So you want to create your own capsule wardrobe without reading tons of blog posts, watching videos, and reading books about it? Great, let’s go.
You can do the Ten Item Wardrobe as I do, or you can do a watered down version with twenty or even thirty items if necessary (such as, if your clothes get dirty very quickly or you don’t have access to laundry facilities often). The point is to weed out the excess and distractions and make it easier to get dressed in the morning.
How to Quickly and Easily Create a Capsule Wardrobe
First, choose your core items:
1. Consider your wardrobe restrictions:
- What does your daily life look like? Your clothes need to reflect that. If you have small children, maybe your clothes need to be nursing friendly, and maybe you need to be able to get down on the floor with them (and you need fabrics that are machine washable I bet!). Does your wardrobe do double duty for work and home, or do you need a separate capsule wardrobe just for work?
- Also consider the season you’re building the wardrobe for. Make sure you include enough warm/cool weather clothes. If the weather will be variable, choose some of both.
2. Now, with your wardrobe restrictions in mind, pull out all of your favorite presentable clothes from your wardrobe. Think of it as a reverse (KonMari). You aren’t discarding anything – you are choosing the pieces that bring you joy that you can wear on a daily basis.
3. Assess what you’ve pulled out. Did you only pull out dresses? Or was it ten tops and only one pair of pants? Did you realize you have too many clothes for your ideal life and not enough clothes for your real life?
4. Identify wardrobe holes. For example, if you pulled out ten tops and only one pair of pants, then you will probably need at least one more pair of pants. Do you have enough clothing that’s nursing friendly, or do you need to invest in one more comfortable nursing tank? Do you have shoes to go with all of the outfits you can put together?
5. Make a list of the specific pieces you need to fill out your capsule wardrobe, if you have wardrobe holes.
- I find this to be the trickiest part for me. I can easily identify what I’m missing from my wardrobe (Some sort of sweater! Some kind of black flats! Pants that fit!) but have a problem figuring out what exactly it is I need (What color/fit/material sweater? Loafers, ballet flats, something else? What color/cut/length/material pants?). I will address this in more detail in a future post. If you have this same issue, then for now, write down a broad description of what you need (i.e. a pair of jeans, a light weight jacket, a short sleeved blouse suitable for wearing out to dinner, etc.)
6. If you have wardrobe holes, see if you can find something from your existing wardrobe that can temporarily fill in until you have the time/budget to buy what’s on your list. Remember, we’re creating a capsule wardrobe out of an existing wardrobe, so unless Winter is Coming and you don’t have a coat, we’re trying not to immediately run out to the shops and buy the first thing we see. That’s how we got a closet full of crap in the first place. So maybe you have an older sweater that works well enough until you can replace it with the Sweater of Your Dreams – rather than just going to any store and picking up the first slightly decent poly-blend sweater you see.
7. Store away the rest of your clothes that are not a part of your capsule wardrobe or extras. This way you aren’t tempted by them while you give this new smaller wardrobe a trial run. This could mean literally putting everything else you’re not sure you’re going to keep in storage in another room or in a bin on a shelf, or could be as simple as moving them to one side of your closet. You want your trial capsule wardrobe right where you can easily reach for it without getting distracted by other things. (Later, after giving this a try, if you realize there’s something you really want to wear that you put in storage, then get it out and add it to your wardrobe.)
Second, pick out your extras:
I like leaving open the option for extras. This way I’m not getting my core items bogged down considering which cardigans or shoes I’m going to keep.
- Start with footwear. If, like me, you already have a minimal shoe collection, then great, include them all. If you have a closet completely full of shoes, then pick out the useful day to day shoes you will wear with your capsule wardrobe: presentable sneakers, oxfords, ballet flats, ankle boots, riding boots, etc. I don’t know too many people who wear heels on the daily, but unless you want them for an office capsule, then consider putting the special occasion shoes aside.
- Layering clothes, such as cardigans, blazers, and leggings, are extras, so have a few of them available if they’re something you like to wear often. Make sure they are in colors/styles that will coordinate with your core items.
- Work out wear and pajamas are also extras, so they flow in and out freely.
Now it’s time to try out your new capsule!
After wearing your new capsule wardrobe for a few weeks, you may come to a few realizations:
The clothes you chose are mostly for your ideal life and not your real life, and you need to invest in a few items that are more appropriate for your lifestyle.
You didn’t have enough seasonally appropriate clothing.
You picked ten dresses and after wearing them for two weeks realize you don’t like dresses so much after all.
Or you picked eight tops and two pairs of pants and wish you had included skirts/dresses.
Perhaps it’s a more general realization that maybe you don’t like most of the clothes you chose. Maybe they are the wrong color/cut for you. Or perhaps you realized, after only wearing your favorites, just how much you love wearing them and how confident they make you feel.
We use these realizations to add what we need to our list of wardrobe holes, then we will invest in the best quality garment we can afford to fill that wardrobe hole.
I will address how to find good quality garments – and on a budget – in a future post. For now, if you like the idea of the capsule wardrobe and want to dive right in, then follow the guidelines above and get started!
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You may also like:
My Ten Item Wardrobe: Fall 2018
The Konmari Method: Clothing, Part 1
What Does It Mean to Be “Well Dressed”? (and why does it matter?)