Wardrobe overhaul: Consultant provides local ‘What Not To Wear’ experience
Wardrobe consultant Adina Morse and her daughter Channing, 4, look over some clothing options and outfit combinations at their home Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011.
Wardrobe advice from Adina Morse
Tips for closet organization
- Take everything out of your closet and try each item on. Does it fit? If not, get rid of it. Does it have holes or stains? If so, it needs to go. Remember consignment stores are an option for those quality clothes items that no longer fit right.
- Make a pile of the items you haven’t worn in the last year. Ask yourself, Why haven’t I worn this item?
- Are there clothes remaining you save for only special occasions? Be creative and draw pieces out of this pile to mix or accessorize with during the week.
- Rotate clothing items every few months. If you can’t see it, you might not ever wear it. This jump starts your creativity and reminds you of items you have.
- Place your jackets, purses and scarves where you will grab them going out the door.
- For changing purses on the go, keep a basket handy to dump everything in. Take only the items you need for your next outing.
- Remember cedar blocks to avoid moth holes. When you periodically rotate your clothes, brush the cedar blocks with sandpaper to release the aroma for moth prevention.
Tips for saving money on clothes
- Be prepared and go shopping with a list. The list is generated after you clean out the closet and evaluate what pieces you need. Keep the list in your purse or car.
- Buy classic pieces off season.
- Buy for the size you are now.
- Buy pieces you will wear again.
- Host a clothes swap party with your friends.
- Take a trusted friend shopping. Pick a friend who will be honest and who has a sense of style you admire.
Before the New Year rolls in, many of us get into a zone of cleaning or purging around the house. It brings on feelings of freshness and starting anew.
One of the main centers of this action is in the bedroom closet.
Adina Morse, a wardrobe consultant in Lawrence, has taken her childhood creativity and turned it into her passion for empowering mostly women and a few male clients to tackle their “I have nothing to wear problem! I bought this months ago and I don’t know what to wear with it.”
Beginning in New York with her first clients, the former litigator began transforming her family and friends at their requests. Now back in Lawrence, Morse is attaining success with her personalized business.
“Love Lawrence, love downtown, really believe in shopping locally,” she says.
With her positive energy, Morse is able to go through a private “What Not To Wear,” the long-running TLC show.
Morse believes you do have a choice about how you look, and sometimes this involves taking a chance or risk: “Set yourself apart.”
The episode begins in your closet and ends in the closet. In between is thoughtful, affordable and mostly local shopping. The amount of time for the process is between five hours and 25 hours, depending on the individual client’s needs.
Stephanie, a mother of two, recently experienced Adina’s professional guidance. After “running her butt off,” she said, with a fitness program and her friends’ support, Stephanie struggled with finding the right fit of jeans or believing she could wear certain clothing. Her shopping experiences were also overwhelming. “Especially after having kids, shopping was difficult. If I did try on clothes, I would cry or buy something 4 sizes too big.”
Stephanie would also stick to basic colors because she wasn’t sure how to pull off color or prints. Following total cleanout of her closet, trying on every piece of clothing and having Morse help her make a list of what primary pieces she needed, the two scheduled their shopping adventure.
“Adina took me shopping locally. She helped me discover you don’t have to leave (Lawrence) to find affordable and good clothing,” Stephanie said.
The consignment stores of Lawrence held fabulous finds for Stephanie, as well as other local retailers. Today, Stephanie is confident in putting together outfits by mixing and matching several pieces of clothing and accessories and shopping on her own.
“My husband doesn’t hear anymore, ‘I have nothing to wear,'” she says.