My desire to maintain a pared down, edited wardrobe came from being deeply stressed out by my closet being the biggest source of chaos in my space throughout the majority of my life. It was during my massive Marie Kondo purge almost 4 years ago (shared about it then on the blog, remember it??) that for the very first time I assessed every single piece of clothing I owned and got rid of most of it with good reasons. Since then, I’ve tasted the unparalleled joy of having a wardrobe consisting only of pieces I love and actually wear, and I intend on keeping it that way forever.

The flaw here is that clothing doesn’t last forever, and sometimes neither do tastes, where one year you can be in love with a sweater and the next year you’ll wonder why you even got it. Even with having nailed my style down pretty good by now which generally involves keeping to simple, comfortable, and versatile pieces that last, sometimes I get it wrong, or I change my mind, and I use the changing seasons to remind me to re-evaluate what’s taking up valuable real estate in my closet.

All of that is to say that when I approach a wardrobe refresh before a new season, I always start with looking through all the clothing from the previous season and identifying if there was anything I didn’t wear, then I proceed to remove likely all of them. I do this twice a year, once after spring + summer and once after fall + winter since LA weather can basically be divided into those two groups. Looking back through my fall/winter clothing, there were a bunch of things I didn’t touch at all that ranged in reasons including they didn’t fit right anymore, they were old and in rough shape, or it wasn’t something I would buy if I saw it in a shop today aka I didn’t like it anymore. Parting with these equals room for growth, or room to better see and not forget that the pieces you do love exist, which is truly the best way to refresh a wardrobe- plus, it’s free.

That leads to the next thing I do which is to look at the what I have for the upcoming season, in this case spring. If I did it right last time, I should have in front of me only pieces that I love and wear, though sometimes with that extra time I gain clarity and think yea I can part with that old romper now. With all this regular wardrobe assessing, it becomes much easier to identify where the gaps are for better and more intentional clothing additions, which means I can better come up with a plan for what I shop for without risking duplications and while also never exceeding the number of hangers I have (this rule is non-negotiable, never buy more hangers!)

The most glaring thing to me right now is that the majority of my wardrobe is black. This makes sense because it’s by far my favorite color to wear, but during warmer months it can be uncomfortable, especially combined with my preference to wear pants year-round. With room to grow a more comfortable spring wardrobe, I’m craving whites, creams, beiges, tans, anything in that color family of warm neutrals. Linen for more breathable pants, culottes and wide legs for an alternative comfortable and breezy option for bottoms, and casual lightweight dresses are the types of pieces that are sorely missing from my closet.

Embarking on the hunt for these items, I’ve gathered some of the things I’m eyeing or already own and love in case you’re looking for similar. My neutral spring wardrobe picks are below, do they match any of yours? What’s your process for editing your wardrobe?