John Gripenholm photography
Q- I notice you wear a lot of black in your wardrobe (as do I). The other day I was looking for one item in a sea of black and it took me half an hour to sort through my various blacks to find one black turtle neck. My question is this: How do you keep all this black organized so that it is quick and easy to find things?
A- This question is so awesome. I actually bumped your question to the top of the pile due to its awesomeness. Anyway, I do wear a lot of black don’t I? I actually didn’t understand the magnitude of my clothing blackness until my Dad came to visit me in LA. He re-did all of my closets (installed shelves, etc) and made a comment about the insane amount of black in my closet. I of course acted like he was crazy and carried on with my day. Now I realize that I do have a shit ton of black and that finding that perfect black tee isn’t as easy as it used to be.
So what did I do about it? I re-organized. I wish I could tell you that this 100% solved the problem because my organization efforts usually take for about a week at a time … tops. BUT here are some tips that might help you out:
> Hang as much as possible. Its way easier to find clothes that are hung than clothes that are buried in a drawer.
> Organize by color first. I keep the black on the most accessible side of the closet (since I wear it the most) and then go from there. All browns together, all pinks, etc … You get the point.
> Within the colors, organize by garment type. I keep all my dresses together (short to long), all my tops together, all my skirts together. This makes finding items and putting outfits together much easier.
> Keep non hanging items as organized as possible by separating them into drawers or bins. I have a drawer that is devoted to tee shirts. A drawer devoted to shorts. A drawer devoted to leggings. (I have a lot of clothes.) It makes the digging process a lot easier when it comes to looking for things
> Check the laundry basket. Seriously, whenever I can’t find my favorite shirt and tear up my whole house looking for it … its usually in the dirty clothes. So you might want to check there first 
Hope those tips were helpful. Readers, if you have any tips please leave them in the comments section.
I know your tips will help me out tremendously but within a week of organizing my closet, it will just get diorganized again. I guess it helps to keep me sharp in a way. I started hanging up my clothes 2 days ago and I’m still not done…!