How I Styled My Closest Like a Banana Republic

One of my favorite stores that I not only love to shop at but love to visit is the Banana Republic store. BR is my favorite store to shop at in general because I resonate with their clothing style, but how their stores are styled has always inspired me too. Walking into a BR store is like walking into a sophisticated embodiment of style. Their clothes are always organized by styles and colors with just a few articles of each item, never cluttered. The shelves are decorated with coffee table books and chic decorative items.  The clothing is always on wooden hangers, you’ll find no cheap plastic here. The accessories are laid out stylishly with more chic props such as coffee table books and woven baskets.

Recently I decided that I wanted to clean out and restyle my closet and I knew immediately that Banana Republic would be my style icon for this small project.  Here is the inspiration that I used as a guide from my own personal trips to Banana Republic.

The Inspiration:

The Elements:

-Neutral decor with gold accents

-Clothes organized by function and color

-Woven baskets to hold accessories

-Layered accessories such as handbags on display

-Modern chic design

-All wood hangers

With these elements in mind, I got to work on restyling our closet in the same manner. The only thing that is still in progress is the wooden hangers.  We are slowly starting to transition these into our closet a little at a time.  I purchased these wooden hangers from Amazon and will continue to keep purchasing them until all of the velvet hangers are replaced.  I used the velvet hangers for years, but they are cantankerous when taking clothes on or off of the hanger. It will often pull and snag due to its course material.  The wooden hangers provide not only more support for the garments, but also a gentler experience with taking the items on and off. The other only update that was made since then was an extra coffee table book of CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion book on top of the Tom Ford book.

The Shelves:

Our closet has two sections divided by a center of built-in shelves. I knew that the shelves are where I wanted those stylish design elements to come through because it’s the first thing to be seen when opening the double doors.  This section would be the focal point and therefore needed to be organized, uncluttered and have a cohesive look.  I took inspiration from BR’s layering effect of its larger accessories like handbags, scarves, etc. and also organizing some of the accessories in glass containers with gold accents and woven baskets as well as brought in the same color scheme of the neutral colors and gold accents.

I used the glass case shown below to store my silk scarves as well as my winter leather gloves for the season. I keep a room spray and a perfume in the case as well.  My jewelry box in always ready to be opened and utilizeded when getting ready too.

The Top Shelves:

I utilized the top shelves in my closet for the items that I don’t use as often such as travel bags, occasion bags, my two pair of denim jeans, a small hat and some extra storage baskets to store the out-of-season items such as swimsuits, tank tops, and shorts.

The Clothes:

As mentioned above, I am still in the process of transitioning all of the hangers to wooden hangers, but otherwise the rest are still on velvet hangers.  I organize the clothes by type and color to keep it organized and easy to find. I try not keep a lot of items, just what I need for different aspects in my life and enough to create a few good outfits.

The Shoes:

I have the same rule for shoes that I do for clothes, to have just as many as needed for different aspects of my life and just enough to create a few different looks.  I keep my shoes easily organized on a shoe organizer for easy access. I also try to organize them by how often I use them, purpose and color though they can sometimes inadvertently get shifted around.

The Husband’s Side:

My husband also keeps a simplified closet of quality pieces that he enjoys wearing.  He truly has a signature style of button-down shirts, sweaters of varying styles, chino pants and a few tee shirts and polos. I also try to keep this side organized by type of garment and color, but I do let him keep his side as he likes, so I mostly do this when putting the laundry away.

The finished closet now reminds me of Banana Republic every time I walk into it, and not just because 80% of my closet is BR. I really adored how the overall look came together to create a stylish place to get ready every morning. Being surrounding by a stylish environment also helps me to dress as my best self every day.