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These are just a few helpful (or at least I like to think so) hints to help you maintain your clothes and accessories. You spent way too much of your hard earned dollar bills on your Zac Posen Beatrice bag or Chloe Edith Bowler to subject it to anything other than the best care possible.
Dry clean your finer fabrics when you can. It's always a nicer result than standard washing and drying. Hand wash when you can't dryclean. Silks, satins, and cashmere can all be hand washed in most instances. The machine tends to be too rough on designer items. It's important that your Marc Jacobs, Norma Kamali, and Milly all maintain their lines and vibrant colors!
Try putting the hanger through the bottom of your shirts and dresses. It keeps the neck from getting stretched out.
Wash your denim inside out. It helps keep the wash looking nice and fresh. It also keeps the hardware from getting battered and beaten.
Fold your sweaters or heavy knits. Hanging them stretches them out. Your cashmere, merino wools, and finer knits should be stored in nice tupperware storage boxes with cedar and tissue in the off season. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but that $600 Ralph Lauren Black Label (or $150 if you bought it from us!) cableknit cashmere deserves that little extra effort so it will last forever.
Get a folding board from a container or home store. They help get a near perfect fold which helps prevent wrinkles. They cost about $3 and will change your life! Well, not your life so much as your laundry day. They are great for tees, knits, and sweaters. The nice fold will give your closet a clean organized look and feel.
Hang your silk dresses or silk blouses in garment bags. Garment bags help prevent those nasty snags that make silk so hard to maintain. You can buy a package of three at Target or you can just keep the ones you get at Nordstrom or Neimans.
Hang your jewelry on a stand or small hooks. Hanging your jewelry whether it's a precious or a a man-made material helps prevent unsightly scratches and will keep your Suzy Fabrikant diamond drop earrings from getting tangled up in your Lizzie Scheck Moon & Star necklace. We all know what a tangled monster of a mess your jewelry can make if it's left to it's own devices!
Store your shoes in a shoe box. It keeps the shoes from losing their shape when other things end up on top of them. Keep your dustbags and buy extras at the store! Your Salvatore Ferragamo slingbacks are not going to like having your Biba suede boots piled on top of them. Also, write on the outside of the box in big black (or green or red or whatever color floats your boat) marker what is inside. The designer, color, and style are usually all you need to make quick decisions. It makes it SO much easier to pick shoes when you can see clearly what your choices are.
Buy a sweater brush. They have a really good one that's about $5 called Evercare The Container Store or Target. It's battery powered and gets rid of balling from your knits as well as loose threads. You can also use it to get fuzzies off of your sofa and chairs! I love things with dual uses!
Wash your dark blues and blacks with your denim. It can refresh a fading color. A new pair of Seven Dojo's will wash nicely with your Banana Republic black button downs.
Don't be shy about changing out buttons! An old blouse or coat is refreshed with new buttons. Don't be afraid to use unusual or funky buttons, it really can make something dull quite EXCITING. A drab old tweed Banana Republic overcoat will look fresh and new with a set of shiny new or decidedly elegant vintage buttons. You can shop on the net at several specialty buttons shops.
Clean your closet once a year (or every six months if you're a beast of a shopper like I am)! Get rid of anything and everything that is worn out or hasn't been worn in the past year! Are you really going to wear your Express stir-up pants again when they are all thread bare and faded? Is that Juicy Couture track jacket ever going to see the light of day when you lost the zipper pull and tore the pocket over 6 months ago? Keep your basics, keep you couture, keep your vintage Pucci, keep your Chanel boots, but get rid of the old stained Gap tees and ratty Anne Klein suits.
Donate to a local battered women's shelter or homeless shelter. The battered women's shelters can alwasy use suits, bloues, and slacks as many of the women they are helping are new to the workforce or their job.
Store your bags in a dustbag! If you didn't get one with a bag you can buy them at Target or The Container Store. Clean them out before you store them! Get your almost empty MAC Mineralize Skinfinish compact and your half used Chanel Rouge Allure Lipstick out of the pockets and take your Dirt Devil Scorpion or the hose on your Dyson DC14 and get all the funk and junk out of the pockets and corners. Even if your bag is just a nice Coach Carly Leather Top Handle Pouch it should get a little attention before you store it away until next spring. This way you get a smile on your lips when you dig it out instead of a frown when you see your cover-up crumbs mushed into the lovely suede lining.
