I had my first taste of a minimalist wardrobe when I was pregnant with my first child. There were only a few things that fit me well and that was what I wore. I kept all of my maternity clothes in a 3 ft. section of my closet. It was amazing! I had 4 pairs of pants, 2 tank tops, 3 T-shirts, 2 sweaters, and a hoodie. Everything fit me perfectly and it was all interchangeable. I decided then and there that this was something I wanted to have even after I was done having babies.
I then had a few challenging wardrobe years – ‘after baby’ clothes, nursing tops, ‘almost back to pre baby body’ clothes, repeat. Once I was back to what I felt was a “normal” body size for me, it was time to tackle the clothes. I find that whenever you are bringing minimalism to an area of your life, it happens in stages. The first stage of minimizing my wardrobe was to get rid of everything that no longer fit me. I tucked some maternity clothes away, just in case, and bagged up the rest to donate. Next I went through a few phases of minimizing my wardrobe and ended up with what I thought was a reasonable amount of clothes.
Even with my wardrobe cut in half, my morning routine involved multiple wardrobe changes and a pile of discarded clothes that just weren’t working. I was ready for a change!
At the beginning of 2017, my husband suggested we try to go one year without purchasing any new clothes. I was hesitant at first, but accepted the challenge! It was such a great experience. I learned so much about my shopping habits, my needs and my wardrobe. As the end of the year started to draw near, I thought about how I wanted my shopping habits to change going forward. I came across the idea of a capsule wardrobe and was reminded of the simplicity I so loved with my maternity wardrobe. I was hooked!
A capsule wardrobe is commonly defined as a collection of 15-20 essential, timeless, quality pieces of clothing and accessories that can be worn interchangeably and are often supplemented with a few seasonal statement pieces. In recent years, this definition has morphed a bit to include all clothing worn in a specific season, generally 30-40 pieces. The intention is that you assemble your capsule wardrobe for the season, put away any clothes that aren’t part of that collection and hold off on buying any new clothes until you put together your wardrobe for the next season.
I had done my research and was ready to get going! I pulled all of my shirts out of my closet and heaped them on my bed. One by one they were placed in one of 4 piles: Love, Maybe, Donate, or Other Season. I repeated this process with everything else in my closet – pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, sweaters, tank tops, etc. At the end I was left with a great start to my capsule wardrobe in my Love pile. I went through the Maybe pile once more and ended up placing most of those items in the Donate pile. I put away the items in the Other Seasons pile and bagged up my Donate pile.
After going a year without purchasing any new clothes, there were definitely some pieces I needed to buy to complete my capsule wardrobe. I wanted to be very intentional about what I was purchasing and set up some parameters for myself. First was color – after minimizing my wardrobe, I was pleased to see that a color scheme was already emerging. I wanted to stick with these colors as I added new clothing. I also wanted to be sure that each piece I was adding could be worn in multiple ways with the clothing I already owned. Having clothes that are interchangeable allows for so many more outfit options which is especially important with a capsule wardrobe. The two other considerations I had were quality and sustainability. These two I will have to continue to work on as I create my capsule wardrobes in the future. Having less clothes means that some pieces will be worn fairly often, I want to make sure the pieces I’m adding to my wardrobe are well made and will last. I also want to consider the further impact my clothing purchases have in terms of their ethical and environmental impact. I hope to be able to learn more about this as I continue my journey.
I didn’t want to set an exact limit for the number of items to include in my capsule wardrobe; although this seems to work well for many people, I didn’t want to get hung up stressing over that requirement. I ended up having just under 40 items, which I feel great about! The items I’ve included in this count are my everyday clothes, work clothes, going out clothes, boots, outerwear, and accessories. I have excluded my active wear, under garments, lounge wear and sleepwear from this count. I also excluded my one time wear items (dress & shoes for winter wedding) and my outdoor play clothes (snow pants, warm gloves). I work 2 days a week as a high school supply teacher and am a stay-at-home mom the rest of the week. I need my wardrobe to include everything from comfortable play-on-the-floor clothes to professional teacher clothes.
I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes, but I’m thrilled with where I’m at. So here it is, my Winter Capsule Wardrobe:
Tops
I generally wear a tank top with a knit sweater, long sleeved shirt or a hoodie. I have included 5 tank tops in different colors/patterns and a combination of 10 top layers. My knits and most long sleeved shirts are perfect for work and along with my hoodies they round out my wardrobe for the days I’m home with the kids. I also included one black dress that can be dressed up or worn casually.This season I was able to add a few higher quality tops, which I may have bought for myself as Christmas gifts! I’ve been eyeing the clothing line by tentree for quite a while now and purchased their gorgeous logo hoodie in burgundy. Not only does the hoodie feel soft, cozy and beautiful on me, the materials they use are all from sustainable sources, they have ethical production practices and on top of all that, they plant 10 trees for every item they sell. I also purchased a long sleeved grey top from MEC, my all time favorite outdoor adventure retailer. MEC also uses natural, sustainable materials and has ethical production practices.
Pants
I probably have too many pairs of pants included, but with kids I often find play doh or other unknown stickiness on my clothing and wanted to be sure I wasn’t frustrated by too few options. I have 4 pairs of jeans in various colors and styles, black leggings and black relaxed pants. I had originally included a cute burgundy skirt as well, but I could only wear it with 1 top and realized it wasn’t serving me well in my wardrobe.
Outerwear
I live in Canada and can’t leave the house this time of year without a warm jacket. I own a super warm North Face winter coat which I wear anytime I’m doing anything more than walking to the car and a padded jacket from Mountain Warehouse for the rest of my winter outings. I have also included a green lightweight jacket, but this may be the wrong season for it (too warm indoors, too cold outdoors). My camo vest is a new piece – I wasn’t sure if I was making a mistake when I bought it, but I loved it too much to leave it at the store. So far it has not been a mistake! I think it will be important to have some fun statement pieces in my capsule wardrobe each season.
Boots
With the snow coming down, I’m wearing nothing but boots these days. I’ve included a variety of styles – play boots, comfy slip ons, leather & suede.
Accessories
The jewelry I wear is pretty much the same every day – silver knot earrings, rose gold watch and a silver tree necklace. I have not included these items in my capsule wardrobe as they are constant. I have included 3 scarves. My 2 infinity scarves can be worn with an outfit or just for warmth while outdoors. My blanket scarf is one of my favorite pieces; it can be worn with an outfit or used for warmth when I’m out in the car, in a theater, etc. I also have 2 winter hats and a pair of mitts that I wear when I leave the house.
At the time of writing this article I am 3 weeks into wearing my capsule wardrobe. I’m absolutely loving it! I have no decision fatigue getting ready in the morning and putting together outfits has been so simple. Even though I have less than 40 items, I feel like I still have more options than I need.
Check out my instagram @seeking__simplicity to see more of my outfits from this season’s capsule wardrobe!
