If you find yourself constantly stressed about your outfit for the day or worse, thinking you have nothing to wear, then welcome to the club! To cure this fashion problem, you might need to step back, evaluate your clothing items and start a capsule wardrobe.
What is a capsule wardrobe?
A capsule wardrobe is a limited set of clothing items that complement each other. These are basic and classic pieces that never go out of style and are often neutral-colored items, making mixing and matching easier.
A capsule wardrobe allows you to create different outfits even with a limited set of clothes and is an excellent approach if you want to dress more and buy less.
Why you should build a capsule wardrobe?
Building a capsule wardrobe can prove to be difficult. Why? Because this requires you to declutter, give away or sell clothing items, and curb your impulsive purchasing tendencies.
While others might not find this challenging to do, for some this means a sudden halt in their fashion lifestyle.
But though it is a tough decision to make, the benefits of building a capsule wardrobe weigh more than why you shouldn’t.
Easier decision-making
If you struggle in picking your outfit during the mornings, then you are not alone! But having a capsule wardrobe eliminates the extra stressful minutes we spend looking through neverending dozens of clothes for the perfect outfit of the day.
With fewer clothes that automatically complement each other, decision-making will be easier and less taxing.
More time, more sustainable
To build a capsule wardrobe, one must know what pieces they are comfortable with, what suits their body type and have established what style fits them the most. Once this is defined, shopping for clothes and picking your outfit gets easier which also saves you a lot of time.
When you have outfits that are ready to wear, you have more time to do other things such as getting breakfast, lounge a bit more in the shower, or a few extra minutes of sleep. You’ll even spend less time shopping since you naturally gravitate to pieces you know you’ll love.
In the case of sustainability, capsule wardrobes mostly consist of timeless clothing pieces. These are fashion items that never go out of style. This means you’ll be wearing them for years to come, not worrying they’ll no longer be trendy. Aside from that, since you have fewer clothes, you’ll be able to wear them all and not waste a single item.
Money-saver
Ah, our favorite. A capsule wardrobe will save you money, that, we can guarantee. Since your outfits are versatile, interchangeable, and perfect combinations of each other, there’s really no need to go shopping often.
With a few clothing items, you can already create multiple outfits for days and you also get to wear your clothes regularly and leave no pieces left behind the closet.
How to start a capsule wardrobe
If you are interested in starting a capsule wardrobe, here’s how!
Know your style
The first and most important step to creating a capsule wardrobe is to know your personal style. Not knowing what fit suits you best or what style you want defeats the purpose of shopping for fewer clothes. When you don’t, you are likely to purchase more varying items.
Evaluate your lifestyle and your daily activities and identify which items in your wardrobe do you reach for the most. Once you’re done, you’ll become more aware of what clothing items to buy from now on.
Closet clean-out
Once you’ve established what style you are comfortable with and what clothes you’ve been reaching for the most throughout the year, you’ll soon realize just how many clothing items you have in your closet that you’ve only worn once and turned your whole back on them.
Of course, you still get to keep those fancy and formal attires that you don’t wear often but they do serve their purpose every once in a while. These could be formal dresses that you’d wear to a wedding or a special company event.
Aside from that, don’t include your sleepwear and sports attire in this process. These are specific clothes that serve their purposes.
Instead, think of your capsule wardrobe as your everyday, go-to clothes. These are items that you often wear, are comfortable with, and most importantly, items that you love.
For your closet clean-out, make two piles from the clothes you’ve gathered from your closet.
- One pile of clothes that you love wearing. These are the items that you are comfortable with and suit your style, personality, and lifestyle.
- The second pile is for the clothes you haven’t worn in a while, items that no longer fit, or maybe trendy fashion pieces you are no longer interested in.
When you’re done with segregating your clothes, you are probably left with two tall piles. For the second pile, a.k.a clothes you don’t wear, you can give them away to friends or family, donate them or sell them.
For the first pile, a.k.a clothes you love, you could have two choices. If there are fewer clothes left, this can be a part of your capsule wardrobe. If not and there are still more clothes, segregate and evaluate again.
Map your capsule
Mapping your capsule/s will help you determine what items you need to purchase to complete your wardrobe.
If you see that you own a lot of tees that can be used for four different seasons, you don’t have to purchase a new one. If you’ve found out that you are lacking sweaters for the fall, then you can add that to your “to-buy” list.
Of course, it’s important to narrow down to pieces that you absolutely need, in colors that would complement the rest of your capsule items, and in fits and style that you love best.
Shop with intent
After doing all of the above and by some chance, you’ve completed your capsule wardrobe, congratulations! Now, it’s only a matter of mixing and matching these items for your everyday outfits.
But if you’ve found out that after letting go of some items, you find your capsule wardrobe lacking some essentials, then you can shop. With intention. With discipline.
It can be very easy to get lost in the moment and splurge money on cute clothes. But by doing so, you are defeating the purpose of creating a capsule wardrobe.
When purchasing clothes, ask yourself these questions:
- Do I need this?
- Is this comfortable?
- Is it my style?
- Does the color complement the rest of my capsule’s items?
- Will I wear this multiple times, for different seasons and events?
If the majority of the answer to those questions is no then it’s time to skip in on that.
With the way fashion evolves every year, trendy items come and go. An item you bought two months ago might no longer be interesting two months later. So instead of focusing on what’s hot at the moment, focus more on your personal style and on clothes you’d love to wear for a long time.
