The Apps That Will Maximise Your Wardrobe

am joined by Jamie Lee. She is a Sydney-based stylist, one of my favorite channels to follow on Instagram. She's the exact opposite of me. She is a data nerd, and for over a decade, she has been logging every single item she buys or owns, and when she wears it. And from there, she's got this amazing visual library of all her clothes, including everything she wears the most, stuff she doesn't really wear, so then she can sell it,

and everything in between. So, let's chat to Jamie about how she keeps this data and why she does it and why I am about to try and do the same. Jamie Lee, my Instagram friend, welcome to Nothing to wear. Before we get into the topic, which I've been begging you to come on because it's fascinating, there's two questions I ask everyone their first time on the show. So the first one is, can you describe your style in

3 words? Yeah, so I actually was having a bit of a think about this and I would say feminine, polished and undone. There's always kind of a layer of each of those and most of my outfits, all of them. Yes, because um when you say feminine, I'm like, no, but when you add them all together, it's an equation. Yeah. Undone, but the coolest like chic undone. I look at you and I'm like on Instagram and I'm like, I'm in my disgusting Kmart tracksuit pants that are my favorites,

but I know Instagram's not everything. I love those three words together and Instagram versus real life, yeah, and I love that those three words, like you need all three to create the picture. OK. Lots of people wear a really small amount or a smaller amount of their wardrobe more than the rest. So the 9010 rule or some people say 80/20, but The smaller amount that they wear the most, and I guess this is kind of what this whole topic is about. So we don't want to give too much away, but

what's in your most reached for? OK, so I was having a look at what I wear all the time because I'm a data nerd and I would say tailored trousers, because they had that nice polish, a really good pair of jeans, some sort of a shoe that's comfortable but also has a bit of a lifted refined feel or quirky. You have cool like Quirky but like still classic quirky like the Tory Burcher heels and like the boots you're wearing like sculptural heels a little bit different. OK, so that's what you reach

for most. Yeah, I mean kind of those essentials most people tend to have in their wardrobes, but I would just say versions that feel more like myself rather than what you might find on a capsule wardrobe template. Yes, yes, that's a very good point. I feel like we're all over that capsule wardrobe. OK, the topic. I don't know if you told me in real life because we often see each other at events, or I saw it on Instagram or both, but you, as you said, are a data nerd. Oh, I'd love

to be like you. Everything's a vibes for me, just vibes. You use your phone to keep track of what items you're actually wearing and how much. So talk us through that. What is the app? How does it work? So I've actually been tracking what I wear since I was in my early 20s. So I'm talking over a decade at this point. I used to do. Merely using a spreadsheet on Excel or just a piece of paper at one point. Um, and so now I've kind of progressed onto an app which makes it a

lot easier. So I use one called index and I like it because of the functionality. I'm kind of an aesthete, so things have to look a particular way for me to want to use it. I can imagine your Excel spreadsheets were beautifully color coded and Oh, not quite. Just just sells all matched up. Mine looked like a kid went in and mucked up a puzzle. So how does the app work? Do you buy something new or you've added everything you own and then every

time you wear it, you add like a tally? Yeah, so there's a real manual process to where you have to kind of go in, upload every single item one by one. So you put in the brand name, you put The size, color, all that kind of information, and then you can add in the price when you bought it, if it was pre-owned or if it was. That's what I was gonna say because I love thrifting, can I just do like Levi's denim shirt? Like you don't have to know all the info. No, you don't even have

to write in the actual name of the product. Yeah, so you put in just a brand name, um, and then You kind of track whether it's kind of spring, summer, winter, autumn, um, and you also categorize it by the type of item it is. And then that way when you are looking, because you can actually view your entire wardrobe, is it

images or can you? I'll have to show you, but yeah, you can see your entire your entire wardrobe at a glance, which is really handy when you're shopping, but yeah, that manual process and then every day you just kind of go in and you can log your outfit. So you can make outfits up. That you can refer back to later when you've got some free time on the couch and you just watch like that thing, remember in Clueless if anyone's of that era where she sat down and use that machine, it

