I Tried It: The Capsule Wardrobe

First published for Service Credit Union

The shocked gasp by my realtor and the step back, AWAY, from my closet, was the final straw. With our home going on the market, my husband and I were planning on mastering the art of living in a staged home, but consolidating my clothes was a challenge. I had been reading and pinning articles on capsule wardrobes for months. It was time to take the plunge and sell, donate or pack away about three quarters of my closet and embrace the idea that less is more. Here’s how I did it and what I learned.

First, What a Capsule Wardrobe Is

London boutique owner Susie Faux is credited with coming up with the term in the 70’s to describe a small wardrobe made up of quality, staple items that can be mixed and matched to form many outfits. Today, this concept of pairing a select number of go-to pieces with a few seasonal items that can be rotated in and out is practiced to save time and money, reduce stress and clutter, to define a style and as a way to protest “fast-fashion.”

Defining the Capsule

Before I even opened my closet doors, I decided I needed to know what I wanted the final outcome to look like. I chose to follow the spirit of the capsule as opposed to adopting any hard and fast rules or numbers of pieces, but aimed to stay between 30 and 40 pieces of clothing. I chose not to include workout clothes, jeans, accessories or shoes in that number. I also opted to purchase a work-wear capsule wardrobe guide from Classy Yet Trendy. In the grand scheme of things, purchasing a guide was probably not necessary, but as a first-timer, I valued the list detailing what pieces to include and how to make them work together.

Tackling the Closet

I pulled all of the clothes out of my closet, dresser and armoire and threw them on the bed. There would be no sleep for me until I was finished. I sorted everything into one of six categories: unwearable, recycle, donate, sell, store or capsule. Anything that was worn beyond recognition was either put in the rag bin or the craft bin. (Someday I will turn those concert T-shirts into a blanket, I swear!) Most items that were still wearable but either didn’t fit or I just never saw myself wearing again, went into the donation pile. Higher-end and newer pieces that I couldn’t or wouldn’t wear, I sent to ThredUp in one of their Cleanout bags and ended up earning about $20 in credit. Clothing that I still wore but was either the wrong season or not in the capsule list, I put into storage. What I was left with felt like nothing, but my closet looked like it was straight out of a magazine.

From a closet we could lose a cat in to a showcase wardrobe

Filling in the Gaps and Keeping My Style

What was left in my closet after the cleanout were my jeans and the beginnings of my capsule wardrobe. There were about four tops, five layering items (cardigans and blazers), three pairs of pants, two dresses and two skirts. All of those items fell into a basic color palette that featured the neutrals of navy, grey, white and khaki, or my accent colors of light blue and teal. Over the next couple of weeks, I “worked” to find quality pieces that would fill the gaps in my clothing checklist. I didn’t use the links to items that were included in the guide I had purchased because even though they were basics, they didn’t reflect my style. Instead I headed to my favorite outlets and online sites, where I could find items that met the spirit of the list but still felt like me. Rather than loading up with everything I found pretty, I shopped with a mission to only purchase the items missing from my list. My final capsule included 31 items:

• Ten tops

• Four skirts

• Four pairs of pants

• Four dresses

• Three cardigans

• Three blazers

• Three scarves

Living Within the Capsule

The first week or so of the capsule was tough. It was a “spring” collection and March 21st in New England hardly ever signifies an onslaught of warmer temperatures. I was ever so grateful I had included some light sweaters in my choices for tops and found myself pairing them with blazers and scarves well into April. In fact. I found myself pairing items I never would have if I had kept with the overflowing plethora of fabric that had made up my closet before. Far from being bored with less choice, I was making more creative and stylistic choices based on my limitations. As strange as it sounds, I also found myself wearing more color. By making such a large part of my palette blue and excluding black from the palette altogether, I was wearing far less all black and grey.

I also found that the panic that used to set in when getting ready in the morning disappeared. By limiting my options to pieces that all worked together, I no longer had to scramble if a top I thought was clean wasn’t, rummage through piles looking for something that went with an odd-colored top, or just stare at all of the clothes I owned hoping an outfit would speak to me. I had stumbled upon closet Zen.

What I’ve Learned

I embarked on this apparel experiment in an effort to declutter while we were selling our house, and as I mentioned, my closet looked phenomenal after the overhaul. Visually, having a unified color scheme in the closet gave the appearance of luxury. Having space for my clothes kept them in better overall shape and they were more appealing to wear when I was getting ready.

Against the advice of the “experts,” since I didn’t want to add any items to what I had to move, I chose to stick with my collection of outfits for six months instead of the suggested three. Now that I am about five months in, I am VERY anxious to transition to a new capsule. The three-month rotation is based on the seasons, and here in beautiful New Hampshire, seasons are very different. Those sweaters I was so grateful for in April haven’t been touched since May, and my rotation of 10 tops became more like 5 tops once we hit August. Going forward, I’ll certainly use the capsule method, but I will plan on rotating with the seasons as opposed to going for the long haul with one collection.

I’m now far more aware of what I’m buying. I don’t shop just to shop, but look at items and think about how they will fit into my existing closet. Will they replace something else? Will they stand the test of time? Do I already have others just like them? While I may spend more on one individual thing, my monthly clothing spend has actually gone way down and I’m excited to “shop” from my own stored clothes next month.

Whether or not you’re looking to dive into a more minimalist way of dressing, save some money or just looking to get 20 more minutes of sleep in the morning, the capsule wardrobe is a fantastic way to simplify and still rock your own sense of style.

This post is part three of a three-part series on preparing your home for sale. In case you missed it, check out Seven Tips for Staging a House to sell and 5 Tips for Living in a Staged Home.