Adding beautiful pieces that you love to your wardrobe is essential in helping you feel chic and confident. Making sure you take care of your beautiful pieces is a must in ensuring they last. Here are a few simple tips to help you out:

Have a look on the tags of each of the garments that you purchased and see what the manufacturer recommends for taking care of each garment. You’ll definitely want to take that into consideration. I do recommend using wash products that are more “eco friendly” as they are not only better for the environment but will also be gentle on your clothing!

This especially goes for “dry clean only” clothing. What most people don’t know is that clothing that needs to be dry cleaned or is a more natural fabric (i.e. silk) can usually clean itself! You can easily put the item on a hanger and leave it near an open window over night and voila – the piece will be clean by morning! This will make your clothing last MUCH longer – why? Because the more chemicals you use when washing your clothing – the faster your clothing will deteriorate as the chemicals will alter the fabric. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t need to ever take clothing to the dry cleaners or wash it – you absolutely do. You just don’t have to go as often – which will not only save you time and money, but will save your wardrobe too! Some of the more natural fabrics can even be hand washed, instead of dry cleaned, such as;

* Cashmere — turn piece inside out and hand wash, or machine wash gentle cycle
* Corduroy — hand wash
* Wool — hand wash
* Silk — hand wash

Always make sure that you wash in cold water. Wash your lingerie in cold water by hand also, instead of tossing it in the washing machine. This will prevent padded bra “clumping”(really, who wants lumpy boobs?).

When drying sweaters, make sure that you do not hang them up – lay them flat so they don’t lose their shape by stretching.

When you take of garments – the clothing will be warm from your body heat. This can make some fabrics more delicate and susceptible to being altered. It’s recommended that you either hang or fold it right away so it doesn’t stretch, get lumpy and/or lose its original shape.

Follow these tips, and your clothing will not only look and feel brand new for quite some time to come, but it will help you feel fabulous while doing so. Enjoy!

Warmest wishes,

Christie Ressel, Image Consultant and style coach
Personal Power Image Consulting™©

Christie Ressel is an International Image Consultant and personal style coach for, “Personal Power Image Consulting©™”. Here, she helps women feel chic, elegant, confident, stylish, and strong in all situations with her personal and socializing services. Christie is also a freelance writer and is the Senior Editor of Style and Beauty for ChicGalleria.com. She has delivered over 150 workshops and lectures across North America on women’s empowerment and is regularly featured in the media and press.

Tags: clothing, clothing care, fashion, fashion tips, garment care, garments, personal power image consulting, style advice, wardrobe tips