kind of like, yeah, there are apps that do that. I, but other ones do. Oh my gosh, I thought using notes on my phone was cool. OK, so you mentioned that it's also visual. So where does the image come from? Does it pull it from the internet or do you take the photos? You manually need to Upload the photos, so you can either take a photo of the product itself, um, in your home, and they do give you kind of guidelines on how to get the best photo or you can pull a product image

from the brand website. Right. So if it's new, that's a good way to log it. So if I've got vintage or old stuff, I can take my own photo. Yes, but you can also find similar or a really good hack is to use chat GPT to create the image for you. How you describe the item or you take a photo and you upload it and then you Tell them to create a flat lay image of said item on a white background. Oh my gosh, you work

in the future. I've taken some photos for Depop and it's, I guess it's kind of similar, but it's like, you know, good lighting, white background, steamed or blah, blah blah. OK, because I just had a look at the app on your phone and it's so pretty, so now I want it. So you get dressed, you've decided, OK, this is my outfit for the day. Do you go in then or do you do it at night when you're usually at night when I'm waiting for my daughter to fall asleep. What if you forget?

Uh, I go back and I, I often I take photos of what I'm wearing, so I have kind of a reference or I usually have to kind of dig deep into the depths of my memory to recall what I was wearing sometimes or I'll ask my husband. Yes, like what was I wear? Did we go to dinner? What was I wearing? So tell me then what do you do with that info? Like monthly, do you do like a stocktake of like, OK, I really wear that a lot. That was good cost per wear or why did I

buy those? I haven't worn them. Like, what do you do with the info? So the app I'm using does have a paid feature which allows you to access all of those insights and currently they don't allow you to do it by a specific date range, but rather the last month, last 3 months, 6 months, yeah, and then all time. So you can kind of go back in and you can see what you didn't wear a single time over that previous month. Also, you get a visual catalog or diary of what

you wore every single day for that month. So you can see patterns emerging like are you someone who is really only wearing a specific kind of pants? Do you like to wear dark colors on your lower half or

on your upper half? Is there specific types of shoes that you're pairing with certain types of, I'm blown away, you know, I wanna, I desperately want to do this, but I just like, I just could never, but I, it would help so much because I'm thinking if you're going shopping, you can go in there and go.

Oh, no, I mean those black pants are great, but actually no, I don't need those, whereas I go, I think I've only got one pair of black pants I like, and then I get home and I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, then I go, hi all you black pants that I forgot about. Yeah, I get tunnel vision sometimes as well, so it's a great way to ground myself and come back to Earth.

That is phenomenal. OK, we'll do more about that later, but from your data and your app and your, the way I wish I was, what items are you wearing the most? Is there any unexpected? I feel like I need to actually refer to do. So, I want this app, but I don't know how I would go back and do it all. It's well, you can start from now. After a wardrobe clean out would be a good time to like do this at the end, actually a trick for.

If you are doing any of these apps, is to just log things as you wear them because then it feels so much less daunting. And if you haven't worn it by default, it's not on the list, so then you can do your wardrobe clean up and go, you've never been on my list later. Yeah, yeah, that makes it so much more approachable doing it. So you've got 300 things or more in your wardrobe. The idea of putting all of those into an app at once. I wear 10%, that's good, you know, you start with that.

OK, so tell me what do you wear the most. It doesn't have to be the exact item, but black jeans like you're wearing, or, well, OK, so it's winter right now. So a low, some sort of low heel boot like the ones I've got on now or my current most worn are from Saint Agne, and I think I've worn them 25 times since I bought them 2 months ago, 3 months ago, which is pretty good. Oh my gosh, I'd be like, Tick, you're a good person, you can go shopping in.

