Designing the Ideal Capsule Wardrobe: Tailoring It to Your Unique Style and Daily Life
Capsule wardrobes are as diverse as the individuals who embrace them, which is why selecting one that aligns with your preferences is crucial. Essentially, a capsule wardrobe is a thoughtfully curated collection of seasonal clothing that empowers you to effortlessly put together outfits that boost your confidence and reflect your personal style. Keep in mind that each capsule is a unique expression, and just because a particular item looks great on someone else doesn’t mean it’s a must-have for you (unless, of course, you love it!).
In my case, I’ve opted to streamline my capsule to 30 clothing items for the upcoming three months. Similar to my past capsules, I’ve excluded shoes, handbags, and accessories from the count. Since I work in an office and have weekend plans, I don’t have the flexibility of working from home or being a student. Therefore, it’s essential that I have enough wardrobe options to cover both professional and casual occasions during the season.
Though I’ve appreciated the principles of Project 333, I felt it was time to adapt the concept to better suit my way of life. I find that 30 items offer a satisfying balance—enough room to incorporate a few statement pieces if I desire, while also strengthening the core of my seasonal wardrobe.
STEP ONE: Assess your wardrobe
If you’re building your first capsule wardrobe, I’d recommend starting by assessing what you have in your wardrobe. Take out everything out that you no longer wear, whether this be because you no longer like the style, it doesn’t fit, or it doesn’t flatter your body shape.
This really helps to narrow the focus of your closet, and helps to ensure that it is packed with pieces that you absolutely love.
STEP TWO: Pick your colour palette
Personally, I work best when I’m working to a theme, and I find that deciding on a natural colour palette for my capsule is the best way to ensure a cohesive selection of clothing which work well interchangeably. This doesn’t mean selecting only black, white and grey; quite the contrary. I’m partial to lemon yellows, blush pinks, camels, cornflower blues and the odd pop of cherry red, and I think that having at least a couple pieces with a bit of colour in them help to stop your capsule from feeling a bit stale once you hit the two month mark.
It may feel a bit limiting at first, particularly if your closet runs the gamut of the colour wheel, but narrowing your focus will be a huge help in making sure you get off on the right foot, and knowing where to start. Once you get into it a little more, you’ll find that this structure will also make it easier to fill in the gaps as it allows you to be much more specific with which pieces are missing.
STEP THREE: Start with the essentials
It’s important to ask yourself: What is the weather going to be like over the next three months? What types of activities will you be doing? and What are my wardrobe staples that I just can’t bear to be without?
In this step, you’ll be identifying the essence of your personal style, and using this to create what will become the foundation of your capsule, or the starting point for a lot of your outfits over the next few months.
For me, this almost always includes: denim (whether it be shorts or jeans), a cute skirt, a silk cami or tank, a sleeveless or long sleeve blouse, a long cardigan, and a loose fitted tee. These are classic pieces which can be styled with almost anything else I decide to include in my capsule. For you, this might look incredibly different, but again, it’s all about making sure that your style shines through.
Deciding how many tops, jumpers, skirts, dresses, trousers and jackets to include in your capsule is probably the trickiest part, and there’s no one size fits all approach. You may prefer to wear dresses almost daily rather than separates, or perhaps you’re a denim girl through and through. What’d I’d recommend it taking a look at what you wear on a weekly basis. If it helps, you could journal your outfits for two weeks, and use this as framework to identify how many pieces you many need in each category.
Given that there may be a few pieces that you need to pick up to complete your capsule, you can always adjust this as you go along. And don’t forget to make sure that you think about the merits of items you can handwash or launder yourself over those which are dryclean only.
If you already have a well-defined style, or a closet full of high quality essentials, what you already own is likely to form the bulk – if not all – of your capsule wardrobe for the season ahead.
STEP FOUR: Breaking it down into categories
While I do work in more a creative office, I’m not going to be showing up there in sweat pants any time soon. I like to look put together and relatively professional – you never know who is going to pop into the office.
As such, I tend to focus on building my capsule using the following split; 30% for weekend or ‘play’ wear, 20-30% is allocated to what I’d refer to as multi-purpose piece that can be worn for work or play, and the final 40-50% is allocated to work wear.
Depending on your career, your lifestyle, and your preferences, your own breakdown is going to look a little different. If you’re feeling a little stumped, I’d recommend keeping a diary of what you are wearing over a two-week period, and use that as a template to identify what types of pieces you will need for the months ahead. Keep in mind what types of activities you will be taking part in, where you will be going (whether it be to school/university, to the office, or just a casual day at home), what the dress code is, and what the weather is expected to be.
Keep in mind the pieces that you tend to wear almost daily; if it’s winter, are you happy to wear the same coat all season long, or do you like to alternate to prolong their lifespan? Do you wear the same types of shoes on a daily basis? Is there a silhouette that you are constantly gravitating towards?
Use the answers to these questions as a guide, and don’t feel that you should include something in your wardrobe – such as trousers – if you never actually wear them.
STEP FIVE: Plan out what’s missing
A capsule doesn’t always come together overnight (although having a good stable of staples tucked in your closet definitely helps), and you can’t expect to find all the pieces that you’ll be happy with overnight. There’s a lot of trial and error, and as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.
So, now that you have most of your capsule mapped out, it’s time to start looking at what’s missing. Identifying what you need to complete your wardrobe can sometimes be a case of scanning what you have, but I find that compiling inspiration in one place (such as on Pinterest) can be a great place to start. I tend to save a lot of my favourite ‘looks’ to my laptop, and a quick browse through will tell you I love neutrals (creamy beiges and Parisian stripes in particular), fun embellishments (feathers and sequins – yes please), and the odd printed piece. If you’re anything like me, the theme should be pretty evident, and it shouldn’t take long to spot which elements of these images are most appealing to you (and by proxy, missing from your closet!).
I’ve spoken about the concept of uniforms in the past, and this process can also serve as an identifier for what combinations you could see yourself wearing, or would like to wear. After you’ve planned out what you need, comes the fun (or tedious – depends on who you’re asking) part – shopping.
I eschew any practices that suggest purchasing any missing pieces within a short window before your capsule begins. Rather, I find it more useful to start with a core capsule – be it 75-90% of your total – that is built up as the months go on. The way that we’ve shopped has changed; buying full price isn’t always feasible, and often, new pieces drop in-season which might be more suited to what you’re after. Stick to the brands that you know, and take a peek every now and then to see if anything fits the bill of what you’re after.
I typically pick a few key pieces from my favourite designers as their new season is released, as well as nabbing the odd basic from Everlane and ‘trend’ piece from ASOS.
What you’ll notice is that I opt for quality nine times out of ten, which means that I get a lot more mileage out of my wardrobe. In saying that, everyone has different means, so if you can, focus on buying the best quality that you can afford.
STEP SIX: Know your go-to looks
Finally, having a uniform, or a few go-to outfits that you can just slip on makes all the difference. Experiment a little and have a play with your capsule wardrobe, and come up with a few different looks which make you feel confident. If it helps, take some snaps so that you can reference these later on.
If I’m feeling a little stuck, I’ll throw on a button up silk blouse with an a-line skirt, or one of my Karen Walker frill tees with a pair of trousers and some heels; these looks are so simple yet I always feel really good about my appearance whenever I’m wearing either of these combinations.