Capsule wardrobe: What is it all about and how can you build your own one?
Clothing can be many things to different people. Some wear it for comfort, others see clothing as a kind of wearable art form, a form of visual display of personality.
We have many pieces of clothing in our wardrobes but unfortunately, the fact is that many of us only ever wear a small share of our beloved clothes from our wardrobes, and the rest just sits idly in the closet for years and years.
Occasionally, we brush off the occasional fun and unique piece for a party setting or a weekend out. And other times we get the urge to refresh or change our wardrobe as we find inspiration from new styles and trends that are constantly appearing. Balancing your wardrobe between new and old is a challenge we know all too well. But worry not, we are here to help you do that with a capsule wardrobe.
So what is a capsule wardrobe?
A capsule wardrobe is based on a minimalistic approach, where you keep only the pieces of clothing that you like to wear the most. The capsule wardrobe is composed of only 25 to 50 pieces per season including both clothing, shoes and accessories but excluding, for example, underwear. In your capsule wardrobe, there can’t be too many pieces, therefore, t-shirts, black pants, jeans and black dresses are always good items to keep in, which can go with just about anything else. Having a capsule wardrobe made up of pieces you love wearing will make it easier to decide what to wear and to be more intentional about what to buy. The size of the capsule wardrobe really depends on you and how much you want to challenge yourself and think sustainably about your fashion choices.
The benefits of having a capsule wardrobe
Let’s think about the benefits of a capsule wardrobe. First of all, by maintaining a leaner wardrobe you create your style only out of the pieces you really want to wear, ideally something that goes well with basically everything. This allows you to decide more quickly what you want to wear, and to see what would look good with other pieces you own. In this way, you can save the time you would otherwise spend browsing your wardrobe looking for what to wear.
Plus, we know that “less is more” so you can also earn some extra money by selling the pieces you have in your wardrobe but don’t wear anymore. In fact, having a capsule wardrobe has a positive impact on our planet since every item in your wardrobe is there to be worn, putting a limit on overconsumption by reducing the purchase of new things impulsively. And obviously, it is super fun and easy to challenge yourself to create new outfits by combining new items with the pieces that you already have in your wardrobe!
So how do I create a capsule wardrobe?
Since you already have these beloved clothes in your wardrobe that you wear the most, it is important that you get to know your style even better, but also challenge yourself a bit on this. It may help you to decide what you wear the most and the least. What you can do is to create 2 piles of clothing and accessories: one of them is made out of what you love to wear often and the other pile is composed of the things you rarely wear. This way you will be able to define what you wear the most and what items you have to compose your capsule outfits. The other thing you can do is to consider or define your colors, simply the ones that you like wearing. You can create a color palette to guide you in your future shopping. But the most important thing about keeping a capsule wardrobe is to have only a small amount of pieces to compose your wardrobe of, so you really need to have quality long lasting pieces in.
What about a vintage or secondhand capsule wardrobe?
You might wonder how to compose your capsule wardrobe not only out of brand new items but also out of vintage and secondhand pieces. This is definitely something worth trying because having vintage pieces will ensure they last for decades to come, as well as add uniqueness and character to your own style. Mixing and matching vintage and secondhand items can seem a bit daunting at first, but if you are passionate about vintage style, it will become easier as time goes on. What may help you with matching items is to define your color palette and look for the items in these defined colors during your vintage hunt. Especially since thrifting is really fun and by searching for ideal pieces, you can easily enrich your capsule wardrobe and simultaneously reduce your environmental footprint.
What if you find many clothes and accessories in your wardrobe that you don’t wear but need to exclude from your capsule wardrobe? There is a tip I can give you. So one of the ways to prolong the life of the items is to sell them, for example on very convenient nowadays mobile apps. There, you can easily set up a trade with buyers and earn some extra money while thinning out the wardrobe. The other way is to sell the items on the flea market or to trade them with friends. For sure, all these selling ways are unique and provide a fun experience!
Let me know how you create your own capsule wardrobe :)