Get a especially because I've got a good rotation of items in my wardrobe, either a small crossbody bag or like a larger shoulder bag. I'm kind of all or nothing when it comes to that. Um, really slouchy kind of knitwear. I splurged to see if it was worth it on the Ophelia sweater from the row, and so I've made a point of trying to actually get my cost per wear out of it because and so far. So good. I've worn it 15 times in the last

few months, which I think is pretty decent. Amazing. And next winter, you know, it's the and the winter after and forever and ever and ever. Also just like a good quality belt. So I've a leather belt that's I've worn over 100, probably over 200 times at this point. Um, and yeah, dark colored jeans. I really like a washed black jean shape. I'm not that, I'm not that bothered. No, I'm not

that bothered. Look, I'm back into almost skinny straight. I actually like that silhouette and I think, I think the skinny has a bad rap. It's all about styling of proportions, but I think the slim, slim straight is really flattering. And this is so old. If I were you and had this app for all you know, the data from so long ago, I could see that I wore them last probably 4 years ago, but now they're back. Yeah. Wow, that's fascinating. OK, so.

What do you do when you look in there and then there's stuff that you haven't really worn much and you're like, oh, OK, I obviously don't reach for those things. What do you do then? So I actually use that as a prompt to go, I want to wear this, I want to make the most of what I have in my wardrobe. So to me it's actually a tool like a challenge. Yeah, so I go, OK, well I haven't been wearing this, I want to bring it into rotation and it actually allows me to wear a larger

percentage of my wardrobe more frequently than I would otherwise. Yeah, because if you, well, I don't know about you. But for me, if I don't, I can't see it, I don't reach for it. Yeah, and also you default to the same things all the time, so that's a great way to kind of increase that variety and and

your styling. So what patterns are you picking up or how can everybody use this to work out kind of colors and more than just the items themselves or the outfits you've made but I guess working out your personal style, colors, textures, cuts, do you use it to look at things like that?

Probably less so for that. I more like to see trends in the specific types of items that I'm reaching for and also I suppose the trends in how I'm wearing my clothing because I can see even just in the evolution of my own style that Previously I opted a lot more for like overly feminine pieces, a lot more dresses, and in the summertime I would

really default a lot to denim shorts. But since maybe the last year or two, I've started wearing cotton pants in the summertime and that's something I can see just from looking at my styling in the app. Yeah, right, OK. I feel like Because I'm quite neutral, I'd say you're quite classically neutral.

I'm quite neutral, but I do have some color that I have, but I don't know how to wear it, but if I've logged it all, then I can kind of see, actually I do have quite a few green things I could do color blocking or I could try that green with that lilac, which I would never think here, but you can see it.

In the app. Yeah, because you can also filter by color as well so you can kind of get an overview of all of the things you have in one color palette, but you do have that freedom, that flexibility to just build outfits and play around. So if you have something you're really struggling to style, having that kind of visual representation.

Can help. I mean, it always translates differently in real life, but yeah, but at least try it, especially if you're out and about because sometimes I think what am I gonna wear to that event tonight? I've got to rush home and get ready, but I can't see my wardrobe, but if it's on my phone, you are a genius, OK.

I'm a massive Pinterest fan. I don't know about you, but do you use Pinterest to inspire you, or are there other websites, platforms, blogs that you look at for inspiration and then kind of refer to your data to see if you've got similar items or do you do any other sort of research that way? So, I don't know about you, but I actually find Pinterest now is 80% ads. It is not very user friendly anymore. I kind of browse through and I go, OK, where, where is what

I'm actually looking for? A lot of ads. Yeah, so I don't use it as a tool as much. I used to in the past. I think these days instead I'm more so inspired by silhouettes or even just e-commerce styling. So, oh wow, like on websites you'll have a look at, yeah, OK, you can get some great ideas and not only that, just what you see in Fashion Week, so those kind of trends trickling through. There are easy ways that you can co-opt those trends into

your own styling that maybe don't require any shopping. So you see some street style, you know, Copenhagen Fashion Week was a few weeks ago now. You see some stuff on Instagram. Do you then use that info to go back into your data and think, oh, I would have never thought to mix a skirt like

that with a blazer like that. And I've got similar. Yeah, that's definitely a great way you can use it and, um, Index in particular do this thing called social styling, so you can let other people into your wardrobe and style you. So I have an open wardrobes so fun. It's like playing dress-ups, but.

