The sustainable closet: I tried an app to help me wear everything in my wardrobe

A new variety of apps are offering users the chance to digitally catalogue their closets. Could it help us ditch our addiction to buying new? Style editor Annmarie O'Connor tests one out

Annmarie O'Connor: "Every now and again we all need a few tree branches and discarded pieces of wood to show us what is possible before we click to cart." Picture: Hazel Coonagh.

Shop your closet. Wear what you have. Buy less, style more. Such are the sustainable slogans that clutter social media—30-second video tips from fashion influencers clad in minimalist staples. It looks easy. It sounds easy. It’s not easy. 

Despite having written a book called The Happy Closet, my own wardrobe has felt rather chaotic of late. Although an ace at decluttering and capsule dressing, a recent and sudden drop in weight left me in sartorial no-man’s land, buying interim pieces to fit a body that was not mine to keep.