If you really want to know the messy secrets of the ultrarich, look in their closets. “You’d be amazed at how many wealthy people have immaculate homes and expensive clothes, but their closets are a disaster,” says one high-end wardrobe organizer. “Most of them have way too much stuff, and they’re overwhelmed by it all.”
Of course, there are people they can pay to solve this problem. Enter the growing industry of luxury organizers, who have seen booming demand over the past several years as status closets have become a popular feature in fancy homes. In the past, people’s closets were private, intimate spaces; now they’re prominently displayed in Architectural Digest spreads and GRWM videos, complete with wall-to-wall shoe shelving and spotlit purse displays. You can probably even picture the opulent boudoirs of certain celebrities — Khloé Kardashian has an entire walk-in closet for her workout clothes, while Kim’s clothing-storage space is basically a museum.
What does a status closet have in it, and what’s it like to create one? We spoke to industry veterans about the weirdest stuff they’ve seen on the job.
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“You want your closet to feel like a luxury, high-end boutique.”
—Taiece Lanier, creative director of Closet Editors in L.A.
My background is in fashion merchandising at Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. Then I started doing luxury personal shopping on the side. I would go to my clients’ houses and do fittings with them, and their closets would be just all over the place. They had beautiful things, but nothing was organized. So I would help them arrange it. One of my clients was like, “You should be doing this for everyone.” And she was right. Editing is just as important as shopping. Going through every single piece in your closet, remembering when you wore it the last time, seeing if it still fits, then designing your closet so that getting dressed feels like a luxury experience — that’s my specialty.
The first closet I saw that really shocked me was in the Hollywood Hills. The mansion was crazy. The gates opened and there were like 30 luxury cars parked out front. The closet was at least four or five rooms, basically a whole floor of the house. But it didn’t have a boutique feel — there was just too much stuff, all crammed in. So we pared things down, donated and consigned a lot. Most of my high-end clients have way too much stuff. If they’re content creators, they get things gifted to them. And most of them are super wealthy, so they just buy, buy, buy, buy.
What I charge depends on the size of the closet, and whether I’m designing the closet itself or just organizing it. The average closet-design project starts at around $20,000, including materials and construction, and goes up from there. If I’m just coming in to help them organize their existing closet, the service is $3,500. I can also do an organizing session virtually, over Zoom or FaceTime, that starts at $1,500.
There are certain elements that give you a boutique-style closet. Lighting is very important — it illuminates the space and helps you see your clothes easily. Same with glass. People normally just get regular wooden shelves, but once you add glass shelves and glass doors, it instantly gives it a more open, luxury feel. Same with designing up into the ceiling, with crown molding at the top and bottom. It creates this long, vertical, expansive look.
I always put in a full-length mirror. You need to be able to see what you’re wearing, and it makes your closet feel bigger. If there’s room, I like to include a vanity area for makeup — most closets don’t have that — and an island. It gives you extra storage, but you can also put your jewelry trays and sunglasses trays in there, so every accessory has its individual space. I also install pull-out ironing boards — it looks like a drawer, but then you pull it down and an ironing board comes out, which is fabulous. If the closet is very big, I’ve put in washer and dryers, and a Champagne bar, so you can do a little happy hour. You always want nice seating so you can sit down and put your shoes on. And a chandelier — every closet I’ve ever done, we have to have a chandelier in it.
But you don’t always have to spend a ton to get an elevated feel. For regular people who want their closet to be more polished, you have to start with editing. You need to get rid of stuff. Then you want to color coordinate. Put all your blazers together, all your shirts together, and arrange them by color. That’s going to make your closet look better immediately. Then get matching hangers. Take your shoes off the floor. Get some shoe organizers. Amazon has lighting strips that you can stick on the wall, to give your closet more light no matter how big it is. Get some nice matching bins for your belts, bathing suits, and accessories that you can label. Add a rug, or paint an accent wall.
Sometimes I do get resistance from clients in the beginning. They don’t want to let stuff go, especially when the price tags are still on the garment — $3,000, $5,000 — and they haven’t touched it in five years. I think if you haven’t worn it in a year, it should be rotated out; even if it has tags on it, we need to let it go. Give it to a family member, donate it, or resell it. I understand that people have spent their hard-earned money on these expensive pieces, so I normally ask questions if they really dig in. When is the last time you wore it? Where would you wear it? Does it fit your style now? Does it fit? Can you try it on for me? Because they’re not hiring a professional expert to come in and be a “yes” girl. They’re hiring me to come in and help them solve a problem.
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“One of our clients fluctuates in weight, so they have a whole closet of the same shirt, dozens of them, in different sizes.”
—Peyton Smith and Sam Best, co-owners of The Bare Abode in Toronto
Sam Best: Whenever we’ve worked with a very wealthy, high-profile client, we’re always surprised by how they live on a day-to-day basis. They have money and power and status, but their lives are more mundane and normal than you’d think. They’re wearing their jeans and T-shirts and Lululemon leggings. Of course, they do have their galas and private jets, but they’re not in Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Prada every day.
Peyton Smith: My background is in marketing, and Sam is a fashion stylist for advertising agencies. So she is the fashion person. I’m more interested in the beautiful closets that we get to work in, with all the amazing built-ins and materials. There’s special lighting that turns on whenever you open a door. There are little knobs you can pull out to display your outfit for the next day. There are velvet-lined drawers for your jewelry, with fob locks. There are custom-made islands with a super-rare Calacatta marble on top, and drawers with leather fronts and 24-carat-gold handles. The first time we walked into a home like that, it was like, “How do we do more of this?”
