It's been a month now and Ruby Hoppen, 25 and mother of one, has suffered through withdrawal and come out the other side.
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Her wardrobe was "out of control". Once stuffed with 30 cardigans, dozens of shoes – including 15 pairs that she had never worn – and countless vintage dresses that were pretty but falling apart, it is now an orderly, less populated space.
"I still had clothes from when I was 14," she says.
Most of what was in decent condition has gone to charity. The many pairs of tights with holes in the knees (and so forth) are now at rest in stocking heaven.
Most radically, Ms Hoppen has adjusted to wearing the same outfit again and again. ``I was afraid of being an outfit repeater ... but it's been liberating," she says.
Ms Hoppen's transformation from haute couture hoarder to minimalist was midwifed by Hannah Gray, who runs a service called The Clothing Cleanse. Think of it as colonic irrigation for the wardrobe – Ms Gray, with precision and ruthless efficiency, gets rid of the crap.
"I now have three dresses, one pair of pants and three cardigans ... and they're the clothes that I actually love," Ms Hoppen says. "I don't have those mornings any more where I pull everything out and think I don't have anything to wear."
Ms Gray's method is to strip a wardrobe back to a few quality pieces that can be mixed and matched – in effect, like pieces from a uniform.
"Once we've done the cleanse, you should be able to close your eyes, put your hand in the closet and know that whatever you pull out will work together," she says. "Every item there is curated ... each piece is a building block."
Ms Gray, 29, studied fashion design, with a focus on sustainability. Landfills, she says, are choking with clothes that were bought on impulse and never worn. "With clothes being so cheap, we don't question the idea of shopping and shopping. It's over the top, it's mindless and it not only causes problems on a personal level, it has a cost to the environment," she says.
When doing a cleanse, Ms Gray on average removes 100 items of clothing.
"People will have three or four versions of the same jumper, dress or pair of pants ... but out of those there will only be one that is their favourite.
"The others don't get worn and just hang there as clutter ... the cleanse is about limiting unnecessary options."
