Dunbar’s Theory suggests that the number of truly active relationships an individual can maintain with other people maxes out around 150. This makes sense when we consider that relationships take effort, attention, trust, and memory, all of which are limited cognitive resources.

I’d argue that Dunbar’s Theory extends to our closets.

Amy Fine Collins said it best: “Opening up your closet should be like arriving at a really good party where everyone you see is someone you like.”

There’s a limit to the amount of clothing we can actively like, and we store many, many more articles of clothing in our homes than what we can realistically engage with.

We might recognize the item hanging in the closet, but we don’t have any associations of wearing it with confidence, taking it to be cleaned or repaired, etc.

Now, I’m not suggesting we all go count each article of clothing and get out the big black garbage bag once that number exceeds 150. Our qualitative feelings should determine what we keep rather than a numerical cut-off point. Minimalism to me isn’t having as little as possible, but rather keeping only what is relevant to my life.

That said, if we keep only the number of items that we can actively engage with, we end up knowing, loving, and using our clothing. Our closet has the intimacy of a party, rather than the anonymity of a networking event.

Changes in season may lead to changes in our “inner circle” of clothing. I can’t be bothered to rotate clothes in and out each season, but some minimalists formalize the inner circle with seasonal capsule wardrobes. Either way, we can rest easy knowing our flowy tank tops will hibernate all winter after a summer out on the town with us.