Dry clean your finer fabrics when you can. It's always a nicer result than standard washing and drying. Hand wash when you can't dryclean. Silks, satins, and cashmere can all be hand washed in most instances. The machine tends to be too rough on designer items. It's important that your Marc Jacobs, Norma Kamali, and Milly all maintain their lines and vibrant colors!
Try putting the hanger through the bottom of your shirts and dresses. It keeps the neck from getting stretched out.
Wash your denim inside out. It helps keep the wash looking nice and fresh. It also keeps the hardware from getting battered and beaten.
Fold your sweaters or heavy knits. Hanging them stretches them out. Your cashmere, merino wools, and finer knits should be stored in nice tupperware storage boxes with cedar and tissue in the off season. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but that $600 Ralph Lauren Black Label (or $150 if you bought it from us!) cableknit cashmere deserves that little extra effort so it will last forever.
Get a folding board from a container or home store. They help get a near perfect fold which helps prevent wrinkles. They cost about $3 and will change your life! Well, not your life so much as your laundry day. They are great for tees, knits, and sweaters. The nice fold will give your closet a clean organized look and feel.
Hang your silk dresses or silk blouses in garment bags. Garment bags help prevent those nasty snags that make silk so hard to maintain. You can buy a package of three at Target or you can just keep the ones you get at Nordstrom or Neimans.
Hang your jewelry on a stand or small hooks. Hanging your jewelry whether it's a precious or a a man-made material helps prevent unsightly scratches and will keep your Suzy Fabrikant diamond drop earrings from getting tangled up in your Lizzie Scheck Moon & Star necklace. We all know what a tangled monster of a mess your jewelry can make if it's left to it's own devices!
Store your shoes in a shoe box. It keeps the shoes from losing their shape when other things end up on top of them. Keep your dustbags and buy extras at the store! Your Salvatore Ferragamo slingbacks are not going to like having your Biba suede boots piled on top of them. Also, write on the outside of the box in big black (or green or red or whatever color floats your boat) marker what is inside. The designer, color, and style are usually all you need to make quick decisions. It makes it SO much easier to pick shoes when you can see clearly what your choices are.
Buy a sweater brush. They have a really good one that's about $5 called Evercare The Container Store or Target. It's battery powered and gets rid of balling from your knits as well as loose threads. You can also use it to get fuzzies off of your sofa and chairs! I love things with dual uses!
Wash your dark blues and blacks with your denim. It can refresh a fading color. A new pair of Seven Dojo's will wash nicely with your Banana Republic black button downs.
Don't be shy about changing out buttons! An old blouse or coat is refreshed with new buttons. Don't be afraid to use unusual or funky buttons, it really can make something dull quite EXCITING. A drab old tweed Banana Republic overcoat will look fresh and new with a set of shiny new or decidedly elegant vintage buttons. You can shop on the net at several specialty buttons shops.
Clean your closet once a year (or every six months if you're a beast of a shopper like I am)! Get rid of anything and everything that is worn out or hasn't been worn in the past year! Are you really going to wear your Express stir-up pants again when they are all thread bare and faded? Is that Juicy Couture track jacket ever going to see the light of day when you lost the zipper pull and tore the pocket over 6 months ago? Keep your basics, keep you couture, keep your vintage Pucci, keep your Chanel boots, but get rid of the old stained Gap tees and ratty Anne Klein suits.
Donate to a local battered women's shelter or homeless shelter. The battered women's shelters can alwasy use suits, bloues, and slacks as many of the women they are helping are new to the workforce or their job.
Store your bags in a dustbag! If you didn't get one with a bag you can buy them at Target or The Container Store. Clean them out before you store them! Get your almost empty MAC Mineralize Skinfinish compact and your half used Chanel Rouge Allure Lipstick out of the pockets and take your Dirt Devil Scorpion or the hose on your Dyson DC14 and get all the funk and junk out of the pockets and corners. Even if your bag is just a nice Coach Carly Leather Top Handle Pouch it should get a little attention before you store it away until next spring. This way you get a smile on your lips when you dig it out instead of a frown when you see your cover-up crumbs mushed into the lovely suede lining.
Guide created: 06/27/06 (updated 08/12/08)
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