The Capsule Wardrobe Experiment: Part I

Last week I mentioned that my interest was piqued by the idea of a capsule wardrobe, but I wasn't sure if I could pull it off.  But, I have this thing where as soon as I let myself think I can't do something, all of a sudden I'm on a mission to prove to myself that I can. I tend to get obsessed and move full steam ahead. Go big or go home, or something. (The capsule wardrobe isn't the only thing on that list I've all but decided to make happen, but that's another topic for another day).

As a normal person (i.e. not a fashion blogger, without thousands of dollars for a brand new wardrobe), I wanted to see if and how I could make a capsule wardrobe work for me. Over the last 6ish months I've really made an effort to simplify my life and my lifestyle, have less stuff, buy less stuff, keep only what I need and actually like, so it was only a matter of time before I applied that philosophy to my wardrobe.

I am in no way a fashion expert, so please take everything in this post with a grain of salt. Actually, I'm not really very fashionable at all, which I think motivates me even more to at least attempt to have some fashion sense - even if it's with a limited wardrobe. My intention here is not to provide a comprehensive how-to guide (because, again, I'm no expert), but to document my trials and errors in hopefully creating a better, more cohesive wardrobe. This is very much an in-progress project, so if you're following along, we'll both be learning as I go. I'm going to be like Sarah Koenig and these posts are going to be like Serial (except I'll go ahead and tell you that no one is on trial for murder...sorry to disappoint). +1000 for you if you have any idea what I'm talking about.

My first step was to clean out my closet. I thought I had a handle on my wardrobe situation, especially since I've been purging like it's my job since this summer, but I still had a lot of clothes I was hanging on to for various reasons. I'm not sure yet if my ultimate goal is to have a true capsule wardrobe, which is why I'm looking at this as more of an experiment than anything. But, in keeping with the spirit of the capsule wardrobe, I tried to be as ruthless as possible. I wanted to be able to narrow my everyday wardrobe down to about 20-30 pieces that would provide me with a lot of options for different combinations. My ideal wardrobe is one that I love and feel good wearing. These are some of the guidelines I used in deciding what to keep and what to toss.

Figure out what you love.
My first objective was to single out the pieces that I really, truly love to wear. For me, those items ended up being a new tunic tee, a chunky cable cardigan, and a checkered button-up. Yes, those were the only items in my closet that I really loved. Can you see why I was so desperate for an overhaul?

Admit you were wrong.
One of the immediate things I realized was that I just didn't like a lot of my clothes. There was nothing wrong with them, some were barely even worn and/or less than a year old, but I just didn't feel like they fit my style. I don't really like shopping so sometimes I tend to buy things just because  they're familiar or they're easy (like the approximately 10 J. Crew sweaters I own that are, in actuality, a littttttle too preppy for my tastes). I also tend to buy colorful clothes (see: J. Crew sweaters) because I think I'm supposed to wear colors...even though I don't really like colors. Once I admitted to myself that crewneck sweaters with Boston terriers on them didn't exactly give off the vibe I was going for, and I'm actually happy just wearing black, gray, and white thankyouverymuch, it was a lot easier to let them go.

Stop waiting for the right season.
I had a lot of clothes that I hung onto over the summer because I was sure I'd wear them when fall rolled around. And now fall has been here for like 2 months and I haven't worn them yet, and I didn't wear them last fall either so I'm probably never going to.

Forget the price tag.
This was a tough pill to swallow. My only solace in realizing how much money I had pointlessly spent on clothes I didn't really want was that I could probably sell them on eBay and at least make a little money back. I'm still working on accepting that the $200 pair of Paige skinnies I bought in April don't fit quite right, probably because I should have gotten a size smaller (the harder problem here might actually be how damn hard it is to find jeans that are a decent fit). But give me some time and a new pair of jeans that actually do fit (if such a thing exists? Where are these mythical pants?!) and I'll send them on to a new home too.

After I applied these guidelines to my closet, I ended up with a much slimmer wardrobe. Next I picked out all the pieces I wasn't making excuses for, probably about 20 items total, and used them as a starting point for my capsule wardrobe. Full disclosure: even though I eBayed and donated a lot of clothes, I still kept a small stash of clothes I wasn't 100% sure about parting with. I moved them to the back of my closet so they're not mixed in with my "real" clothes. Out of sight, out of mind, right? It was too scary to think about really only having that limited of a wardrobe, so for now I'm keeping them there in case I panic. I hope I won't end up needing them and I'll see that I really can live off a capsule wardrobe.

It's only been a few days, but so far, it's actually felt really refreshing not having that many clothes to choose from! I've been in a very "Use what you've got" mood lately, and I like that this is forcing me to It's kind of fun coming up with different combinations, especially because some of them are outfits I don't think I would have come up with if I hadn't forced myself. Exactly what pieces I thought I needed in my wardrobe, how I decided on them, and some of the outfits I've created so far...next time, on The Capsule Wardrobe Experiment.