The Trimm Challenge
The Trimm Challenge is a simple and abbreviated seasonal wardrobe edit that I have developed from my days as a personal stylist. The heart behind it is that having good style and direction in your wardrobe starts with subtracting things out of your closet first, before ever adding anything in. Clothes we don’t like and never wear have this great ability to clutter our decision making when it comes to styling and purchasing. And most of all, it makes it easier to buy more things in the future that really don’t align with what we love or who we are!
So here are the main goals:
- get rid of a small but specific number of items in your wardrobe before the start of each season
- discover what you really need or want to add in
- give yourself guidelines on what you won’t be purchasing
- and most importantly create a few style descriptors that will guide your outfits overall
5 steps to Trimm:
- One Saturday a season go into your wardrobe and pick out 10 items that just don’t do it for you anymore.
- Sit down with pen and paper and write out the reasons why you are getting rid of those items. (ex. Were they ill-fitting? Are they too colorful? Did you only buy it because it was on sale?) These are the types of things to notice and mention! The more specific you can be, the better for you!
- From these notes, make a list of 3-5 things you are going to stay away from buying this season (ex. no more skinny jeans, or stay away from stripes, etc.).
- Then make a list of 3-5 goals you want to work towards in your wardrobe (ex. purchase straight leg jeans, or add in more prints).
- Finally, pick 2-3 descriptors for what you want your style to be generally (ex.” I want to experiment with whimsical and modern styling” or “I want to feel more feminine and fun”). Whether you use what you have to create these feelings and exercise these goals, or you purchase items within your new guidelines is up to you!
And that’s it – Finish it all in an hour or two at the most, and use your avenue of choice to pass along your items! (I use Poshmark or a local charity that is more involved in the community)
Now you can take your list of don’ts and your overall goals and use it as a guide for the upcoming season with focus and intention! YAY
**A little note here: 10 items is only a small start for many people, or if you’re like me 10 items might be a large chunk to take out of your wardrobe, but the goal here is to help encourage everyone that you can have intention with your style and purchases with just the smallest amount of time and effort!
Each season, I will be posting a picture of my pass-on’s and my list of don’ts/goals for my wardrobe on Instagram and on The Threads We Wear, and I hope you will join in with me! My desire is to build a community that supports each other to be thoughtful with their style in a way that is sustainable for our lives, and a community that cares about the impact our purchases have on the world around us!
Mark your Calendar for the next #trimmchallenge: Saturday, December 8th, 2018
Hope to see you on the ‘gram! And if you do decide to join in, make sure to hashtag #trimmchallenge, and #wintertrimm.
See you very soon friends!