These days, Ann Fitzpatrick, director of the personal-shopping team at the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills, cleans out her closet with surgical precision.

    Thirteen years ago, before she moved into a home with smaller closets, Ms. Fitzpatrick purged her wardrobe of pieces she no longer needed, including dated dresses from Paris that she still loved but had stopped wearing.

    She has regretted the loss ever since. 'I am still pining for those pieces I let go that are not replaceable,' says Ms. Fitzpatrick, who spent many years helping clients shop and weed through their closets and now oversees the service. 'I wake up in the middle of the night sweating.'

    As a result, Ms. Fitzpatrick now makes sure to hold onto beloved pieces that are in good shape, even if she no longer wears them or they're out of date. She has learned, she says, that alterations can easily update looks.

    She changes buttons on old cardigans and jackets to create a more modern look and has hemlines taken down or up as the style dictates; on one Calvin Klein skirt, she has let the hem out twice. （When shortening, leave your hems wide for the future, she notes.） If she has a hole in a cashmere sweater, she often looks for an artisan who can reweave it. And she wishes she had tweaked the big shoulders on one of her Parisian dresses instead of giving it away.

    Avoiding large purges, she weeds through her wardrobe every season, getting rid of items such as shoes with worn-out toes or chipped heels （shoemakers can't do their magic on them）, sweaters that can't be rewoven, cotton shirts worn down by starch and trousers that have been dry-cleaned so much they shine or can't be adjusted to the right length. She also weeds out items that don't fit or have colors she no longer likes.

    She'll let her two daughters have first pick of the cast-offs and then will give the rest to charities. Nothing gets thrown away. 'I believe that there has got to be a home for any of the things I've owned,' Ms. Fitzpatrick says.

    As for restocking, Ms. Fitzpatrick says she's always replenishing her supply of cotton shirts, and at least annually, she'll buy more investment pieces that serve as the core of her wardrobe （such as a perfect black dress, skirts, blouses, trousers and handbags）, and she uses new accessories to refresh them. For instance, she recently bought a Giambattista Valli jacket with a more-structured shoulder, a new look that she thinks will have some staying power.

    'By adding a belt, putting a great necklace on or dropping a vest over it, you can change that core piece to have a little different look,' she says.

    如今，比佛利山（Beverly Hills）的薩克斯第五大道（Saks Fifth Avenue）店個(gè)人購(gòu)物組的負(fù)責(zé)人安？菲茨帕特里克（Ann Fitzpatrick）以堪比外科醫(yī)生的精準(zhǔn)度對(duì)她的衣柜進(jìn)行清理。

    十三年前，在她搬進(jìn)一個(gè)衣柜較小的房子前，她把自己不再需要的衣服都處理掉了，包括從巴黎買(mǎi)的連衣裙，這些連衣裙已經(jīng)有些年頭了，她仍很喜歡，不過(guò)已經(jīng)不再穿了。

    那以后，她一直后悔當(dāng)初把衣服處理掉了。她說(shuō)，我現(xiàn)在仍在懷念那些被我處理掉、難以替代的衣服。她為客戶(hù)買(mǎi)衣服和清理衣柜提供咨詢(xún)服務(wù)已經(jīng)很多年了；如今她已是這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)的負(fù)責(zé)人了。她說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在我半夜醒來(lái)，還會(huì)渾身冒汗。

    因此，她現(xiàn)在一定會(huì)保留那些自己喜歡的、狀況還很好的衣服，就算她不再穿了，或是衣服已經(jīng)過(guò)時(shí)了也不會(huì)處理掉。她說(shuō)，她已經(jīng)懂得了稍微變一下就可以輕松地讓舊衣?lián)Q新顏。

    她會(huì)變換舊開(kāi)衫毛衣和夾克上的紐扣，讓衣服樣子看起來(lái)更摩登，還會(huì)隨時(shí)尚潮流的變化，調(diào)整衣服的下擺長(zhǎng)度。她曾經(jīng)把一件CK襯衫的下擺調(diào)整過(guò)好幾次。（她說(shuō)，當(dāng)縮短下擺時(shí)，把邊留的多一點(diǎn)，以便今后還可以再調(diào)整）.如果她的一件開(kāi)司米毛衣上有個(gè)洞，她通常會(huì)找手工師傅把洞補(bǔ)起來(lái)。她后悔當(dāng)初不該把她的一件巴黎連衣裙處理掉，而是應(yīng)該調(diào)整一下衣服寬大的肩部。

    為了避免進(jìn)行大清理，她每季都會(huì)整理一下衣柜，處理腳趾部分磨損嚴(yán)重或鞋跟磨壞了的鞋子（修鞋匠對(duì)這些問(wèn)題也無(wú)回天之術(shù)）,破洞無(wú)法補(bǔ)起來(lái)的毛衣，已經(jīng)洗得不再挺拓的棉襯衫，或是干洗過(guò)太多次、已經(jīng)掉色或縮水的褲子。她還會(huì)處理掉不再合身或顏色她不喜歡的衣服。

    她會(huì)讓自己的兩個(gè)女兒先從她不要的衣服里挑出她們想要的，然后把剩下的捐給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)。任何衣服她都不會(huì)扔掉的。她說(shuō)，我認(rèn)為，我曾擁有過(guò)的每樣?xùn)|西都應(yīng)該有個(gè)家。

    對(duì)于購(gòu)置新衣，菲茨帕特里克說(shuō)，她總是在不斷補(bǔ)充棉襯衫，而且至少每年一次買(mǎi)更多的投資性衣服，作為她衣柜中的核心（比如一件完美的黑色連衣裙、半截裙、上衣、褲子和手袋）,她會(huì)用新的飾品來(lái)讓這些衣服看起來(lái)耳目一新。比如，她最近買(mǎi)了一件Giambattista Valli外套，衣服的肩部很有形，她認(rèn)為這種新的樣子有一定歷久彌新的潛力。

    她說(shuō)，通過(guò)加一條腰帶、戴上一條漂亮的項(xiàng)鏈，或外面配上一件背心，就能產(chǎn)生不同的效果。