How to Declutter Your Closet to Find Your Style

I'm not fashionable. Really. If you make me put together an outfit that involves more than yoga pants or a dress, I will use all my brain power and still come up with nothing.

One day last year, I was over it. I was tired of feeling overwhelmed in my own closet. So I threw my clothes out. Ok, not all of them, but more than half. Gone. And boy did it help me get a grip on my style.

I can hear you reading this thinking, "Wait. Isn't she on TV? And competed at Miss America? She should have an excellent grip on this already."

Ah, yes. But did you actually see me as Miss Ohio? I had no clue about fashion. Sure, put me in the interview room with judges firing questions at me - no sweat. Ask me to pair high heels with a handbag - major panic.

Ohio Special Olympics (2011)

One memorable day as Miss Ohio, I was meeting with some of my advisers for breakfast before an appearance. I thought I looked awesome. I was wearing this new faux snake skin printed dress. Very fashion forward. Vogue would be calling me any moment. Ummm... that dress never saw the outside of the hotel. I was told I should change.

Talk about quickly developing a thick skin for constructive criticism on how I looked. Truth is, that advisor was right. ​

Signature Fashion Show (2016)

I've been through stylist after stylist in my career. It's never pleasant to be picked apart for everything you wear or to spend half a paycheck on the new make-up they recommended, BUT, I know it's necessary and important. And not just in TV.

We all want to let our confident selves shine. Feeling good about your appearance is a confidence game changer.

​This means purposefully putting on clothes in the morning and not continuing to wear that same shirt from college because it's easy and familiar (and has five holes in it). ​So, there was only one solution for me last fall: time to purge my closet.

When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you do good." - Ami Boley

I tried on every single piece of clothing in my closet, stepped in front of a full length mirror, and if I didn't feel amazing in it or it was a poorly made piece of clothing - out it went.

By the end, my closet looked pretty bare, but it was incredibly refreshing to open the closet door and clearly see only the items I should be wearing. Pieces of clothing that reflect the image I want others to see. 

Gutting my closet turned out to be the easy part. It's step two that's been a challenge: learning to buy purposeful items. Shopping for quality instead of quantity. ​

Read this on Saturday! Great book about business & the fashion industry.

In the "what's fashionable" department, I am still very much a work in progress. (Trust me, I just re-read Style and the Successful Girl for the third time.) ​But the other day at work, someone said, "Ellen always looks so put together," and I wanted to hug her! So though it's a tedious process, it's working.

​You might be a "fashion work in progress" too. Welcome to the club. My best piece of advice for you is to put your clothes on the chopping block.

​It's the clean slate you need to move forward and build your personal style empire.