Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Spring Capsule Wardrobe

Last week I wrote about my decision to begin a capsule wardrobe and what kind of wardrobe I wanted.  Today I am going to share with you my spring capsule wardrobe. 


*Quick Disclaimer:  Some of the clothes are wrinkled.  This is because I wear them and they may have been in the hamper getting ready to be laundered. 

I began planning my spring wardrobe in the beginning of March.  I began by brainstorming the colors I wanted my wardrobe to focus on. I found the website http://www.colourlovers.com that allows you to create your own color palettes and save them.  You can check out my spring palette here: http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/4121280/Printemps
I chose four colors.  Two are neutrals (white and a taupey gray).  Two are not (a light pink and mint). 
Next, I headed to my closet.  I found that I had several items that went with my chosen palette, and some that did not.  Ideally, I would love for all my clothes to go with the colors I had picked (with the exception of jeans), however, I need to use what I have.  So I brought those clothes to my spring wardrobe as well. 
 Here are the clothes that went with the palette:











Here are the ones that did not:






I also found that I needed to purchase a few items.  I needed a new flowy white top, a white t-shirt, bootcut jeans, and a pair of shorts.  This is when the fun began!  I got to go shopping!  Here is what I purchased:







That took care of clothing, but what about accessories?  Here are the shoes, jewelry, and scarves I chose to accentuate my wardrobe:








My wedding ring does not count toward my 33 pieces as it is something I wear all the time.  That is why you won’t see it on here. 
Finally, I got to put outfits together and begin wearing them.  The plan was to wear these clothes from March until the end of May.  So I am almost done with my spring wardrobe (which reminds me…I need to work on summer…) 


Next week I will go over how that has been going (mostly well) and what I have learned.  Stay tuned!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Capsule Wardrobing

Late this winter I was perusing YouTube for interesting videos and I came across an entire genre of videos I had never seen before: capsule wardrobes.  Admittedly, any video with wardrobe in the title gets my attention (#clickbait), and I started binging.
I ended up being fascinated by the idea of only having a few pieces that are worn seasonally.  Like most people I am guilty of looking into my closet and finding that I wear the same things over and over OR I have nothing to wear (because the things I always wear are dirty).  Plus I had tried the Marie Kondo thing, but really all my clothes spark joy in me and therefore it did nothing to clear my overflowing wardrobe.
If you have never heard of a capsule wardrobe the concept is simple (and basically stated above):  You narrow down your wardrobe to only a few items that you actually wear.
While watching the hours and hours of videos I found there are many schools of thought when it comes to capsule wardrobes:
1. One teeny tiny wardrobe of all clothes and accessories.  Like a total of 30 items at the most.
2. A seasonal teeny tiny wardrobe of only 20 things.  And by seasonal I mean two.  One wardrobe for fall/winter and another for spring/summer.
3. A seasonal base wardrobe of 10 key (and as high end as you can afford) staple items.  All other items do not count. However, you only wear the 10 key items all season long. You just style it differently with accessories.
4. A seasonal wardrobe (either all four season or spring/summer and fall/winter) of 33 items - including all outerwear, accessories, and shoes.
After reflecting I chose to go with a system like option #4.  I am currently trying it out for spring. I have 29 items that I wear.  Sounds like a lot, but this includes shoes, jewelry, scarves, outerwear, and handbags.  I also chose to go the 4 season route.  I felt like choosing this wardrobe would give me the most options.  'Cause I like having options.  Another caveat I made was that I would have two additional wardrobes - workout wear and professional attire.  My workout wear is pretty much fleshed out, but I have yet to work on professional attire as I am currently staying home with my daughter.  However, when I return to work in the fall I plan to have a field day sorting through what I already have and filling in the gaps to create an awesome professional wardrobe.

So far I am really enjoying having a capsule wardrobe and I am learning a lot.  I don't want to give to much away.  At the end of May I plan on sharing my complete thoughts on my wardrobe.  Next week I will share how I created my spring wardrobe.  If capsule wardrobes sound intriguing I highly suggest looking them up on YouTube.  And of course following my journey!

Have a great day!