It's really cool. And so I've had some really great fantastic outfit ideas and suggestions come through just through the social styling component, and they're ones that I never would have thought of like, um, I got a great way to do that for someone else though. I can't even get myself dressed, but I, you know, it's so creative and that's cool. It is. It's a book club for fashion. It's like Polyboard. Do you remember that from way back when? Yeah. Um, and so I got

This great outfit idea. It was like um these shorts that I have with a knee-high boot and I would never ever pair those two things together with a fitted long sleeve and then this oversized sleeveless blazer, which and someone went in and said, you should try this. Yeah, that is so cool. I tried it on and I was just, I was obsessed. I thought this is genius. It's also like video games for grownups because you know how kids or you know people game each other. That's so awesome.

Tell me when it's sale time, because this is where all my logic goes out the window. You seem a bit more measured than me, but, you know, there's sales on and it's then an extra 25% off and I go, Oh my God, and I jump on and buy things. How do you approach data and emotions, particularly when, you know, it's could be a really good price? How do you marry the two? So I have something called the 30 day shopping rule, and I will say that, yes, there are always

Gonna be exceptions. Sometimes you see something, you have this emotional urge to add it to your wardrobe, and if you have the money to do so, you know, and it's the timing's right, but I usually try and wait at least 30 days and to think about an item. Yeah, but the sale's only for 3 days. What are you gonna do? Just wait for the next 10, you're. I, I'm of the belief that there's always another sale,

and there's so true. And honestly, the marketing works and that's why I get frantic, you know, it was click frenzy a little while ago and I ignored all of it. But then I sat down at my laptop on the Monday and that's when all you think it's over and all the brands go, extra discount. And that's when I was like, Oh, what am I missing? But you're so right, there's another sale. Well, there isn't, have you ever used Carted? Yes,

I've only just got carted. You need to give us a list of all the good apps. Explain Carter for people that don't know. It's a wish listing app, so you add the things that you're thinking about buying to it and then it tracks when it goes on sale. So you get an alert if it goes on sale, you get an alert if the item restocks.

Just say the items available at multiple retailers you can link all the retailers and it will tell you if one's offering it a better price, but I don't look at things before I realize I want to buy them. I just go, oh, EDM, oh, sale. But you know, that's so clever and then you can watch it. And maybe you, they get an alert and it's like, oh, it's restocked but it's on sale and you go, actually,

I don't really want it anymore. Yeah, and you find that waiting, waiting at least, you know, a week even that many of the items that you thought you wanted to buy have slowly been filtered out. They've been forgotten, you know, they've been lost to time. Because it was an emotional purchase. Or an impulse purchase rather than a strategic one. Yeah, you need to do courses. So say we're all a

data person now or we've started to do this. It helps with our existing wardrobe, but then how do we use that info going forward about purchasing? So I think you can see trends in terms of what colors you're actually reaching for, so identifying the ones that are kind of your core colors because we have, you can do seasonal color analysis, but I think we gravitate.

