Need A Fresh Look? Here’s How to Revamp Your Wardrobe

Sick of your wardrobe? Here’s how to get rid of clothes and look younger.

The moment before you decide to make a change is the most exciting time in your whole life. Get ready for a more vibrant, younger you! To help you achieve this goal, here are some tips on how to revamp your closet and leave the old you behind.

1. Invest in quality pieces that will last. Cheap clothes tend to fall apart and wear out within a year or two, which means you have to keep buying more and more clothes every season. Instead, focus on investing in great basics that will last: a trench coat, a nice pair of jeans, a cashmere sweater. These timeless items will never go out of style.

2. Get rid of everything you don’t need anymore. You’ve probably accumulated lots of old clothes that don’t fit right or just aren’t cute anymore — things with stains or holes or made of really outdated materials like polyester or spandex. Go through your closet and clear out these items so they don’t get in the way of finding your new style! You can sell them at consignment stores or donate them to charity if they’re

How to Stop Dressing Like a Mom and Start Looking Chic

Need A Fresh Look? Here’s How to Revamp Your Wardrobe

By Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune

From the blog “The Dressing Room”

You know how it goes. You hit a certain age, you start having babies and before you know it, you’ve lost touch with fashion. But don’t worry there is hope for you. Really! The best place to start is by taking a good look at your closet. Clean out those tired mom jeans and beat-up sneakers and say hello to style in no time. OK, maybe not right away but eventually. Start by following these tips from local image consultant Mary Lisa Gavenas (www.marylisagavenas.com):

1) Admit that times have changed and you need help getting in touch with your inner fashionista again. It’s a hard pill to swallow but once you do, the rest will be easy.

2) Throw out everything that doesn’t fit or is faded or has holes or stains. Take it directly to the garbage so you can’t change your mind later when you’re having a weak moment wearing sweatpants laden with Cheerios crumbs from your 2-year-old’s breakfast

From time to time, everyone needs a fresh look. Your wardrobe may have become boring and predictable, or you may be in need of a shakeup after years of wearing the same style. Whatever the reason, revamping your style can seem like a challenge. But with our help, we’ll show you how to revamp your wardrobe without emptying your bank account.

Start by going through all your clothes and shoes and make two piles: keep and donate. Separate out the pieces you love and wear constantly from those that don’t fit right or aren’t your favorite anymore. If you haven’t worn something in over a year, it’s probably time to get rid of it. Donate these items to charity or pass them on to friends and family members with similar tastes.

Now that you’ve made room in your closet, head to the mall and take a good look at what’s trending in fashion magazines this season. What pieces would fit best with your personal style? Write down a list of items you need, such as dresses, pants and tops for work. Also note whether there are any basics that could use replacing, such as jeans or a classic white shirt.

To find the perfect fit for less money, check out discount stores like TJ Maxx or

Black is great for evening, but we all have to face the sun sometime. When you do, try wearing a pair of white pants. A pair of black pants will make you look thinner, but a pair of white pants will make you look younger. White pants are a trendier choice than blue jeans or khakis and can be dressed up or down with just about anything.

Another way to add some youthful flair to your wardrobe is to buy yourself a new purse. Many older women carry around a purse that used to belong to their mother or grandmother. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s not exactly a fresh look. It may seem costly, but buying yourself a new purse can actually cost less than replacing all of your wardrobe with pieces that don’t belong on your grandmother.

So go ahead and get rid of that old dress that makes you look like an elderly nun, the blouse that belonged to your mother and the skirt she wore in high school. If they’re too dated to wear but you’re still attached to them, store them away and wear them around the house when no one is looking!

If your closet is full of clothes that you never wear, it is time to take action. In this blog post I will show you how to clear out the clutter and start fresh with a wardrobe that truly reflects your style and personality. Who says older women can’t look fabulous?

Considering my age, I am not the type of person who would wear a ghost costume to work. But I did just that on October 31st, and it was awesome!

My mother has always been stylish, but her taste runs to the safe: cashmere sweaters, silk blouses, camel coats. Now that she’s a grandmother, though, she’s decided it’s time for a change. She put on a long red dress that emphasized her waist and mid-calf boots and posed for a picture. It was my first clue that she was considering revamping her wardrobe.

I’m not sure why now — maybe it’s because she no longer feels the need to dress like the president of the PTA or maybe she has just been inspired by older women who have embraced their age with style — but I’m glad that my mom is starting to experiment with her look. It seemed like as good an excuse as any to talk about how we can all use some of these same strategies to give our closets a fresh look.

My mom is at an age when most people don’t want to draw attention to themselves, but in making this choice, she’s done exactly that. But if you’re going to go for something cuter and flashier than you might otherwise choose, you have to be careful about how you do it. The reason my mother looks so great is that the length of her dress makes her legs look leaner

Recently I went to the mall and, like a true addict, walked right past Sephora, Victoria’s Secret and Express to Anthropologie. As I wandered the store, I noticed something in the corner of my eye and stopped dead in my tracks. The dress was bright white with black polka dots, had a crisp collar and cinched at the waist. It was so cute it hurt.

“That’s the most adorable thing I have ever seen,” I said out loud, as if someone would hear me and agree (they didn’t). But as I pulled it off the rack, my heart sank. It was a size 6. Sigh.

I’m not saying that a size 6 is huge by any means, but I am saying that clothes shopping would be sooo much easier for me if all of my clothes were a size 6. If this dress were bigger, I would have snatched it up without even trying it on (and then probably worn it every day for about two weeks).

But since this dress was not big enough for me to wear without looking like an overstuffed sausage ready to burst from its casing, I put it back on the rack and left the store empty-handed.

As we’ve discussed before here on