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now makes sure to hold onto beloved pieces that are in good shape, even if she no longer wears them or they're out of date.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）店個人購物組的負責人安？菲茨帕特里克（Ann Fitzpatrick）以堪比外科醫生的精準度對她的衣柜進行清理。

    十三年前，在她搬進一個衣柜較小的房子前，她把自己不再需要的衣服都處理掉了，包括從巴黎買的連衣裙，這些連衣裙已經有些年頭了，她仍很喜歡，不過已經不再穿了。

    那以后，她一直后悔當初把衣服處理掉了。她說，我現在仍在懷念那些被我處理掉、難以替代的衣服。她為客戶買衣服和清理衣柜提供咨詢服務已經很多年了；如今她已是這項業務的負責人了。她說，現在我半夜醒來，還會渾身冒汗。

    因此，她現在一定會保留那些自己喜歡的、狀況還很好的衣服，就算她不再穿了，或是衣服已經過時了也不會處理掉。她說，她已經懂得了稍微變一下就可以輕松地讓舊衣換新顏。

    她會變換舊開衫毛衣和夾克上的紐扣，讓衣服樣子看起來更摩登，還會隨時尚潮流的變化，調整衣服的下擺長度。她曾經把一件CK襯衫的下擺調整過好幾次。（她說，當縮短下擺時，把邊留的多一點，以便今后還可以再調整）.如果她的一件開司米毛衣上有個洞，她通常會找手工師傅把洞補起來。她后悔當初不該把她的一件巴黎連衣裙處理掉，而是應該調整一下衣服寬大的肩部。

    為了避免進行大清理，她每季都會整理一下衣柜，處理腳趾部分磨損嚴重或鞋跟磨壞了的鞋子（修鞋匠對這些問題也無回天之術）,破洞無法補起來的毛衣，已經洗得不再挺拓的棉襯衫，或是干洗過太多次、已經掉色或縮水的褲子。她還會處理掉不再合身或顏色她不喜歡的衣服。

    她會讓自己的兩個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構。任何衣服她都不會扔掉的。她說，我認為，我曾擁有過的每樣東西都應該有個家。

    對于購置新衣，菲茨帕特里克說，她總是在不斷補充棉襯衫，而且至少每年一次買更多的投資性衣服，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）,她會用新的飾品來讓這些衣服看起來耳目一新。比如，她最近買了一件Giambattista Valli外套，衣服的肩部很有形，她認為這種新的樣子有一定歷久彌新的潛力。

    她說，通過加一條腰帶、戴上一條漂亮的項鏈，或外面配上一件背心，就能產生不同的效果。