I hated mine to stick with it and then I go to the shops I'm like, but I like that yellow, and I'm not allowed to wear that green, but yes, so you can do that, but. I think we gravitate towards the colors that we really enjoy and that make us feel good and that's kind of what you want to feel in your clothes. So that can be a useful tool, but you end up wearing the colors that you like the most. That can

be one kind of thing. It can help you identify what you aren't wearing, so knowing I'm not gonna buy that in the future. So there's a saying like love to buy, hate to wear. So maybe you keep buying. Like button up shirts that you're wearing today, but you never wear them. OK, so you love them. You only need a certain amount. Well, that's true, but if you're never wearing them, it's wasted space in your wardrobe and also your time and your budget. So that can be

a great way to kind of filter out those bad purchases. Well, for me, I mean, similar to that because I've spoken a lot on the podcast how much I love hombre shirts, but I definitely don't need another one. And so if I'm in store or at my laptop, I can go. No, Lee, you've got enough, or you know if you, you know, resell those ones you're allowed, whereas I forget, so it's either seeing what you don't wear and not buying any more of that or realizing you have too

many of something and you don't need another one. Yeah, yeah, oh my gosh, can I pay you to like start? I don't know if you'll be able to answer this, but through, you know, a data lens which you've been doing for a really long time, do you reckon there's a kind of general optimal number of items in our wardrobe. That kind of on average every person would have, or

is that just too hard. So I feel like the perfect size wardrobe doesn't exist because everyone has a different lifestyle, they're doing different activities but also live in different climates, and that's really gonna dictate the needs of your wardrobe. Um, I've kind of looked into hundreds of people's wardrobes and it's interesting, you see a really big difference in the numbers. Some people might have.

50 items whereas others have over 450. And while maybe the ones with over 450 in their wardrobe aren't wearing every single thing all the time, perhaps they're things that give them joy if they've got sentimental value. But ultimately at the end of the day, we typically need less than we think. Absolutely. Yeah. You can do a lot with a little and yeah. I mean 10 items you can easily turn that into, you know, 40.

Plus outfits with interesting use that kind of data to like I guess it would be so good for packing because then you can work out combinations. 100% and you can also see how you've styled items in the past. You kind of got a library and index of outfits to kind of go back to. I'm most inspired to do this just for packing because I'm always paying overweight because I'm like maybe I'll wear that ball gown. Maybe I want to be that person. No, yeah, you need

it for that. And like you said, people might live somewhere where it snows in winter but it's really hot. You know, whereas if you're from Townsville, you probably don't need 15 coats. Yeah, love it. Talk to me about your YouTube series, it's called Influences Made me Buy It.

And what is this all about? OK, so I think we've all had that purchase or maybe more than one, which we have been influenced to buy because we've seen someone talk about it and they've made it look so appealing, like, you know, it's on the silver platter and it just looks so shiny and We want to add it to our wardrobes because we think if we buy that it's going to, I don't know be life changer. You think it's gonna solve all

your problems. Yeah, absolutely. And so do you buy these items or review these items or these are things I've naturally just added into my wardrobe and so it kind of just was birth from me reflecting on the things that I've bought, what have been good purchases and what have been bad. Because I, I look back at the end of every year and I go, what were my best purchases that I made? What were the worst ones? I like that.

I obviously follow you and love your content. I love when you do, I regret these or I don't wear these because I find that, not that it's more helpful, but people mostly post about things they love, whereas, you know, seeing, OK, that didn't work, it's like, oh, OK, firstly I'm human too, and secondly,

That's a good PSA for me. I just think more, you know, not that we're trying to be negative about brands, it's more so that it just didn't work for you, and I think that there needs to be more of that. So I really like that because we're all human. Have you got things in your wardrobe with tags on? Um, I'm sure I do. I love that. I try to wear stuff the week I buy it, but I'm

so excited. But no, sometimes when you're doing that clean out and you're like, you know, we're gonna regret it, but I think everyone does that and you can learn from it if you clock the data. Yeah. It's very expensive. Damn, honey. How much are these? 25%. OK, bougie and budget. So, you might actually have data on yours. I absolutely do not. But it's something that we might be considering and think we'll get a lot of wear out of or new season items or stuff

