It's a Spring Refresh: 7 Items I'm Saying Goodbye to (and What's Replacing Them)

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(Image credit: @samanthaelise)

After weeks of planning and subsequent deferring, I finally forced myself to tackle a closet purge. As a fashion editor, it's pretty easy to amass racks of clothes and accessories (after all that's what we do), so spending time for a proper cleanout is nothing short of a weekend-long affair. As the sun stays around for a bit longer and ice coffee becomes more of the norm, there are a few pieces I'm eager to add to my closet in anticipation of spring. But, I'm a faithful adherent to the Kondo method, so that means for any piece of clothing that enters my closet, something else has to leave–and I have just the items in mind.

Looking through my closet, I've already noticed a few styles that have remained untouched for over a year– like delicate florals and body-con figure-hugging dresses. Whether they feel too fancy for the moment or are more difficult to style, I'm all about replacing them with items I'll actually wear on repeat. After all, what good is it if it stays on the hanger collecting dust? To find out which items I plan on saying goodbye to and which ones I'm adding, keep reading ahead.

Tossing: Body-con Dresses 

Adding: Voluminous Dresses 

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(Image credit: @veneti.a)

I'm doing a complete fashion 180 here– for the better part of a year, I have never reached for a body-con dress. And now that casual weekend errands have replaced weekend dinner dates, they feel less appropriate for the moment, and thus are taking up room for other dresses I wear much more consistently. What I love about a voluminous dress is that it can easily feel elegant with the simple switch of a shoe: with sneakers they can look casual, and with pretty sandals, effortlessly fancy.

Tossing: Black Jeans 

Adding: Acid Wash Jeans

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(Image credit: @madelynnfurlong)

Since moving to California, black jeans feel a little harsh for the breezy, sunny days. I've fully embraced light-washed denim, but I'm still not ready to completely give up my dark wash pairs either. For that, I'm opting for black acid wash. I can still wear them with everything else I'd normally wear with my black jeans so it's not much of a style swap, and they're a lighter look.

Tossing: Clingy Knit Tops 

Adding: Dramatic Sleeve Tops

It was all about knit tops last year, but now I'm eager to try something different. Brands like A.W.A.K.E. Mode and Ganni can't get enough of dramatic balloon sleeves, so I figured I'd take a page out of their books and adopt this style for spring. They're much easier to pair than they appear, but in the spirit of experimentation, I don't want to splurge yet so I'm trying out this piece from Who What Wear's Target collection. It's only $28 but looks way more expensive.

Tossing: Chambray Shirts 

Adding: Denim Dresses

The chambray shirt is another style I'm choosing to purge. It's rare that I reach for them, instead opting for heavier denim jackets that are easier to layer over tees and coordinate with my abundance of sweatpants. If I want the look of a denim layer, I discovered the hack of leaving a denim dress unbuttoned to style it as a duster. The result is a piece that is extremely versatile.

Tossing: "Delicate" Floral Dresses 

Adding: Spring Ready Denim 

Floral patterns are so interconnected with spring fashion, it's a trope at this point. But the truth is, some florals have felt a dated to me for a while. Specifically delicate florals that look too pretty and precious. While a moody dark floral will always be a mainstay in my closet, variations of light denim will be replacing the bulk of my flowery dresses. I'm starting with this acid wash mini, but I plan on adding varying tones of denim too, like Zara's bubblegum pink denim jeans

Tossing: Skinny Jeans 

Adding: Baggy Jeans

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(Image credit: @samanthaelise)

Skinny jeans can look great tucked into a nice pair of boots, but it really is a gamble when it comes to the fit. A much more effortless silhouette is the baggy jean. They capture that grunge girl chic that's simultaneously cool and fun, and as I'm on the curvier side, I find that they flatter my pear shape a bit better. Paired with a white bodysuit and floss sandals–I think I found my spring uniform.

Tossing: Strapless Dresses 

Adding: One-Shoulder Dresses

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(Image credit: @helen.guu)

Seeing as I haven't been on a fancy night out in months, strapless dresses don't really have a place in my day-to-day wardrobe. Worn with strappy heels and a structured bag, they're a simple, effortless date-night outfit, but when it comes to more casual affairs styling a strapless dress isn't so easy. One-shoulder dresses are like their much more versatile cousin, and I love that I can pair this minimalist version from Who What Wear with a pair of combat boots, mules, or sneakers. Will I still be sticking to the KonMari method if I buy it in every color? Time will tell.

Shop More Who What Wear Pieces We Love:

Coming up, It’s Too Cold For Sandals and Too Hot For Boots—These 23 Shoes Are Just Right.

Fashion Market Editor

Indya Brown is a fashion editor, stylist, and writer living in Los Angeles. While going to school at Columbia University in New York City, she got her feet wet in the fashion industry interning at Elle magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and New York magazine's The Cut. After graduating in 2016, she joined The Cut as a fashion assistant, eventually working her way up to fashion editor. There, she worked on a multitude of projects, including styling inbook feature stories for New York magazine's print issue, writing and pitching market stories for The Cut, and serving as fashion lead for The Cut's branded content. While New York has been her home for over 10 years, she moved to Los Angeles in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 for a new chapter. Now she is a fashion market editor for Who What Wear, focusing on emerging designers, rising trends on and off the internet, interior design, and BIPOC creatives and brands. Aside from her duties as a fashion market editor, Brown is also a freelance stylist and writer, working on national print and video commercial campaigns for Sephora, The Independent, and Cadillac. Her bylines also include Harper's Bazaar, Vox, and The New York Times. But once the computer goes down and the emails turn off, she's likely eating her way through Koreatown, hunting down vintage furniture, scoping out new outrageous nail designs to try, or taking a hot cycling class.