From Our Closets: Stay or Go?

LUCY BURDETTE: I know we've talked quite a bit recently about decluttering and downsizing. But here's the problem I run into over and over: I have some items in my closet that I have not been able to throw out or recycle. Then I had a brilliant idea! I need some girlfriends to tell me the truth (OK can be boyfriends too) about these articles of clothing. And I figured the other Reds might have some items they want to model as well. So please, be kind, but be honest.

I heard last weekend that overalls are cycling back into style. I used to wear the denim kind in my 20s. I've saved this short pair for a long, long time. What do you think? Hold or go?



And here's one more. I know I wore these once to an Anthony awards brunch for which Six Strokes Under had been nominated for best PBO. I thought they were cute back then… And who knows when a pair of bright green silk capris might be needed again? Hold or go?



HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I love you madly, Lucy, but trash the overall things. You may be connected to them emotionally, but you have outgrown them intellectually.

 Green capris? Keep. Totally.  See? This is why it's a problem. I think the green pants are beautiful, with a crisp white tunic and chic sandals?  Gorgeous.

And now, checking my closet.  

And I know just what you mean. I am madly giving things away these days, but there are a few items I'm not sure of. Okay, how about these.  SO hip. And they were hugely on sale. (Often a preface to an unfortunate purchase.) These actual Chanel boots were such a steal that I couldn't resist.  (I will tell you the list price and the sale price if you are interested, but I fear the backlash.)  I have never worn them. I just look at them. I love them. Look at the colors, the quilted leather, the cool buckles, the soignée Parisian ultra-stylish style.  So punky and cool. (Can you tell from the photo?) But no matter what I do, I can't make them look right on me. If boot-cut jeans were in style, that might work. Hmm. So--I save them for another fashion swing. Should I just consign them?

HALLIE EPHRON: Lucy: Save the overalls. For Halloween. Actually those aren't overalls; they're rompers. And they look pretty cute on you. The pants? Too shiny. Weird length. Call Goodwill. Hank: Save the boots...just because.

I have very little in my closet that I don't actually wear. The oldest continually worn thing is probably a straw summer hat which squashes down to nothing in a suitcase. Once upon a time it was blue and purple and pink and red... now so faded. So useful. I will be sad when it gets holes.

I've also saved the hat I wore to my daughter's wedding. It does not squash and when I look at it, it screams CHURCH CLOTHES. Still, I keep it. What think? Is it time to give it the heave-ho?

HANK: Hal, that that does not say church clothes to me at all. I think I recognize the designer--but wear it to outdoor concerts, to shade your face on summer days, even wear it to the beach. Seriously!

JENN MCKINLAY: I don't have much that I keep as I LOVE decluttering. Truly, the Hub and Hooligans hide their stuff from me because I have been known to be a teeny bit overzealous in my hauling of things to Goodwill.

That being said, I have had this dress (that I never wear) in my closet since Hub and I honeymooned in Maui eighteen years ago. Yes, he has the matching shirt, which we also still have although he no longer wears it either. For some reason, I can not make myself part with this dress (or his shirt) even though the skirt is WAY too short for a woman solidly in middle age and his shoulders have become too broad for his shirt. Why am I keeping them? Sentimentality? How long does that last? Maybe I could make pillows for the patio furniture out of them...hmm.

HANK: Jenn! Wear his shirt over your dress. Tied at the waist. SO cute!  (And it is not way too short for summer. You look adorable.)

LUCY: Cute, Jenn! You could always add leggings. Or so I was told about a dress that is too short but I bought it anyway. And have worn once…

INGRID THOFT: Like Jenn, I generally don't have trouble getting rid of things, but the timing of this post is perfect since I just put this suit in a bag to go to Goodwill.  I don't want to keep it, but I certainly need more encouragement to get it out the door!  I wore this chocolate brown satiny suit at my rehearsal dinner almost 17 years ago.  It still fits, but unless I'm auditioning to be one of the Pips in Gladys and the Pips, I think its day has come.  I've known for about 15 years that it needed to go, but it was my rehearsal dinner!  I suppose that as long as I've decided to keep the husband, that's all that matters.  And Jenn, you look great in that dress.  You should keep it; you never know when you might get invited to a luau!

HANK: Ingrid—can you keep the jacket? Wear it open, with a white t-shirt, over jeans?

LUCY: This is hysterical! I have a brown satin 3-piece thing too, Ingrid, so we can both play Pips. Hank, you are not helping us throw things out!!