that you've just worn to death, hence your data. Do you want to start with your bougie or your budget? My budget. OK, let's do your budget. OK, so I'm wearing them right now. They're a pair of Jeans from H&;M and they are the best jeans. One, the quality is exceptional for the price. I think they're $50 but often on sale for $40. Wow. Yeah, I was there like, I thought they were really fancy from here. The denim looks quite thick, it's a beautiful black, like

it's not solid solid, but it's not too washed. They're so good. Um, they remind me a lot of a pair of jeans I've got from New Zealand. Brand I love called Mal. I love Mal too, yeah, yeah, H&;M. I have some H&;M denim. Yeah, I'm gonna go get the black ones. So super underrated and I have another pair of jeans from H&;M which are great too. So I've got the black, like white wide barrel, of course. Yeah. That's probably my fanciest black barrel ones because I don't

want to do the really expensive version. OK, so my budget is, I reflected on my wardrobe, don't have data, but I love a white tea. I live in a white tea. I have so many, but I actually wear a lot of them, most of them, and I think it's mostly because I'm messy and can soak them and they come out quite good. But a lot of the Uniqlo ones, I'm not gonna recommend that again because listeners will be over it, but, but they are good and they're the best, they are the best. I know the one with the

thick crew neck. However, the other day I wore a brown t-shirt and I remembered how much I loved it and the brand does a white, so I'm gonna get the white. It's called Cream. I don't know if you know this brand. They're two Aussie girls, Sydney-based, C R E M M E. Unisex, very similar to the Uniqlo, a beautiful thick cotton, but not, not stiff. It just feels really good quality. I think they're about $69 and the brown one I, I love, and they're unisex, but there's two versions of the cuts.

They're very slightly different but still sort of oversized. classic. I do a little cuff on the sleeve, which adds interest. I just, the brown one I've trashed, and also you can't bleach brown. So it's obviously good quality, so I'm going to get the white one, because I just live in white tees. I've got a lot of sun damage. I often hide this and I just feel like it's my more elevated version of a singlet. Yeah, bougie, please. OK, so mine are a pair of

heels from 80. Um, I, 80 is hands down, one of my favorite shoe brands because they're kind of in that mid-tier price point so not quite luxury but not high street. The quality of the shoes is excellent and they suit wide feet. I don't do uncomfortable shoes and I like the fact that they accommodate my feet. I can stand in them all day. OK, but what's the

They're pointed toe pump from 80. I actually already have them in the black and so I ordered the chocolate suede and they come in a tan too, which is a little like a low heel, yeah, so it kind of gives you that lift, it adds a sharpness to an outfit, very chic. I've never bought anything from the brand, but I have hearted a lot of things on Depop, so maybe I'll go buy some. I think we're similar sizes. So if you sell me, let me know. My bougie is here with me because since I got her,

I have not stopped using her. Veri, the Aussie brand, does handbags. I've got so many of their handbags. This is the Eden leather shoulder bag, $329. I had an extremely old Oriin bag that fully zipped shut that was just dead. And I've been looking for one this size, medium, for so long, and it's phenomenal. Then there's two sections inside, great size because then I have a separate laptop bag if I'm kind of coming to work or whatever, but just every day I still need, I don't know why

I have so many things. I just have a lot of things. And so that's the perfect size. It's super comfy and it comes in a suede too. There's a, a bunch of colors, and I'm normally quite a frequent bag changer. But I honestly have used this like it's in my 10%. I would use it 5 days a week. It's really classic and the leather of their bags is $329. That is a lot of money for a handbag, but I would say the quality is better or on par than some bags that I've got that were $600 or over $1000.

Love it. So I didn't even mean to bring her for show and tell, but she's always with me. Thank you so much. I'm so inspired and overwhelmed. I don't know how to use Excel, but this sounds a little bit more fun and friendly, so I'm gonna start doing this and I'll report back. Yes, you need to download the app. Thanks Jamie. Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much for joining me for Nothing to wear, and don't forget, if you want more fashion from us, we're on YouTube and on Instagram, we're called Nothing to wear Pod. See you next week.