Controlled Chaos

It borders on absurd. You go in your closet, and amidst all the stuffed racks and overflowing bins, you can’t find anything to wear. The truth is, no matter how great your clothes or accessories are, if you can’t find it you might as well not own it.

No one knows that better than True Religion jeans co-founder and fashion designer Kym Gold. Her experience running the brand’s brick and mortar stores taught her the importance of keeping items in an orderly fashion. And that lesson also applies to her Encino home. “When my closet is organized well, everything is easier to find and my decisions are made more quickly,” she says. Here is a peek inside Kym’s meticulous closet and her strategies for keeping it “just so.”

CLUSTER CLOTHES

Putting like clothes together makes it easier to see what you have. Whether it is jeans, day dresses, night dresses, workout clothes, etc., grouping by likeness makes it easy to find things immediately.

GROUP SHOES

Separating by the style of the shoe (tennis, high heel, mid-heel, sandals, etc.) helps you find exactly what you’re looking for and is more pleasing to the eye.

IDENTIFY SURPLUS AREAS

Organization is key—particularly when you own a lot of one kind of item. I have a lot of jeans, so it is really important for me to keep them in some type of order. I found these black labels at The Container Store that you write on with chalk. The labels, as you can see in the photo above, are a quirky and useful way to define the various styles of my jean collection.

USE A CRITICAL EYE

Clear out what you know you won’t wear in a particular season because it has gone out of style or perhaps you have tired of wearing it. Using the jeans example again—like many items they have a cyclical life—they go in and out of fashion. By the way, I also recycle and alter my jeans to fit my own style and current trends.

SWAP OUT SEASONALLY

Give items that are in season prime position in your closet; move out items that are not. For example, I keep my jeans based on seasonal style. Jeans with a capri cut or white jeans lend themselves to spring/summer. So right now they are front and center in my closet. When I switch them out in fall, I put them in a clear bin and label it. Then I put the bin up on the closet shelves—out of eyesight. When the weather turns, the fall/winter stuff comes out.