HANK: I know. I am part of the problem. Can't help it. xoxo But sometimes you have to think of clothing (like Hallie's hat, or Ingrid's suit. Forget about "suit") in another way. That's what friends are for. Or something.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I declutter once or twice a year, too, and had just done a big round last week. And once again I hesitated over this dress, which I haven't worn in ages (um, years...but I'm a good bit thinner now...) I just can't talk myself into giving it away. It's a gorgeous fabric, and I love the wild print. But it's awfully bare, so it needs a little something. Cardigan? Jacket? And it's a weird length, just below mid-calf. So what shoes? (It's also clingy so needs major no-line undies.) Maybe I'll try it on with some linen sandals I have on order, and, you know, I happened to see a cardigan in the shop last weekend in just that color blue... 

What do you think of our problem clothing, REDs? Keep or toss? And tell us about something you can't quite part with?

We don't wear it but we can't give it away...

HALLIE EPHRON: With winter coming, it’s time to sort clothes. Sleeveless cottons to the back and the woolies to the front.  Sandals go up on a shelf and boots come down.

Every time I do this, I try to cull. Anything I haven’t worn in more than a year should go to Goodwill. And yet… and yet… each year there are certain items which, though I haven’t worn them in eons, I can’t bear to throw out.

The oldest item in my closet is a short coat made of thick dark mouton (sheepskin). I remember the day I pushed my two-year-old (she’s now 40) in a baby stroller into Anne Taylor after Christmas and found it on the sale rack marked 75% off. It is the warmest thing I’ve ever worn. Also the heaviest.  I wore it through a pregnancy and two linings, and if I could get into it I’d be wearing it still.

I have no idea why I cannot give it away but ever year I take it out, nuzzle my face into its soft fur, and hang it back up.

So share. What’s the oldest item of clothing in your closet and why can’t you throw it away?

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: I still have my wedding dress, if you can believe! Which is a fairly dumb thing to keep in a "cozy" NYC apartment. I keep thinking I'll give it to a charity, but then I get sentimental..... And distracted..

LUCY BURDETTE: I have saved my wedding dress too, and also the flower girl dress that I sewed for my stepdaughter to wear in the wedding. But the oldest piece of clothing in my house belonged to my mother and her two sisters, Janet, Barbara, and Betty Burdette.

This was an evening dress studded with rhinestones that they shared. In the close-up, you might be able to see the seams where it was let in and out, depending on which sister was wearing it.

I wore it once at a Halloween party, dressed as Marilyn Monroe. I'm certain that I wouldn't fit into it now, and besides it's very very fragile. But I'm unable to give it up!

RHYS BOWEN: I have my wedding veil. I didn't wear a long wedding dress as John and I were in Australia and didn't have a big wedding--just a few friends in church, and we were leaving Australia the next day!

The oldest piece of clothing in our house is the family Christening gown that was hand made by John's great grandmother and has been used for every baby in the family since. It's quite fragile but so lovely with handsewn tucks and ribbons and lace.

I still have a silk dress that belonged to my mother and fits me well. I wear it sometimes just to remember her.

I think my oldest piece of clothing (that I never wear) is a Scottish kilt. I always tell myself that it's such good quality and timeless. But I never wear it, so.perhaps it should go.......

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ha! I still have TWO wedding dresses! And I used to have three :-) until I spilled coffee on one of them, a really slinky white wool floor length racer back sheath. 

The dress I wore marrying my darling Jonathan is FABULOUS, strapless black and gold tulle,  and when I get nominated for an Oscar (kidding) I will wear it to the awards ceremony. I really do wish there was someplace to wear it.

But the oldest article of clothing --two things. One, a lacy shawl that Jonathan's mother's father gave her in 1925, and she gave to me. I adore it, and it is still as gorgeous as can be.  Jonathan's mother also gave me a dress she wore to -some big event.   In the fifties. It is an amazingly chic little sheath, terrific, and I remember she said (very Jonathan's mom): "Oh, I was so tiny, you'll never be able to wear it." HA.  Guess what. Isn't it great?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I didn't have a proper wedding dress for either wedding, so didn't save them. I'm not much of a clothes keeper--or at least so I thought before I did a major clear out this summer. I really did get rid of most of the stuff I never wore. (I think...) But I could not bear to give away my mom's silver mink jacket. I remember when she bought it, when I was in elementary school. I thought it was so glamorous and sometimes she would let me wear it for dress up. I loved watching her get ready for parties and putting on the jacket at the very last. It always smelled of her perfume.

But even older than that is my christening dress. My daughter wore it, too. It's the finest white cotton, with lace. So sweet, but I don't have a photo as it's packed away in tissue in a box.

I'm determined to wear this gorgeous jacket this winter instead of letting it hang in the closet. Mink, jeans, and boots.

HALLIE: So what's lurking in the back of your closet, something you don't wear but can't bear to part with.