Life is busy; sometimes you get hit by a tidal wave of busyness which sweeps you up and pulls you away for a while. With the shift of your focus, life’s priorities readjust. Eventually, the wave retreats and the everyday normal returns. My blog has been idle for a while as I was riding out my own tidal wave, but I’m back. So, “hello!”
When life gets busy, the last thing you want to worry about is finding an outfit that makes you feel comfortable, put together and chic. Cue: the pure genius of the capsule wardrobe. The capsule wardrobe is essentially a small, curated wardrobe made up of versatile items that you absolutely love to wear. Just ask Google about capsule wardrobes or Project 333 and you’ll find a plethora of information and inspiration!
I have been playing with capsule wardrobes for a couple of seasons and look forward to sharing my basic 2016 F/W capsule with you as well as some of my favourite go-to outfits in upcoming posts. For now, I thought I’d touch on why I love having a capsule and briefly explain the steps I took in creating a small wardrobe that works for me.
I first heard about the idea of the capsule wardrobe about two years ago, around the same time that I read Marie Kondo’s the life-changing magic of tidying up. Over the course of three and a half years, Ryan and I moved four times. Beyond that, once we had bought our first home, our parents kindly requested to reclaim their basements and spare bedrooms, which were still full of mementos from our adolescence. Having to face and move out a lifetime of stuff that had been inconspicuously tucked away in our parents basements for years was overwhelming. We both agreed that we needed to downsize and simplify. Schlepping stuff from space to space was exhausting.
Marie Kondo suggests a radical approach to tidying in which you devote a block of time to overhauling absolutely everything in your home. While I found this idea to be a bit too drastic, there were several other ideas from her book which have helped me whittle down my belongings over time.
First and foremost, is the idea that you should love each and every item you own, be it for its functionality, how it looks, or how it makes you feel. Especially when tackling my wardrobe, I found that there were many items of clothing that I hadn’t worn in a long time, but had held on to. I had been making excuses for as to why I should not let go of certain items in my wardrobe. My running internal monologue sounded something like this:
“I haven’t worn it in a while, but…
- it’s hardly worn and still looks like new.”
- it was a gift. I can’t get rid of it.”
- it was expensive.”
- even though it’s too short and makes me feel uncomfortable, it’s a nice piece.”
- I might go to a party this winter where this will be the perfect dress to wear.”
- I bet it would look amazing it I found an emerald green pair of slacks to pair it with.”
- it’s a good around the house piece or maybe I’ll wear it for gardening.”
I was probably wearing no more than a tenth of the items I owned over the course of a year. That’s ridiculous. Wrestling my way through a compact drawer of shirts to find the one shirt out of the lot that I liked to wear was draining and inefficient. I started to be brutally honest with my wardrobe and began curating my perfect capsule. Here are the steps I followed:
- You have 30 seconds – grab what you LOVE
I don’t recall if this suggestion came from Marie Kondo or if I picked it up from somewhere online, but it works! As a tactic for decluttering your wardrobe, pretend that your house is on fire and that you have 30 seconds to grab clothing to take with you. When my timer beeped after 30 short seconds, it was no surprise that the 25 or so items I had grabbed were the ones I had been wearing on rotation. In 30 seconds, I had essentially eliminated the noise from my wardrobe and had created a very wearable and versatile capsule of items I loved. Success! - The reflective edit and closet cull
I looked at the items I had not chosen. These items were subjected to a rigorous review. I asked myself if I had been making excuses to hang on to each item. Then, I critically thought about when I last wore each piece, how it made me feel when I wore it and how it would combine with the essential items I had just identified from my closet when forced to evacuate during my hypothetical house fire. Going through this exhaustive thought process made it quite easy to add several items to the “donate” pile. - The spare closet hideaway
Next, I took all items that I hadn’t worn in a while because they are seasonal or which I just couldn’t let go of quite yet and transferred these to a spare closet. This made it more difficult to access these items, but if I ever felt the need to add them back to my capsule, I knew where to find them. - Edit, edit, edit
I worked with my capsule for months and did not revisit any of the spare closet items. At the end of the season, however, I reviewed what I had, both in my capsule and spare closet. Working with my capsule had forced me to further evaluate my style. I grew to love the variations of my “uniform” that my capsule gave me and was able to further discard some of the spare closet items. As the seasons changed, I shopped my spare closet first, swapping in and out seasonal pieces as needed and evaluating gaps in my wardrobe. - Shop! (with a plan)
Taking the time to be conscious about what I enjoy wearing allowed me to identify where there may be gaps in my wardrobe. I began carefully creating a wish list of pieces that would make my capsule more functional and versatile. Having a capsule has not stopped me from browsing, both online and in stores, which is great because I’ve always loved shopping! Now, I’m just more aware of what I want/need, am more critical of the quality of items, and consider if they will complement the rest of my capsule. All in all, I’ve found that it is much more fun to do your research on an item and to then mull it over and sleep on it before whipping out your credit card; when it arrives in the post, tearing open the box brings back memories of being a child on Christmas morning.
That is the basic overview of how my capsule came to be. Overall, curating my wardrobe has been a fluid process and I continue to reevaluate and edit my capsule regularly. My F/W capsule wardrobe currently contains around 36 items, but I do not have any plans to restricting myself to a specific number, as I now know what I need and what I feel comfortable with. 36 items is great for the time being, but maybe I’ll find that perfect white long-line button-down soon. Creating a capsule has been an exercise in evaluating my personal style and removing the excess noise from my wardrobe. It’s been great and I look forward to continuing to edit and revise.
Happy editing!
-M.
TRENCH COAT: Gap (sold out! similar here) | SNEAKERS: Adidas | TUNIC: Vero Moda (old, but similar here and here)| JEANS: Levi’s | BAG: Skagen | WATCH: CLUSE
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