but if your wardrobe is in a mess chances are you’re always struggling for something to wear, you’re pretty much convinced you have nothing to wear and the easiest solution is to go and buy something. Something that’s nice fresh and new, perfectly clean and folded. Ah, what bliss. But how long before that gorgeous item has descended into and been lost in your wardrobe hell, only to become another un-laundered, unfolded and thus undesirable, unwearble item.
Sounds like it’s time to subject your wardrobe to a little magic from the Life Laundress. Honor Maxwell, who runs Life Laundress, believes there are countless benefits to cleaning up and sorting out your wardrobe. And she won’t baulk at getting on with the job. My top tip? “Get on with it, get on with it, get on with it!”
Using someone like Honor to clean out your wardrobe has its advantages:
She’s not your best friend, so won’t tell you what she thinks you want to hear
She can be objective about what suits you, what colours are good for you, what you’re never going to wear, what you can’t do without
She’ll tell you to get rid of things you aren’t wearing but are hanging onto for a host of empty reasons (Saving it for a special occasion? Realistically, you’ll probably buy something new anyway)
She’ll help you put items aside for friends and family, sell them on eBay, take them to a second-hand designer shop or charity shop
She will then help you identify the gaps in your wardrobe so you know what garments you do need and can make informed buying decisions, rather than the impetuous impulsive “I must have that” purchase which usually results in a single wear, if that!
“I’ve found 99% of people know what needs to be done, but they genuinely need to be galvanised and motivated. They need to be validated in what they’re doing and are after some moral support and extra pair of hands,” says Honor.
Honor has found by cleaning out your wardrobe and reducing it to key pieces you actually wear, you will be able to create more outfits – you’ll realise that your black skirt does in fact go with several different things; you’ll find that garments, previously crushed and fallen to the floor, have loads more wearablity and uses than you thought. “The old cliché that we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time is so true!” says Honor. “We’re all guilty of it. Unless you’re a total minimalist which most people aren’t!”
Beyond revolutionising your wardrobe Honor helps out with storage solutions -– anything from custom built shelves and cupboards or a trips to Ikea. Often you’ll find once you’ve cleared out a lot of rubbish you can use the storage solutions you’ve already got in place.
And Honor’s tough on the old storing things in the loft trick: “If it’s up there, you’ve probably forgotten all about it and don’t need it anyway! These things are clogging up the arteries of the house. The benefit of detoxing your house will be ten-fold. If you’re thinking about starting anything new, a new business for example, you need to have a clean platform from which to do it. If your wardrobe or your house is cluttered you just won’t be able to think straight.”
So a tidy desk equals a tidy mind? “I don’t totally agree with that,” says Honor, “I’ve worked very effectively with a messy desk, but it has always been tidy at the beginning and the end of the day.”
To maintain a tidy wardrobe, you do need discipline. This is the scary bit. It’s all very well having a massive clear out, but won’t things quickly descend into chaos? Not necessarily! “If you’ve cleaned out a lot of stuff the difference will be that everything has a place and you know where it goes,” says Honor. We say time to take a sense of pride in your new-found order and bring out the domestic goddess in you ladies!
Honor can help you sort out your wardrobe and any other aspect of your household over a series of half-day sessions. No job is too big to too small and jobs can anything from office and paperwork to cellers and lofts.
Honor is happy to offer a 15% discount to our marmaLADYa readers. Just mention that you heard about her here.
Life Laundress
07778 484 472
www.lifelaundress.com
honor@lifelaundress.com
