Hey bestie! Today, I am spilling the tea on creating a capsule wardrobe and what you need to know to create your dream wardrobe! Creating a capsule wardrobe can feel like a daunting task. Plus, if you search capsule wardrobe on Pinterest, thousands of pins come up. With a variety of styles, sizes, and colors are shown. Which feels so overwhelming! Where are you even supposed to start?! Creating a capsule wardrobe for yourself should be a fun, exciting, and adventurous process.
Today’s post is just that. Together we are going to walk through the steps of creating a capsule wardrobe that fits your style, vibe, and budget with ease. So let’s jump into it!
What is a capsule wardrobe?
A capsule wardrobe can be defined as “The purpose … is to maintain a collection of essential and classic pieces in your closet that can be mixed and matched over time. It is a practice of personalizing your wardrobe with items you love and that fit your lifestyle but on a scale of 30-40 pieces.” – Dressember For me, a capsule wardrobe is an easy way for me to curate my wardrobe and fill it with things that bring me joy when I am getting ready. I have a tendency to be easily overwhelmed, so having a capsule wardrobe allows me to walk into my closet, pick what I want in under a minute, and feel chic and stylish all day long!
Steps to creating a capsule wardrobe
Creating a capsule is both exciting and absolutely terrifying. Especially when you know you will wearing said curated capsule wardrobe for a vacation, season, or even a year! One thing I can promise you about your new wardrobe, you will find it easier to get dressed in the morning while still having an endless amount of outfit possibilities.
For creating a capsule wardrobe, here are a few easy steps.
- Determine your inspiration for your capsule
- Find a color palette that compliments your skin tone and features
- Figure out your top 3 most worn items in your wardrobe to invest in
- Build the rest of the capsule off of the basics with assorted statement pieces
- Understand how to care/launder your capsule wardrobe items
Again, all of this may seem intimidating, but when it comes down to it, its truly simple! Think about it, do you have the same 10-20 items you wear and rewash every week? See, you already have a capsule wardrobe without even thinking! Taking this into consideration, starting your capsule will be easy! Following these steps will help you develop, curate, and compile a capsule wardrobe that will help you solidify your style and your personal brand!
Finding your Inspiration
When it comes to building a capsule, having inspiration is extremely helpful. For me, I find inspiration in people and in things. My current capsule, according to my Cladwell style quiz, is Hometown, Smart Casual, and timeless. Which if you’ve seen me in public recently, is TOTALLY the vibe I am going for!
When it comes to pulling inspiration for creating your capsule wardrobe, starting with a Pinterest board can help guide your capsule direction. If you’re using inspiration from a person, searching that persons style can also help you nail down that inspiration for your wardrobe. Once you have this initial idea pinned, pin anything else that inspires you. It could be nature, a coffee shop, a color, maybe even its your own home! Sometimes my favorite looks are inspired by paintings or architectural elements I see everyday. Adding these little pops of non style inspiration will really help make your capsule wardrobe unique to you. Once you have your Pinterest board pinned out, it’s time to move into my favorite section, choosing your color palette!
Pro Tip : Find boards that inspire you and follow them for even more wardrobe inspiration!
Choosing a color palette that fits you
The beauty of creating a capsule wardrobe is that you get to curate items that are perfect for you. One way I like to do this, but also curb my shopping habits, is create a color palette just for me. This is also known as your Seasonal Color Analysis. Now, there are a couple ways to do this. You can take an online test, like the Cladwell color test to help you determine your seasonal color analysis, and get a few suggested accessories and wardrobe essentials to compliment your new capsule! Or, you can just choose a color palette that speaks to you!
For me, my seasonal color analysis according to Cladwell is clear winter. Which means my tones are bright and bold reds, greens, blues, and purples. This ironically is the same color palette I chose for my Vintage Garden inspiration, but I did alter the purple for more of a beige to match what I generally wear. When you build off of a color palette, this makes a few things easier. It makes clearing out your wardrobe of old, outdated, worn, and items that don’t bring you joy easy. You’re able to use the inspiration and color palette as a guide to start the clean out process. It also helps you stop impulse buying, something that I have always had an issue with! If it doesn’t fit your style and color palette, you probably don’t need it. Thankfully nowadays, you are able to rent bigger pieces which will in the end save you wardrobe space, and promote a sustainable wardrobe style! Overall, having a color palette will help finalize your wardrobe and help you decide what to add and fill any holes you may have!
Building off the basics
Starting with the basics generally makes adding the spunky pieces easier. So what are the basics you should have in your wardrobe? Well, according to the poll I held, the results were pretty straight forward. White and black tees, quality denim in a flattering cut, a flattering dress, sneakers, and a denim jacket. If you’re including basic items in your capsule wardrobe, basic accessories such as diamond studs, a handbag, and bracelet/watch, are perfect to have in your capsule. With these basics, creating a capsule wardrobe is going to be easy! With the all basics, you still want to have a few trendy pieces to add a bit of uniqueness. I love to add vintage pieces or thrift a fun piece! Having basics allows you to keep your wardrobe timeless, but with the trendy pieces, you’re able to add a unique flair!
You can also build your basics off of Donna’s Seven Easy Pieces from the 70’s for a sure fire way to have every versatile basic you could ever need!
How to find what to invest in
Take a look at your wardrobe and think, what are my top 3 pieces within my wardrobe that I can’t live without? Boom, those are easy investment pieces. The past 3 months I have been polling thousands of women to determine what are the top three pieces in your wardrobe. Not only to help determine what are the most popular items to add to your 75 piece wardrobe, which is a blog post coming soon, but to also help you understand what pieces you should invest in.
“How do I pick my three pieces?!”
This is the general situation I think of. I forgot I am meeting a friend for lunch, and I get a text, “on my way!” When I walk into my wardrobe, what are the first 3 pieces I grab to make an outfit that I am comfortable, yet presentable in. BOOM! Your 3 investment pieces. This is also what some might consider your Go-To Look, and you can catch the full blog post on finding it now! When you have determined your investment pieces, sometimes having multiple of them, like basic white tees for me and chic denim jeans, means that you get even longer life out of all of your pieces. Plus, when you invest in a high quality piece that you adore and wear continually, it will last longer and you’ll feel even more elevated within your wardrobe!
Final thoughts
There are a lot of thoughts around creating a capsule wardrobe, but one thing stands true. Do what feels right for you and your wardrobe. Whether that is creating a capsule for every occasion, seasonal capsules, or diving right in and going for one big capsule wardrobe! However you choose to build your dream wardrobe is the right way. My job as your sustainable bestie is to help guide you and help you along the way.
XX, Your Sustainable Bestie
