Cleaning Out My Closet

No, it isn’t last night’s Barolo still talking — spring cleaning is an ancient anthropological concern. Wikipedia states spring cleaning dates back to the Iranian ‘Norouz’ or the Persian New Year when Iranians practiced khooneh tekouni, which literally means ‘shaking the house’.
In Scotland, ‘Hogmanay’ is the tradition of cleaning the house on December 31, eventually aped by Ireland, New Zealand and North America. The Jews clean their house in anticipation of their springtime Passover feast too.

I prefer to hark back to my friend and poet Eminem, who sang the controversial and painful Cleanin’ Out My Closet to deal with his personal struggles. Cleaning house — and cupboards too — is hugely cathartic. It signals an end to an older way of living and a desire to start anew. It’s another chance with a clean slate, a symbol of hope, a lid on secrets and lies, and a dollop of mental strength. It’s not Barolo BS, it’s still Eminem.

You’ll be surprised at the fortitude putting on a hand-embroidered coat from Namrata Joshipura gives you. Tarun Tahiliani’s chiffon saris bring on an ‘inner engineering’. Or throwing out a shimmery gold frock from Jean Paul Gaultier that takes you back to memories of an awful date.

Our clothes are filled with stories and histories. A Champagne-stained gown of a wonderful party that’s still there. Or a sticker of a model’s name on a skirt that you bought straight off the runway. I like my clothes to take me through a little time travel.Yours will too. Knits your grandmother made when you were little and your kids have outgrown. A denim dress your best friend in college loaned you and allowed you to keep. A Zara jacket you bought on your first trip to New York. The black skirt you wore when you first met the man you would marry, even though it wouldn’t fit in one thigh now. Clothes are full of memories.

And so, going through them is like taking a stock of your life and giving it new direction. Chuck out the old, hanger up the new. And mix-and-match what you still want. Some things won’t fit, some things will make our domestic staff very happy, other things you haven’t worn in 12 months and won’t for the next 12. Wear your quirks proudly. I have two dozen white blouses that I wear all the time, and I keep adding to. I can’t bring myself to discard a jacket. Some clothes you want to just look at because they are made beautifully. Keep them, even if your style has evolved. But do not be a hopeless hoarder, that’s not schmaltz, that’s just sick.

Have a happy new wardrobe, and a happy new life.

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