Jamie Chua dishes out tips to keep clothes, shoes in pristine condition in her massive walk-in wardrobe

Socialite Jamie Chua is known for her extensive handbag collection, which includes a jaw-dropping number of Hermes handbags and a collection of luxury pink bags that she's showed off on Instagram. 

But where to store them all? In her walk-in wardrobe that measures 700 square feet and is fingerprint-protected to boot. That's probably also why it was featured on Insider's Bonkers Closets video series last year, where it was revealed that she owns over 300 pairs of shoes that cost $1,500 each on average.

Certainly, this qualifies her to share how she keeps the many garments and shoes she owns in tip-top condition in her latest YouTube video or in her words, "how to keep them pristine so that they would last a long, long time".

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNL5jRk1cOY&ab_channel=JamieChua[/embed]

The number one enemy of all wardrobes is humidity, she shares: "If there is high humidity, it will cause moulding in leathers. Conversely, if it is too dry, it will cause cracks in the wardrobe."

Where possible, keep your wardrobe enclosed and away from windows to prevent moisture and any air from entering your wardrobe, or what Jamie calls her "vault".

Perhaps you might assume that she keeps her possessions in top condition through air-conditioning. Well, think again — Jamie says she only switches it on when she's in the wardrobe. Otherwise, it remains off. 

Here are the tips she has for keeping her clothes and shoes looking good always. 

1. Use dehumidifiers, charcoal packs and silica gel pouches to reduce the moisture levels in your wardrobe

Recognising that not everyone has the privilege of building a customised wardrobe like her, Jamie has other tips that will let you reduce moisture levels: use a dehumidifier or charcoal packs.

For charcoal packs, they help absorb excess moisture, she says, and she has them lying amongst her bags and shoes.

Silica gel packs ought to go into closed storage units and you should replace them once they become liquid, she shares.

2. Invest in good hangers to keep the shape of your clothes

Don't use wire and plastics hangers as they can stretch out the shoulders of your clothes and make them out of shape.

Instead, Jamie recommends large hangers that are made of plush velvet or wood. These hangers will keep the shape of the shoulders of your garments.   

3. Zip up and button up your clothes

If your garment has buttons or zips, don't be lazy when keeping them. Always remember to zip and button them up as this will ensure that it keeps its shape. It will also prevent zippers from being entangled with other pieces in your wardrobe. "That [entangled clothing] is really a catastrophe," says Jamie.

4. Don't store your leather pieces too close to one another

Leather can get sticky in a humid environment and the colour from one piece can transfer to another easily.

Jamie shares that her daughter Calista borrowed her white leather jacket and hung it next to a black one. This resulted in black marks on her otherwise pristine white jacket, though the marks seemed to have more or less disappeared as she peered at the said garment on the video. "I'm a cleaning whiz, there are hardly marks," she declares while examining it on screen.

5. Give your clothes and shoes breathing space

"Avoid squishing them too close together," advises Jamie. Doing this can result in your clothing fading and wrinkling. 

However, with the number of clothes she has, she confesses that she's guilty of overcrowding her wardrobe. Hence to save space, for t-shirts, sweaters and hoodies, she recommends folding them instead.

"This way, I could actually kind of see what t-shirt they are just by having a peek," she says,

The other clothing she keeps folded: trousers, pants and jeans. Group them by colour and don't put white or beige pants with darker coloured items as colour transfer might take place, she shares.

Shoes need breathing space too as they can lose their shape if you store them on top of one another or squish them together in tight spaces.  

6. Store your embellished items separately

Have any garments with sequins or crystals? You should store them separately as they may snag other pieces they are grouped together with. 

Instead, store your embellished clothes in a garment bag or cover it with plastic to avoid damages to your wardrobe. 

7. Roll your belts to store them easily

Rolling belts into a circle lets you store them in "pigeonholes" and keeps them neat. For thicker belts that can't really be rolled, place them on a hanger instead and hang it in your wardrobe.

It is also essential to keep them in a cool and dry place, otherwise mould may get on it, and could be impossible to remove, says Jamie.

8. Fold cashmere and knitted garments, and never store furs in a wine cellar

The last thing you should do it hang them as even if you use good quality hangers, the weight of the item will make it "longer and longer, and from a crop knit top you might end up with a dress". So fold them instead, she advises. 

And should you have furs, don't store them in your wine cellar, if you have one. Jamie says doing so was "the biggest mistake" that she's made as they became wet and reeked of oak. 

9. Display shoes in open cabinets instead of storing them in shoeboxes

You won't know which pair of shoes is in which box, says Jamie. While you could take a photo and paste it on the box for easy identification, but if you have as many shoes as her, the boxes may come tumbling down on you when you try to retrieve or put back your shoes. 

10. Paste non-slip pads on the bottom of your shoes

This makes your shoes less slippery and safer to walk in. It also protects the sole from wearing out. 

11. Always clean your shoes before putting them back in the closet

It's not just the exterior of the shoe that you should clean after wearing them. Jamie recommends taking a damp cloth and wiping the insides of your shoes where the foot touches "because our feet produce moisture, especially in the summer." 

Then leave it out in the sun for half an hour for the sun to "remove all the moisture that has been accumulating inside your shoe", she says. 

Bonus tip: Clean and refresh white garments with Vanish

Even if you have a dedicated, humidity-free wardrobe like her, the one thing you can't avoid is white garments turning yellow over time or getting stained. 

And the trick to removing those unsightly stains as per Jamie's "experiment" in the video — Vanish powder. 

Of course, prevention is always better than cure, so it's always best if you store your garments properly from the start, concludes Jamie.

ALSO READ: Jamie Chua cried for 4 days after losing her $30,000 Cartier earring

kailun@asiaone.com