I realized the other day that I'd never given an official update on my capsule wardrobe thoughts after making it through a whole season with one. I've actually already started wearing my summer capsule now (it gets hot early here!) and feel like I may never look back. I have never been happier with my clothing situation and I feel like that's a really big deal!
So my spring capsule was 40 pieces and there were actually several pieces I ended up barely wearing or not wearing at all. We had a cool spring, for the south, so my sleeveless dresses and shorts did not get much use. One shirt ended up with a hole in it about halfway through the season, but that was the only casualty. I think I ended up wearing about 34 items pretty consistently, and it felt like enough.
The very best part though was never shopping! I unsubscribed from all of the emails I used to get from clothing retailers. I stopped browsing online. And I didn't spend any money.
I knew I'd need to begin my summer capsule around the first of June, so I went shopping the last week in May. I had planned to carry over about 70% of my spring capsule into summer, but had a small list of items I wanted to fill in the gaps. Armed with my list, I spent two hours one morning at the mall and bought a bunch of pieces that had potential. I brought them home, tried them out with each other and with my existing clothing (this took about an hour) and then filled in the gaps on my capsule list with my favorite, most versatile pieces (I stuck with 37 total for summer). The next day, I returned everything else. I actually really liked some of the pieces I returned, but I didn't need them, so they went back. It was so easy to do when I had a list.
I used to think that a capsule wardrobe wouldn't work for every person, but now I'm not so sure. I've realized so many things about myself and my buying habits since beginning this experiment and I love that it is an exercise in less waste and less spending.
Back in the spring, I put all of my cool weather clothes that I wanted to save in my cedar chest. Everything else that didn't make it into the capsule went in bags and was stored in the attic, in case I needed it. We had a yard sale last weekend and I sold almost every item of that clothing. The rest went to Goodwill. I was a little shocked when we got it all out that I had been keeping all those items in my closet or that I ever thought I needed that many clothes!
It sounds totally counter-intuitive, but now that I own fewer clothes, I never feel like I have "nothing to wear". One big thing that I noticed is that I had never thought of myself as having a "wardrobe" before- just items of clothing. Being forced to think about my clothing- and shoes!- as a whole and how each piece might work together is a whole new mindset for me and just makes so much sense!
The process of creating my initial capsule back in March took a bit of thought and planning, but my summer one came together fairly effortlessly. I think it will keep getting easier with practice too! So now I'm curious- have you ever tried or would you ever consider a capsule wardrobe? I read a lot about them online, but don't know of anyone personally who has tried it. Probably not for long though, as I'm trying to convert everyone! I know I mentioned the blog Un-Fancy previously as a great place to start reading about capsules (if you want more details or a more fashion-y approach). Un-Fancy is on a bit of a hiatus right now, although you can still read through all the old posts, but I just stumbled across a podcast by the author this week that I also really enjoyed.
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