Above – Pucci, Charlotte Olympia
I’ve been intrigued with the idea of cataloguing and organizing my wardrobe since I first saw the movie Clueless as a child. That iconic scene in which Cher casually scrolls through the contents of her wardrobe on her PC seems to have inspired countless apps and services. I myself tried to implement something similar in my teens (as a flash game, how retro!) but the sheer effort required to photograph each piece in the same lighting and pose proved too much for me and I only managed to input a small fraction of my wardrobe before giving up. Unfortunately clothing is currently just out of reach of being approximated using technology.
The next best thing for me is to try to keep my wardrobe organized to reduce the effort of having to remember what I own. As I’m pretty lazy this means a periodic organization session in which I organize by function (work, event, night, etc.) and then colour. It’s an imperfect system but it works well enough. When it comes to shoes and accessories though, I’ve found a system that I find infinitely useful and really shortens the time it takes me to pick out what to wear. The system involves two things: 1. photographs of the items, 2. a mobile app. I print the photos once I’ve accumulated enough new items to make it worth an order, and I add to the app as soon as I make a purchase.
I’ve been intrigued with the idea of cataloguing and organizing my wardrobe since I first saw the movie Clueless as a child. That iconic scene in which Cher casually scrolls through the contents of her wardrobe on her PC seems to have inspired countless apps and services. I myself tried to implement something similar in my teens (as a flash game, how retro!) but the sheer effort required to photograph each piece in the same lighting and pose proved too much for me and I only managed to input a small fraction of my wardrobe before giving up. Unfortunately clothing is currently just out of reach of being approximated using technology.
The next best thing for me is to try to keep my wardrobe organized to reduce the effort of having to remember what I own. As I’m pretty lazy this means a periodic organization session in which I organize by function (work, event, night, etc.) and then colour. It’s an imperfect system but it works well enough. When it comes to shoes and accessories though, I’ve found a system that I find infinitely useful and really shortens the time it takes me to pick out what to wear. The system involves two things: 1. photographs of the items, 2. a mobile app. I print the photos once I’ve accumulated enough new items to make it worth an order, and I add to the app as soon as I make a purchase.
Above: Mary Katrantzou Bag
1. Photograph Your Items
I typically place two items into one shot, which I take with my phone. I then have these printed at a photo shop – there are several good options online – or if you have a photo printer you can print these yourself. The photos of the items can then be attached onto shoe or bag boxes with double sided tape, in a place that’s easily visible, or onto shoe or bag dustbags with a variety of fastenings (I use a plastic tagging gun I bought from Amazon).
2. Use a mobile app
There are a number of mobile apps available that can help you keep track of your items. I use one called Stylebook on my iPhone, and although it’s quite a manual process (you have to edit images yourself to make them presentable) it’s the best app I’ve found so far for this. Let me know if you know of a better one in the comments! The mobile app means I have all my accessories in one place so I can easily select what I want to wear without even being home.
