The Best Ways To Hang And Store Long Dresses For A Clutter-Free Closet

Does anyone ever have enough closet space? As once wryly observed by comedian George Carlin, when people have extra space, they instantly feel the need to fill it with more stuff. This all too human tendency inevitably leads to overstuffed closets. In your clothes closet, this can be especially frustrating because it means only the most visible items will be worn while the rest — potentially some of your most attractive pieces — get crushed amid the thick forest of fabrics. 

Long dresses, which are often considered special occasion pieces regardless if they are casual or formal, may languish for years as a result. They may become constantly forgotten options as they remain out of sight and therefore out of mind. However, there are a few storage hacks specifically for long dresses. With the creative use of hangers or individual hooks, you could hang these items in a way that keeps them visible, even in short, small closets.

The first step in any decluttering task is to get rid of anything you don't use or need. Once you've purged those items, you can reorganize your closet with a better eye for where to put things. Not all closets are created equal, of course. Some are notoriously narrow, short, or shallow. While you can't generally fix a narrow or shallow closet without knocking down some walls, a short closet can be made to accept long dresses. It's just a matter of rethinking the way you hang these items.

The most straightforward way to hang long dresses in a short closet is to fold them over the horizontal bar of your hanger. Obviously, this is only possible with hangers that create a full triangle shape rather than having just the two angled sides. Simply fold your garment at the waist and hang the bodice over one side of the hanger bar and the skirt over the other side. You could also bring the bodice upwards and hang the sleeves on the hanger to shorten it even further. This is a very quick and effective method, and if your dresses are not easily wrinkled, it might be the best solution. However, if your dresses would be better kept without losing their shape, a two-hanger solution may be the better choice.

To use two hangers on a long dress, fit the bodice over the first hanger like normal. Then drape the skirt portion of the dress over the horizontal bar of the hanger, just as in the folding method. This will help your dresses maintain their shape and accumulate fewer wrinkles overall. To keep your hangers from separating in the closet, you can use old twist ties, zip ties, or cord organizers to secure the two necks of the hanger hooks together. This way you won't accidentally disrupt the hanging of your dress by sliding another hanger between the two the dress is on.

Even if you're unable to reposition the clothes bar in your existing closet, you can still find high places to hang your long dresses from. Whether you have space on the side walls or on the door of the closet itself, find an area that reaches high enough for your long dresses to hang there with still several inches of leeway between them and the floor. Depending on which surface you choose, you can select from a variety of hanging implements to use.

If you have a door to use for your long dresses, consider over-the-door storage solutions or perhaps some Command hooks. For solid wood doors or for an area on the wall, you can install wall-mounted hooks from a hardware store, Command hooks, or even just simply hammer a nail into the surface. Then, depending on the amount of available surrounding space, you can either hang the dresses on a hanger and hang the hanger from the new hook, or you can hang the dress directly from the hook, though this second option will not hold the dress' shape as well and could subject it to wrinkling. Whichever option is best for you, know that you'll be able to see and access all your clothes much better by cutting down on clutter and upgrading your storage options.