You may be thinking how a capsule wardrobe can help you. If you’re always struggling with what to wear in the morning, then a capsule wardrobe will help solve that dilemma because you will always have the pieces you love available and outfits pre-planned.
According to Caroline, capsule wardrobe blogger at www.un-fancy.com; a capsule wardrobe is a smaller version of your closet made up of clothing you actually love and frequently wear.
Here are a few steps you can take to begin downsizing your wardrobe and create the perfect capsule wardrobe:
Determine your go-to style:
Are there 10 outfits you constantly find yourself reaching for? What do they have in common? Are these clothing pieces what you feel most comfortable in? Start with those go-to pieces. Identify the common shapes, colours, cuts, brands and styles and begin by building your *new wardrobe around these prefered styles.
Invest in Quality Over Quantity:
One of the core tenants of a capsule wardrobe is to have fewer items that are worn frequently. This means investing in quality clothing pieces that are timeless and can withstand multiple wears (and washes) over time. Trend worthy fast fashion is not ideal, as on average, it lasts 4-7 wears before it begins to fall apart (fast-fashion you’re killing us).
When beginning to purchase pieces for your capsule wardrobe, look for quality brands and essentials that fit within your budget. For example, a $200 dress may be worn 100 times, so each wear is $2. A $20 fast fashion dress may be bought for a single occasion and be worn once or twice before being tossed so each wear is $10.
Determine a *realistic* budget:
Go through your old receipts and e-statements for an entire season and take a look at how much you spent/bought on clothing. Use this as a starting point, and work backwards to figure out how much money you can and want to spend in the future seasonally on your wardrobe.
Research brands whose price point falls within this range, and has quality pieces and styles and silhouettes you often favour. Remember to buy less but better (quality).
Handle with Care:
With a capsule wardrobe, you will find your clothes in constant rotation. This means more wear and more washes. Although quality clothing can withstand everyday wear better, there is only so much fabric can take! To protect your clothes consider adding undershirts to your wardrobe and daily outfits. They will help protect your clothes from everyday sweat and moisture, and let you skip a wash every now and then. Nudy Patooty undershirts even have a layer of Sweat-Secret™ Technology built right into the underarm to keep sweat stains from yellowing underarms and ruining clothes.
Buy a little, keep a lot:
Sometimes we get carried away with the decluttering stage of building a capsule wardrobe. Don’t toss it (recycle or re-sell) right away. If you think you are likely to wear the piece in the near future, keep it around for a few more months. The idea is to reduce the desire to constantly purchase and make you more aware of the items you have in your wardrobe.
If you will have to rebuy a similar piece later on, just keep it in your closet. There is no set number of articles of clothing that are considered to be a “capsule wardrobe”, instead, do what works for your lifestyle.
One way to start deciding what clothing items you want to keep is to empty out your closet and slowly start to put outfits together while you fill it back up. Only put back the pieces you absolutely love, wear all the time or can create multiple outfits with.
If you are deciding to keep certain items around try the coat hanger trick:
Twist all the hangers in your wardrobe one way, once you wear it flip it the other way round. At the end of a season, the items that haven’t been worn will become obvious and these are the ones to get rid of.
You can build capsule wardrobes for each season (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter) or have a just one that will last year round. However, ensure that you have enough outfits for everyday of the week plus a couple of extra. Use your seasonal add-ons such as, lightweight jackets, denim jacket, winter jackets, scarves, and blazers as transitional pieces.
Do you want to try building a Capsule Wardrobe yourself? Here is a checklist you can print off and use to help plan your summer capsule!
