Project Closet - The First Night of Digitizing My Wardrobe

Yesterday night I became obsessed with the idea of digitally cataloging my wardrobe. This idea appealed to me for a multitude of reasons:

• Identifying my personal trends and style (Seeing styles and trends emerge.)
• Preventing duplicate purchases (You already have three black ruffle skirts!)
• Encouraging thoughtful purchases (Do I really need this item? Am I missing an essential item?)
• Integration of a possible new purchase with your wardrobe (Can they work with the things you have?)
• Become more minimalist and have clothes that have more multi-functional.
• Indulging in my pursuit of being hyper-organized (I enjoy it. Yes I'm weird.)

One goal I have with this project is to automate my work/professional outfits for when I start my offer in August. I know a lot of people say they need to dress based on their moods but I'd rather not. I much prefer saving that daily bit of brain function on other things. Plus side is I get to plan ahead to account for weather AND as my BF points out, you still have the flexibility to dress based on your mood if you want to.

Anyway, after doing some intense Googling and research last night I found a few apps for the SG3 but I decided to forgo an app and just take pictures myself (using my phone camera so the quality isn't fantastic but still quite good) and uploading it to a folder in DropBox titled "Closet". Now, the one app I probably would have downloaded and used...isn't available for Android phones! Boo! Hiss! If Stylebook ever makes it available on Droid phones I'll download and use it but until then I'll be relying on my own method. 

I didn't expect to actually start on this little big project tonight. Usually I let ideas mull a bit longer before I take action but this probably means I'm actually excited about this project. So I set up my photo shooting area with my white bed sheet and moved the floor lamp towards the mattress for light. Laid the clothes (with their hangers) on the bed and started playing around with my phone's camera. Then I decided some of my clothes could look better hung up so I cleaned the top of my closet door (yea I'm nitpicky like that) and then hung a white bed sheet over it. 

The picture is blurry for a reason, just to give you an idea of what my setup was like. 

I ended up on taking shots of 25 items from my closet. And suddenly I realized I actually started taking pictures last night with 3 pairs of my heels. I guess in my mind, I didn't really 'start' because the shoe pictures are done well enough (not against a plain/white colored background) and so I'll probably re-take them. 

So my Closet folder is set up as follows:

• Closet
• Bottoms
• Skirts
• Pants
• Shoes
• Store Dressing Room
• Tops
• Tops - Cardigans
• Tops - Shells
• Tops - Tanks
• Tops - Sweaters
• Bags 
• Dresses

As I continue to add to my digital wardrobe I may remove, add, or consolidate folders but for now that's what I have. 

I'm already seeing benefits to this digital wardrobe thing.

Redundancies

Yea...so I clearly have a strong inclination to buy short black frilly skirts. It's probably to indulge my HS emo/goth sides while still being girly. Clearly I'm drawn to the Goth Lolita style. These skirts really are ME. But that also means I'm not allowed to buy anymore pieces like this...3 is more than enough and I might even get rid of the skirt on the far right. 

Unworn Pieces

I gotta face it. White tank tops just aren't my thing. Either I need to learn to work these into my wardrobe more (will have to wait until spring/summer) or I need to let go and donate these babies. Alternatively I was also thinking of dyeing the tank on the left into a color I'm more likely to wear. So either way I need to re-use, re-cycle, or re-give these tanks.

Quality Control

See this Express tank top? The strap on the right is longer than the other one! I didn't even notice when I was arranging the tank on my bed. At first I thought I had arranged it wrong but upon closer inspection I could see that the seams for both sides were unequally and also placed further along compared to each side. No wonder I always felt so lopsided wearing this tank. Maybe when I get decent at sewing I'll try and fix it myself.

~

So even though I have 25 items down I still have a loong way to go before I'm completely finished with my project (not to mention that I may even go back and retake pictures for a few of the items). For a few of the items I think I'll need to combine two images to show: a. front and back or b. actually worn on my body. Afterwards I'll continue maintenance of my digital wardrobe in addition to taking pictures of me in outfits that I like and feel comfortable in. I want to give priority and focus towards work outfits but it may not turn out that way since I don't have many professional pieces...(oh the woes of being short). That way, I can have a library of looks that I can wear to work and plan for in my closet (set aside clothes at the beginning of the week into outfits) so I have one less thing to deal with in the morning. 

So excited! Am I crazy or what? =]