Update: Wardrobe Doctor

I am so pleased to say that my recent meeting with the wardrobe doctor was an unmitigated success, and an excellent use of my time and money.

• Up until very recently, I have lived in small places so had to be crafty about the storage of my clothes (under-bed storage bins a favorite tool in this). Now I have plenty of closet space so they're all hung/put away and the first thing I realized when I started pulling it all out is how many clothes I had. I was appalled. Especially when I realized how similar they all were.

• My wardrobe doctor is passionate about her work, and the first thing she did was explain to me what colors look good on me. I don't remember what my skin tone is called but I have a dress that I wore in Miami for my friend Joel's birthday celebration that has them all, so that's helpful. "Just remember this dress!," she kept saying.

• I should never wear either white or black. I have approximately 13 white tee shirts, and 400 black suits. I also have at least four black-and-white summer dresses.

• When she saw my white tee shirts, she said she didn't know what to advise me to do, "since they were all obviously new." When I replied that actually, they were purchased in London over 6 years ago, I was impressed by how clean I had kept them. She was appalled. "Do you mean to tell me you've been wearing white next to your face for all those years?!" She was truly in distress.

• As I pulled out black suit after black suit, she put her head in her hands. "Honey," she said, "have you never considered scarves?"

• When I pulled out one black sheath-with-a-jacket number, she said, "I can't—I don't know what to say, I really don't. Why on earth would you ever wear that outfit?" I said it was my funeral dress. She stared at me and then said, "that is the only right thing you could have answered. It's perfect. Keep it."

In sum, it's such a relief to pull things out of my closet and feel like it all goes together, has a little flair, and suits me. And it's nice to not have so MUCH—it's all very simple and straightforward. More than half my clothes are now headed to Goodwill. They are all in excellent—okay, not all, but most!—condition. I am so glad someone will make some great finds, but it kills me—thrifty person I try to be—that I was so wasteful buying all those clothes.

And I'm not totally reformed. Another piece of advice the doctor gave me is that I have more than enough summer dresses and I shouldn’t buy any more—"ever." Something deep inside me, though, says that can't possibly be true, so today, I bought one more. It will be so cool and light! And it's in one of my colors!