We all have them -- dirty little secrets lurking in back of our closets. They are the clothes we bought too small (gotta lose weight), too loud (temporary insanity), too someone-else-not-us (damn those magazine models!).

Friends sometimes get together to swap unwanted clothing, based on the notion that one person's discard is another's divine find, but Fashionista's Market is taking the idea public, with a Closet Swap open to all women.

Closet Swap Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday Place: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii Admission: $25 presale, $30 at the door if available. Visit www.acteva.com/go/closetswap (charges apply). Information: Fashionistasmarket.com

Oahu's first large-scale clothing exchange takes place Saturday at the Japanese Cultural Center's Moiliili Ballroom. In addition to helping people swap unwanted duds for new threads, the event will benefit the Leeward Domestic Abuse Shelter.

Emi Hart and Alyssa Fung, the sisters who created the quarterly Fashionista's Market sample sales, started the event as a way to clear their own closets. They'll be too busy sorting clothing and managing the event to be involved in the grab.

The sisters, along with Reincarnation designer Allison Nagato, gathered at Fung's house with boxes of their own rejects, not that giving up clothing -- even if unworn for years -- is ever easy.

"There are a lot of good memories in those clothes," Fung said. "Some things, you pick up and think, I remember partying in that outfit."

Hart said: "I get emotional -- like, I can't give away anything my husband bought for me. I have this blue BCBG dress that he gave me when we were dating, and it's a little bit tired now but I still wear it sometimes. I could never give it away.

"My life has changed so much, and I don't need a lot of business attire anymore and because it's so hot now, I'm throwing out a lot of clothes with long sleeves."

One dress that made the pile was a black H&M dress that fits the season with its empire waist and voluminous skirt. It's gorgeous, but, from one sister to another, Fung said it made Hart look fat (see story below), so out it goes.

Nagato will be presenting a T-shirt 101 station at the event to demonstrate ways of injecting new life into an old T-shirt you bring in. She makes a living out of incorporating vintage fabrics in new designs and said, "It's difficult to have things to donate because most of the time I think I can do something with it."

Even so, she managed to fill a box with remnants of her club-going days and travels, including Bebe tops and pieces from London. "All these things were impulse buys. Whenever I go on trips, I just want to buy something, but it's just not Hawaii."

Then there's the specter of the ever-shrinking wardrobe, as Hart and Fung try to make sense of dozens of cropped tops.

Holding up a sheer black Bebe top, Hart said, "I used to love wearing this, but now I'm like, 'Oh my god, it's see-through! I was a ho!' One day, you just put something on, and you go, 'How did I ever wear this?' It looked bad, like it turned on me."

To participate, bring clean clothing, new or gently used, in the morning. Volunteers will sort items by size while swappers enjoy craft and cookie-decorating stations, complimentary makeovers and spa treatments, sample-sale shopping and a bento lunch.

Once sorted, swappers will be free to dive into stacks of clothes. Because it's a first-time event, the organizers can't tell you want to expect, but if mall sales events are any indication, expect some carnage.

The women are hoping it won't come to that.

"We're hoping that it's a nice, fun event and that everyone only takes things they will wear."