What is a Wardrobe Capsule?
The terminology ‘wardrobe capsule’ was coined by Susie Faux in the 1970s, defines as ‘a collection of garments that wouldn’t go out of style and could be worn interchangeably and supplemented with seasonal pieces.’
The idea of wardrobe capsule was great, it started solving the dilemma of ‘a closet full of clothes nothing to wear‘ , helped women making the best of their wardrobe and today when we are more aware of the fast fashion’s impact on environment, help us to live a more sustainable life.
So even if the idea of a wardrobe capsule is great, its implementation kind of annoyed me. We saw a lot of stylists in the past and still today introducing the wardrobe capsule as a collection of basic (essentials) garments: tanks, turtleneck, classic shirt, a pair of straight jeans, all in neutral tones paired with black boots and camel shoppers bags. But a wardrobe capsule is not THAT! A wardrobe capsule has personality, it is made of garments you love to wear over and over again. Because these garments tell your story and it creates your persona, that alter ego you want the world to know about!
Why Start a Wardrobe Capsule?
I have to be honest and admit I have acquired a lot of clothes in the past to the point I lost count of some of them (if that is also you, here are some tricks for your forgotten items). When I started my unique capsule(s) the first achievement I was proud of is that I had a clear idea of the garments I own! This will happen to you as well. There will be no more clothes left in the back of the closet, not worn in months and then discarded because they never stood a chance due to the tremendous amount of clothes you own.
But you may not own a large wardrobe and still deal with other challenges when it comes to your wardrobe. Maybe the clothes you acquired were based on those ill-advised YouTube videos that your capsule should be made of neutral colours and essential items. And you came to realise that these items don’t make you happy, they don’t allow or spur your creativity.
Everyone is different and we have different needs in terms of wardrobe. This is why my method can be applied by everyone. No matter the number of items in your wardrobe or the number of outfits you want to create, you can use this method successfully.
What Will You Achieve when Creating a Wardrobe Capsule?
There are some common achievements I want to highlight here before I answer the main question. Creating your unique wardrobe capsule will help you
- spend less money on clothes and invest in other areas of your life
- a sense of serenity when you wake up in the morning and need to get dressed
- spend less time to get dress for any occasion and be on time
- discover new ways to combine your garments
- discover your style (which I like to call wardrobe personality)
How to Start a Wardrobe Capsule?
Start by listing down:
A. the characteristic of your lifestyle and the activities that such a lifestyle brings.
The first thing that may come to your mind is the most representative part of your life, for example you may say you have a corporate lifestyle because you dedicate a lot of your time to your career in a corporation or you may say you have a bohemian lifestyle or a stay-at-home mum lifestyle. No matter the answer, there will be some activities we all share and others we do not. I listed down those activities for which I need some ready-to-wear outfits to spend as little time as possible in front of my wardrobe and mirror. To make it more visually attractive I added 3-5 items that first came to my mind as matching those activities.
Probably most of you will conclude that these activities are common, but others can be really different and that’s fine!
a) Work
Some of us work, others have just become mothers or have a break from work so the first box may or not be part of your your board. If it is, it may look very different than mine. You may work from home, so your clothes would be more comfy and less formal. Also if you work in the office, there may or not be a dress code and again the box could look very different. You can have two boxes: work from office and work from home, you decide the number!
b) Leisure and running errands
Leisure and running errands is my 2nd box because I like my leisure time; running errands not as much but hey, somebody has to do it! Again, depending on the type of work you do and dress code or lack of it, your leisure and running errands garments could overlap in some parts with the work items.
c) Travelling
Travelling is my 3rd box, but I did want to have a clear distinction between travelling for work and travelling during holiday (4th box). So you may skip box 3 if do not you travel for work or you travel only once in a while.
d) Going out / party
Dressing up for a party or just going out with friends is my 5th box and this may again look completely different. You may love to wear a pair of jeans and a top instead of dresses or skirts or sneakers instead of sandals and high heels. The best thing about your wardrobe capsule(s) is that is unique and adapted to your needs, personality and moods.
e) Hobby
The last box is dedicated to sport, but your can be painting (how many clothes do you need for that anyhow?!) or dancing. You may not want to dedicate an entire box and I get it, but because my goal is to engage in a sport activity every day (be it yoga or tennis or cross fit), it was important to have it there.
THEN:
B. Think how many outfits you need for each of these activities.
Let’s say you work 2 days at home and 2 in the office. This means that, if you need one distinct outfit every time you go to work, that would be 8-9 outfits per month. So I added to my board 5 other pieces to show you how I created 8 outfits for my summer work capsule. This means that I will wear a different outfit each time I go to work in a month.
This is just my choice, to wear a different outfit each time I go to work. But you can pretty much decide you can wear one outfit 2 times a month, meaning that you will need less pieces to create your ‘work in the office’ small capsule. Or you may want to have different outfits for 2 months and then you need more pieces to your work in the office capsule.
That can apply to the next box, let’s say travelling for work outfits: you just need to write down how often you travel and how many outfits you would need.
C. Think ahead on how some pieces purchased for one activity could be used for other activities as well.
Some of the outfits could overlap, e.g. depending on the type of work you do, your leisure garments can be used also for work. That would be the smart way if you want to go for less garments in your wardrobe. And the secret is not only that the overall design should match your working place dress code, but also the color palette of the clothes you buy has to harmoniously come together.
In the same fashion, your leisure outfits could overlap with the ones you will be wearing during your holiday. Here I have no doubt it will because nobody dictates you how to dress during your spare time and holiday. If you ask me, nobody should dictate us either how to dress during work, I did vent my frustration about it here.
I know my statements are not rocket science but what I want you to remember is that visualising your wardrobe will help you so much! Building a digital wardrobe dossier at the tip of your fingertips any time of the day is so helpful!
You want to start and you don’t know how? Send me an e-mail at fashionsensitive@gmail.com
