I wrote recently that I’m trying to love the clothes I already own. Like a lot of people, I have clothes stashed in my wardrobe that I haven’t worn in a long time. The thing is, I’m not naturally good at putting outfits together: I have an idea of what I want my style to be and what I feel comfortable in, but I have to put effort in to figure out what looks good on me.
Enter Whering: the wardrobe app designed to help you rethink your clothing. It’s a free app that allows you to upload your items, create outfits, and even collect stats on how often you wear each piece. Here’s how I got on with it:
Step one: Upload your clothing
I was surprised at how easy this is: just take a photo of your clothes and click ‘Upload Item’. The app will automatically remove the background so you’re just left with the item itself.
Pro tip: hang up your clothing before photographing it. It looks a lot better than having them laid flat.
The app will try to categorise the clothing for you, although it doesn’t always get this right – in the above example, it thought my shirt was a robe, so I had to go in and change it.
You can choose the brand, size, price you paid for it, the colours, or even the state the piece is in (preloved, new, rental, or handmade). For stats geeks, this is lovely, because you can analyse what you wear most often.
Uploading your clothing takes a while. I did the bulk of it while drinking a coffee on a rainy afternoon, but I think it takes a few sessions to get it all done.
Step two: Create outfits
Now for the fun part!
Creating outfits feels like a game. You can include everything from jewellery to shoes to coats to the main outfit itself, and drag and drop each item to get a good idea of the final look.
You can tag outfits, choose their style, occasion, and season, and even record their usage history. This is a feature I particularly love. You can attach photos to each outfit, so you can get a reminder of how the outfit actually looks on you.
If you love to get down to the microscopic details, you can even track where the outfit is currently (in the laundry basket, for example). I don’t use the app this way, but I can see that it would be useful to keep track of everything.
The app will also suggest outfits for you. I found that some of these outfits didn’t work at all, but some of them looked pretty decent. If you have a lot of clothes to work with, you might find some inspiration here.
Step three: Create lookbooks
Lookbooks are brilliant. They allow you to create collections using outfits you’ve created. For example, here I’m creating a small lookbook for a work conference:
In the overview, I can see that I have created three outfits using similar items (the same boots, etc). I can also generated a packing list, which pulled up 14 items, including the belt and multiple pairs of earrings.
I love this for travelling – it really takes the thought out of packing, and if you’re a visual person, it does all the calculating for you in terms of thinking about each item you’ll need to bring.
Lookbooks are super fun to play around with and refer to later. I made a ‘Feeling Meh’ lookbook, for outfits that feel comfortable to wear when I’m on my period or if I’m not feeling too good, and a ‘Night Out, But Not Too Fancy’ lookbook for when I’m out with friends.
Step four: Stats and marketplace
You can use the marketplace to find specific items you feel could be missing from outfits or your lookbook. This is interesting, but not something I’d personally use when I’m so addicted to Vinted and Depop, I definitely don’t need another avenue to spend money.
The stats, however, are really interesting. You can view your wardrobe value, the percentage of clothing that you actually wear, your items, your outfits, and even a breakdown of how much you own of each type of clothing. Over time, as you track outfits, you’ll get an idea of your preferred colour palette, which I also find interesting, as well as your most and least worn items.
Tips and tricks to make the most of Whering
I’d say, if you can, get into the habit of recording your outfits most days. This will give you a really clear picture of the items you love the most and the items you’re actually wearing.
You can also use Whering to see if new items will work with your existing wardrobe. Just take a screenshot or a photo of the item you’re considering, upload it to Whering, and see if you can make outfits with it. As a general rule, if I can make at least three wearable outfits with it, it’s a good item to buy.
I will say that outfits that look gorgeous on Whering may not actually look the same on you. Whering doesn’t take into account my lower belly, for example. Or my height. You may try on outfits and realise they don’t work. This is part of the process, but it’s something to be aware of if you’re planning outfits in advance.
I do wish you could add notes to outfits. I’d love to make notes like ‘This looks cute but the skirt rides up’ or ‘I wish this dress was a little bit shorter’. That sort of thing would be useful to look back on.
My overall experience with Whering
Honestly, I’d recommend giving Whering a try. I was impressed with how easy it is to use, and the fact that it edits the images for you and even produces packing lists for holidays or work trips is excellent.
It’s made me rethink my wardrobe completely. I’ve been looking forward to getting dressed each day so I can log it on the app, and it’s also made me identify gaps in my wardrobe, which means I can shop more deliberately and thoughtfully in the future. With Whering, I’m getting a really clear picture of my actual style, and what I feel the most confident and comfortable with.
If you, like me, are having a bit of a style wobble, try it out: it’s free, so you have nothing to lose, and it may help you to figure out which items in your wardrobe get to stay, and which items need to be de–cluttered.
Featured image: Angela Bailey, Unsplash
