The Capsule Wardrobe Experiment: The Struggle/I Hate My Clothes Edition

I learned about the capsule wardrobe concept around the fall of 2014, and my ears instantly perked up. Like many women I know, I was frustrated with staring at a closet full of clothes every day yet feeling like I had no clue to wear. That feeling, coupled with a lifestyle shift toward minimalism, or at least toward holding on to fewer things for unknown reasons and only keeping things that really matter, led me to start experimenting with capsule wardrobes over the last year.

From the first one, I was hooked. I started off by identifying the items in my closet that a) fit and b) I really liked/loved, purging a vast majority of my wardrobe, hanging on to a few items I was on the fence about, just in case, and figuring out different ways of putting together the 35 or so pieces I had committed to wearing for the fall/winter (I started in late November so, admittedly, the timing was a bit off!). I think what I got out of it the most wasn't even the paring down and clearing out of my closet, but the process of figuring out exactly *how* I planned to wear each item in my closet.

But a year later, and I have to admit: it's gotten a lot harder.


I was actually looking forward to winter, because that's the only capsule so far that I felt like I really nailed. In December I pulled out my winter clothes and swapped them out with my fall clothes, and I was feeling pretty good about it. Then we had basically tropical weather for a lot of December so the cozy sweater-centric outfits I had been dreaming out didn't really come to fruition.

The cold weather finally rolled sometime in January (although we've continued to have bouts where if I didn't know any better I'd swear we skipped winter and went straight to spring), so I've finally had a need to actually wear all the sweaters hanging in my closet. Except...I haven't really wanted to. Maybe it's this feeling I'm having of hurryupwinter (which I've never really had before and is kind of confusing me...I blame all of Mother Nature's spring teases), but I'm back to feeling blah about what's in my closet. I figured I was probably just lacking good outfit ideas, but when I found myself looking through winter outfit Pinspiration and still being like, "Meh," I realized....it's not my clothes. It's me.

In addition to this strange feeling of blah-ness, I've started to revert back to some old bad habits. I needed to replace some items (black pants, a simple gray pullover sweater, etc.) and instead of taking the time to find something of quality, I took the easy route by spending all of 5 minutes ordering from H&M and Forever 21. I have since tossed both of them in my Goodwill pile (replaced the pants *again* with a pair of Sevens like I should have done in the first place, and decided I didn't actually need or want a gray pullover sweater). I also bought some other things that, in theory, seemed useful (mistake #1) but for whatever reason I don't find myself wearing them, so now I have too many clothes in my closet again (mistake #2), or maybe just too many of the same clothes?

This isn't really a post to complain about how I have nothing to wear. It's a post to complain about how, after a year of capsule wardrobe-ing, I still have no idea what I'm doing. 

And you know what? That's okay. Because the biggest lesson I've learned so far is that I'm not always going to know what to do (this is really just about clothes, not life, I swear). I might not love my outfit every day. I might get bored of the same clothes that I was head over heels for a year ago. I might need a bigger shopping budget so I can just buy new clothes every season and then get rid of them a few months later (although that would be very minimalist of me...). I might wear a shirt once in an entire season. I might pull out a pair of light jeans from storage just because I want to pretend it's spring.

So moving forward...I'm not sure what this means. One thing I do know for sure is that I have truly embraced a more minimal approach to my closet, so I'm not going to stop doing capsule wardrobes. But one of the things that has bothered me now that I've gone through all 4 seasons is that it is always hard to transition between each one, so I want to figure out how to tackle that. I also want to find a compromise between liking neutral colors but craving something different or interesting now and then, and wanting a generally cohesive wardrobe yet desiring some variety. I'm still not sure what to do about wanting to dress for the season that's in my mind, not outside, but for now I might just put on some light jeans and a colorful cardigan even though it's February.

With that said, this some of what I've been wearing lately and what's in my closet as of right now - it could change tomorrow! For the record, it hasn't been all bad. One of those seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time was this long cardigan from Forever 21 that is amazing. I mean, I kind of look like I might actually be homeless, or like a crazy lady wandering around in my bathrobe, but it was $20 and is like wearing a blanket so that's a fashion faux pas I'm willing to make.