Trinny Woodall reveals the one item you need to transform your entire wardrobe – and it's not an item of clothing

The styling expert reveals her top tip for making a wardrobe work harder, without having to buy more clothes

A wooden clothes rail with hangers with monochrome and yellow covers to illustrate Trinny's clothes rail styling tip
(Image credit: Future)

We are big fans of Trinny Woodall, notably for her expansive beauty knowledge thanks to running Trinny London and her incredibly insightful fashion tips and tricks gained from years of working in the fashion industry.

None more so than her recent styling revelation shared on This Morning about where to hang your clothes – it is a surefire way to transform how we style our existing wardrobes without having to buy any new clothes.

The secret, according to Trinny is having a separate clothes rail to style your outfits more like a capsule wardrobe, as opposed to being overwhelmed by a wardrobe full of choice or concealed items you might overlook – this is especially handy to organise a small closet with a lot of clothes.

two images in a collage to show a white wardrobe packed with clothes and a freestanding clothes rail with white items hanging to show Trinny's clothes rail styling tip

On the left is a wardrobe filled with gorgeous clothes which feels overwhelming; on the right is a simple freestanding clothes rail with fewer items curated to give a clear overview

(Image credit: Future | James Merrell)

Trinny Woodall appeared on This Morning last week to help solve viewers' fashion dilemmas with one asking how to create a 'home uniform' to prevent every day descending into an easy routine of wearing the first casual outfits to hand (we can all relate to this for ease).

Trinny is quick to reply by saying "I think it's such a good question for so many people, so it's great you asked it. The first thing I'm going to ask you to invest in is a rail." Meaning a freestanding clothes rail for styling.

Going on to explain her reasoning behind this savvy homeware buy Trinny explained: "Because sometimes choice and seeing what we have is really challenging when things are squiged in a wardrobe."

"They can be £15 from Amazon or Morplan," Trinny helpfully informs the caller and the audience. "And I want you to create seven days worth of outfits, which you can do on a Sunday if you have half an hour."

Where to buy a clothes rail for styling like Trinny

"You're going to think about different colours that make you feel good because colours are so important and then shapes," says Trinny. She's so right, discovering what colours suit you is the key to making your wardrobe work harder regardless of anything else.

"And if you have those seven days it's going to make you get into the habit of making more of an effort for yourself, and if you make the effort for yourself when you look in the mirror you're going to think I can be challenged by anything today."

Stylists use this principle to prep for shoots because the process of selecting items and pairing them with other items from a wider essential autumn capsule wardrobe means the outfits feel more considered and curated.

It also takes the stress out of getting dressed every morning feeling like you have 'nothing to wear' because nothing immediately jumps out.

Neutral bedroom with a freestanding clothes rail in the corner to support Trinny's clothes rail styling tip

(Image credit: Future)

Our digital fashion editor Caroline Parr comments: "I recently had new wardrobes built, and honestly, halfway through I wondered whether I even needed them at all. With all my beloved items hanging right there on rails, it made it so much easier to choose what to put on every day, and I swear in that time I wore way more than the 20% of my wardrobe we supposedly wear."

"My top tip is to keep a rail and take out some key pieces as often as you can, whether that's once a week or once a year. It will remind you of all your treasures and inspire you to try new outfit combinations."

Tamara Kelly
Lifestyle Editor

Tamara is a highly experienced homes and interiors journalist, with a career spanning 22 years. Now the Lifestyle Editor of womanandhome.com, she previously spent 17 years working with the style teams at Country Homes & Interiors and Ideal Home, and it’s with these award-winning interiors teams that she gained a wealth of knowledge and honed her skills and passion for styling and writing about every aspect of lifestyle and interiors.

A true homes and interiors expert, Tamara has served as an ambassador for leading interior brands on multiple occasions, including appearing on Matalan’s The Show and presenting at top interior trend forecasting events such as the Autumn Fair and Spring Fair.