Curating a Capsule Wardrobe
With a new season approaching, now is a great time for a wardrobe revamp that will carry you through to spring. So why not curate a capsule wardrobe while you’re at it? Building a capsule wardrobe might take a bit of time, but the results are worth it. Now you might be thinking: what is a capsule wardrobe? Then stay tuned.
A capsule wardrobe is where you organise your clothes so that all the pieces are interchangeable and go together. For example, all your tops would go with most of your bottoms, and could also go from workwear to casualwear. A capsule wardrobe is great for your daily rotation of outfits, ensures your pieces all go together and, most importantly, cuts down on time deciding what to wear.
Before You Start
Before beginning the buying process, take a moment to look through your wardrobe and figure out what pieces you wear the most. What pieces would you like to wear more often? Where are the gaps are in your wardrobe? What kind of tops do you gravitate to the most? Which bottoms do you usually wear? Which item do you want to wear more? Is the only reason you don’t wear this item because you don’t have anything to match it? Asking yourself these questions will make you more aware of what you actually need to add to your wardrobe.
Step 1 - The Basics
The aim of a capsule wardrobe is to be able to re-wear your clothes over and over, and extending the ways in which you can style them. There is no better place to start than with the basics. When buying your basics, aim for the best quality you can afford, since these are probably the pieces you will wear the most, and still need to look good after being washed loads. A great way to extend your wardrobe is to buy your favourite basics in multiple colours. Also, aim for more cotton. This is a versatile fibre, that is great in warmer weather and doesn’t tend to ball.
The Jeans
Now let’s all be honest with ourselves for just a sec here. When you have 10 minutes to get ready, what do you grab? If your answer isn’t your favourite pair of jeans, then congratulations, Style Icon, you are winning at life. However, I’m willing to bet that the majority of you out there are grabbing your favourite pair of mid-wash denim. I’m right there with you. Similar to buying basics, I would suggest investing in your denim, and buying a style that you know looks good on your body type. The current style trends are leaning towards wide leg jeans and straight leg jeans, if you are looking for a more contemporary look
Step 2 - Adding Colour
Often with capsule wardrobes, you find people purchasing so many neutral pieces that it becomes their whole wardrobe. Life is too short not to wear colour. I find the easiest way to wear colour in rotation is for your clothing to follow a certain colour palette. Alternatively, have a couple of main colours that you buy more of. Personally, I love earthy warm tones. By purchasing items that fall into that colour palette, all my clothes miraculously go together! It also helps that tonal and monochromatic outfits are a massive trend at the moment. This does not mean that you cannot buy clothes outside of your chosen colourway. But, if most of your clothes are either in warm tones or in cool tones, you’ll find a lot more of your clothing starts going together. If you are not really wanting to wear that much colour, you can always use colour as your statement piece and pair it with neutrals. This can go for prints as well! Pair your warmer colours with warmer neutrals, and cooler colours with cooler neutrals.
Step 3 - Statement Pieces
These are the pieces that give a great lift to your wardrobe and add some fun. These can be anything from shoes to coats. A great statement piece for the winter would be a particular coat which will add variety to your current coat collection and give a very intentional look to your ensemble. When going for statement pieces in a capsule wardrobe, however, make sure that they are pieces you can wear in multiple outfits. Make it a rule to think of four ways in which you can style something before adding it to the capsule. If you are adding statement pieces to a capsule wardrobe that is colourful, make sure it ties into the colour scheme you have chosen.
Step 4 - Shoes and Bags
Shoes are probably the easiest part of a capsule wardrobe. Every wardrobe needs 2 pairs of trainers - a white pair and an alternative; a pair of black boots; maybe a brown option if you wear a lot of warm colours, and an evening shoe. Of course, there is always room for statement shoes, and finding ones that match perfectly with a bag.
