How to Minimize Your Wardrobe and Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Has anyone else tuned into one of Netflix’s latest releases, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’? It is the perfect show for kicking off the New Year and I highly recommend it! In a series of inspiring home makeovers, world-renowned tidying expert and best selling author Marie Kondo helps clients clear out the clutter with her unique KonMari Method of organizing and tidying. From closets to garages and everything sentimental in between, her approach is inspiring and refreshing without any suggestion of buying additional organizational items to help you through the process!

I recently went through a deep closet cleanse before watching this show. Yet I am starting to go through the process once more employing her methods. At the heart of Kondo’s decluttering process, is whether or not an item “sparks joy”. She puts special emphasis on how to discover that feeling for yourself: Take everything out of your closets, bins and drawers and pile it up on your bed. Hold each item, and keep only the things that spark joy. Get rid of the rest.

It is an amazing how many items of clothing in my closet actually give me anxiety over joy. The denim I “love” but I have not fit into properly for such a long time doesn’t give me joy. The dress I bought on impulse but I am still figuring out what to wear it to does not give me joy. The Manolo Blahnik heels I bought on clearance but are too painful to wear does not give me joy.  This is the process and it is empowering to employ! It is surprising how much more I am weeding out!

The end goal is that I want to love and wear every item in my closet. I want to walk in and not worry about what I am going to wear. I want to create a capsule wardrobe.

How to Minimize Your Wardrobe & Create a Capsule Wardrobe Instead

Blazer here // Bag (similar here) // Layering Tee here // Sunnies here // Sneakers here // Denim sold out but BLANKNYC

What Is A Capsule Wardrobe?

A capsule wardrobe is a well thought out assembled collection of timeless clothing pieces that work interchangeably with one another, allowing you to easily create looks from a small number of essential items.  It allows items of clothing to be easily mixed and matched. Having a capsule wardrobe in place saves time and money, reduces impulse purchasing and lessens the worry about what to wear.

Essential Items in a Capsule Wardrobe

Essential items in a capsule wardrobe might look a little different for everyone. The goal is to build a wardrobe filled with pieces where your style is matched with your lifestyle. It is identifying what is at the core of your daily uniform. For me, I am a work from home stay at home mom. I rarely attend formal events and have no need for business attire. I do however love fashion (hello style blog), enjoy getting dressed most days and usually find myself in the city or on a coffee date on a weekly basis. So therefore I need to center my capsule wardrobe on my style: understated chic and my lifestyle: dressing casually most days in comfortable, classic and modern pieces. My essential items should be reduced to denim, joggers, button downs, layering tees, cashmere sweaters, blazers and sneakers.

First Step: Minimizing Your Wardrobe

Once you are able to identify your style, lifestyle and essential closet items, then the next step is to minimize the items in your closet that do not reflect those things. Does this mean we get rid of special occasion dresses or specialty items? Absolutely not but these items should not dominate your wardrobe. Your essentials should dominate most of your closet. Your capsule wardrobe should be the first thing you see when walking into or opening the door to your closet.

One of the reasons I love employing the Konmari Method to minimizing my wardrobe is that she really motivates you to take a look at your things a little bit deeper. Sure denim is part of my capsule wardrobe but I need to ask myself if that denim still serves me well and brings me joy. If that means I end up having three pair of denim right now then that is okay!

How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Create a checklist

The closet is cleaned out and now it is time to take inventory of what you have.  You might find that your wardrobe essentials are left to just a few pieces you consistently wear. But you now know what pieces make up the foundation of your wardrobe. From there create a check list of what those pieces are and what else you will need to fill into your closet based on that checklist (I never seem to have enough long sleeved layering tees even though I wear them everyday!). In addition to keeping your organized, creating a check list helps you to stay on track when it comes to shopping. By referring and adhering to it, it limits the impulse to buy things you have no real use for or don’t make up your daily uniform. Ultimately it saves money!

Select a Palette

I will go more into this in next week’s post but think about a consistent color palette when creating a capsule wardrobe. Sticking with a consistent color grid allows you to maximize the number of pieces that can work together. Neutrals and solids will take you much farther than a wardrobe filled with loud colors and bold patterns.

Decide on your go-to brands.

In addition to the check list, this really becomes one of the most important steps for maintaining your capsule wardrobe. It allows you to walk into places like Forever 21 and realize you most likely have no need for anything in that store.  On the flip side, high quality items of clothing does not always have to come with a high price tag. Think of the brands that have been faithful to YOU! My list is a mix of mid-range price brands to affordable brands that have proven to hold up well.  Everlane, Theory, Splendid, Madewell and BLANKNYC make up my short list!

In next week’s post I am going to be creating a capsule wardrobe based on my favorite color! I don’t think I need to drop a hint on what that color is!

 

Photos by Julie Tecson

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Thanks for stopping by!

L, M