S.B.: It’s always the Birkin bags that throw me for a loop. Peyton and I grew up in a very small town in Canada. Everyone drives pickup trucks and wears Carhartt jeans. I know it sounds cliché, but even just holding a Birkin blows my mind. Especially the exotic leathers, or the extra-large Birkin travel bag. Like, I can’t believe people really own these things, and that I get to see them.
P.S.: To organize, we usually sort everything by color, length, and sleeve types. But we also do a very thorough job of asking people about how they get dressed. We want the finished result to be useful to them in their everyday life. We want to understand the flow of how they put outfits together. It’s a tailored experience. If you’re a shoe person, you might start with your shoes and build an outfit from there; other people might start with a top.
S.B.: Our work is very intimate. I’m actually surprised that none of our home-organizing clients have asked us to sign NDAs, especially since I’m frequently required to sign them when I do styling work for commercials. Of course, everything we see on the job is kept between us, and it leaves our brain the minute we walk out the door. We are there to do our business, but what we see is none of our business. We also have a pretty strong contract that our clients sign before we start any projects, to cover our own liability. We are going to be touching their things, and we obviously take responsibility for our work, but we don’t want to be held liable for lost or damaged goods. We charge $85 an hour Canadian, per organizer.
P.S.: Our average client definitely has more money than the average person. But the ultrawealthy people that we’ve worked for are generally more specific. I find that people who have a lot of money often have certain ticks and habits. It’s more of a challenge to work with them, but it’s more rewarding as well. They also tend to buy multiples of everything. One of our clients fluctuates in weight, so they have a whole closet of the same shirt, dozens of them, in different sizes. They’re unopened, still in their packaging, in medium, large, extra large, double large. They just want to be sure that no matter what size they need, it’ll be ready for them.
S.B.: Another one of our very wealthy clients is a huge Brunello Cucinelli fan, so when we were organizing his clothes, we created an entire separate closet just for his Brunello Cucinelli items. He had the same dress shirt, same style, same cut, in white and blue and black and gray and striped — probably 40 or 50 of them. And within that closet, we made a whole section with all his Brunello Cucinelli belts and ties and pocket squares, so they weren’t mixed in with the other brands.
P.S.: Another client renovated their home with a whole new closet just for formalwear that they probably never touch — it’s dedicated to their most beloved pieces, separated from their everyday clothing, just for special occasions.
S.B.: Purging is important, but most of our clients don’t get rid of a lot. It’s hard for most people to let go of things, especially expensive items. We offer to bring those things to consigners, so our clients feel like their belongings are getting the recognition that they would like. Otherwise, we offer to donate them. We will also catalogue clothing, with photos of everything in a binder, because our clients have multiple homes and maids and housekeepers who need to know where things are and how to arrange them. Most of our clients have storage units with racks of clothes that they swap out every season. We offer that as a service — seasonal flips. Or we will come in on a quarterly basis just to tidy up again. People want perfection to the next degree, and we value that too. Sometimes I even bring a protractor to make sure that every hanger is evenly spaced before we do our final walk-through. I want every hanger to be a quarter of an inch apart.
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“I’ve met a lot of wealthy women who have immaculate homes, successful careers, and lots of beautiful, expensive clothes, but their closets are a mess.”
—Lisa Malone, a professional closet organizer in the D.C. area
I think it was COVID that got people obsessed with organizing their closets. People started wanting their home to be a sanctuary. They wanted it to be a happy place where they felt at ease. And that included where they got dressed. Also, that Netflix show The Home Edit really took off. I truly believe that having a gorgeous closet can change your whole sense of self-worth. I want you to go in there and feel like a queen. What do you want to do today? How do you want to dress?
I’ve met a lot of wealthy women who have immaculate homes, successful careers, and lots of beautiful, expensive clothes, but their closets are a mess. To me, it always reflects what kind of emotional baggage people have. They’re putting themselves at the bottom of their priority list. Once I walked into a client’s amazing home in Potomac, and when she took her shoes off, I could see that her socks had holes in them. She had a full-time housekeeper, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to replace her socks.
I try to organize people’s closets around what they really love. For some women, it’s shoes. I’ll ask if we can do a shoe wall, if there’s space, and they’ll be like, “Oh, I’ve always wanted a shoe wall!” They just need permission. Another woman had a ton of hats — big Kentucky Derby hats that she was storing away. And I was like, “Let’s display them!” You want your closet to honor your amazing experiences, and remind you that your life is worth dressing up for.
I’m a huge proponent of a valet rod — it’s a pull-out rod that you can hang clothes on when you’re putting them away, or planning an outfit. I try to create opportunities for people to see their clothes as much as possible. Then they’re more likely to wear them. I believe in wearing the clothes you love. Don’t save them for a special occasion. Just wear them.
I predominantly work in the D.C. area, and a lot of my clients have multiple homes — a house at the beach and one in the mountains. One thing that surprised me when I started working with really wealthy people is that a lot of them have really high-end jewelry that they keep in a safe, then they also have replicas of that jewelry that they travel with because they don’t want it to get lost or stolen. And I’m like, “If you’re not even going to wear the real thing, what’s the point of having it?” But I don’t guide anyone with that stuff. People can spend the money how they want to.
Literally everyone thinks they’re the only one who struggles with their closet. Whenever I talk about what I do for a living, people are like, “Oh my God, it sounds like you’re talking about me.” No one is unique in their fear of letting things go, or having hang-ups about their body or their weight and how it’s changed or hasn’t changed. I love to watch what happens when a client values herself enough to create this magical place that’s just for her to enjoy. It’s a form of self-care. It’s not for the world’s approval. And when you do things like that for yourself, you radiate that good energy out into the rest of your life.
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