November 17, 2019

How To Start A Capsule Wardrobe

How To Start A Capsule Wardrobe.  

Minimalism is a big deal these days, thanks to Marie Kondo. It is all about living with things that bring you joy or are practical rather than having piles of belongings that you just move about from place to place. One of the best and easiest ways of introducing minimalism into your life is by streamlining your wardrobe. By getting rid of unnecessary and unwanted clothes and having fewer, yet better quality clothes works wonder for a clear mind – and less ironing! If you are wondering how you go about building a capsule wardrobe, read on for some tips.

Step One: Reduce

You can’t build a capsule wardrobe if your existing wardrobe is jammed full of unworn items. Go through and start off by getting rid of anything you haven’t worn for a year or more. Then, look at the clothes that you have left and consider whether they bring you joy or have any real purpose. Be ruthless – this is the scariest part of the whole process, but the most important part.

Step two: Establish your base wardrobe.

This is not your capsule. These are items beyond your typical day to day wear and include things like formal wear, outwear, workout gear and accessories. How many of each you have is not overly important, although the fewer, the better. The whole point of it is to reduce the number of things you have and have a clear purpose for the things that you keep.

Step three: Build your capsule wardrobe.

First of all, identify three outfit categories related to your lifestyle. This may be, for example, workwear (what you wear to work each day) loungewear (for relaxing at home) and daily (groceries, school runs, errands) What you then need to do is to choose items from your ‘keep’ pile that fit in with those categories. For example, if you haven’t put that pink sparkly cropped top in your base wardrobe, you don’t need to include it in your capsule wardrobe. After all, you are probably not going to wear it to work, to the supermarket or for watching Netflix on your couch, are you? As a general rule of thumb you are looking for:

A couple of decent T-shirts
Well-fitting jeans
V – neck sweater
Button-down shirt
Blazer
Black trousers
Trench coat
Court shoes
White sneaker
Leather ankle boots

These are the building blocks to your everyday wardrobe, so think carefully about the colors. Neutral and muted tones such as navy, tan, white, grey and black sound dull, but remember, this is the blocks. You can add the fun and the pops of color with fun accessories. A brightly colored vintage style scarf makes a massive difference to a blue jeans and white T-shirt outfit while adding a pair of big hooped earrings, and red lipstick can take your black trousers and blazer outfit from day to night.

By having a capsule wardrobe, you will cut out the ‘what do I wear?’ dilemma each morning, and you will find yourself investing in better quality and timeless items of clothing over fast fashion.

All pictures and links can be found HERE