Coming out of the closet

I got a relatively wild hair (or fiber perhaps?) yesterday and decided that per Tim Gunn and his new show, I would clean out my closet and get rid of things I don't wear anymore and/or items that don't look good on my frame. It's not odd of me to cull the old closet. I get bored with my clothes fairly quickly and I tend to clean out every year or so. It *is* odd of me to pull out everything (yes, everything!), try it on and then sort into four piles of Throw Away, Give Away, Keep, and Try On Again in 3 Months.

The Give Away pile includes a lot of nice things. It's almost heartbreaking to be giving away a ton of Ann Taylor Loft, but the tops are too tight on the bust (hello boobies) or just don't fit right, and the pants are just cut wrong for my short, curvy bootay. Anyone out there 5'2 and a size 6 or 8? Do I have a jackpot for you!

The sad but true Try On Again in 3 Months pile also has many nice things that would look fantastic if I would get back into a regular running and lifting routine. I'm giving myself 3 months. If the clothes don't fit in that time frame, they have to be given away. And I will be devastated. I don't have that much to lose, a total of about 3 inches, so I know it's a totally reachable goal. And there's at least one HOT pair of pants that I really don't wanna give away!


My keep pile includes one pair of black pants, one pair of brown, some jeans, polo tees, sleeve less tops, LOTS of cute skirts (hee), two long sleeve oxfords, and sweaters. About 15 total items, minus the sweaters (there are about 20 of those).

What a wake up call!!! Admittedly, it's shocking to walk into my closet and see very little hanging up. But it's refreshing too, because what is left are the things I actually wear. I don't have to evaluate 100 items every time I go to choose and outfit. I can see exactly what fits and what's clean before me every day.

Trouble is, a lot of this stuff doesn't necessarily work together. So I'm on the hunt for some cute, well fitting new clothes, namely a great pair of khakis. My old favorites were DKNY...I put them on yesterday and gasped! They fit, but were TOO SHORT! How had I never noticed? Jeez. I also need a few great fitting tops, since polos and sleeveless shirts don't work for everything (damn it). I've ordered two items from Land's End, so we'll see how those work out.

Anyone have a great pair of pants you just can't live without? Tell me about them and why they're so great!