How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe
As we begin to store away our winter coats and boots, we can start transitioning into our spring wardrobes. During this transitional phase a lot of people end up dumping dozens of pieces of clothing away, only to repurchase new pieces that will soon see the same fate when the next season rolls around. As you can imagine, this is NOT good for our environment and if you’ve not had a chance to read our last few blog posts make sure you do so you can understand the true impact the fashion industry has on our environment. You can still be eco-friendly in your wardrobe with fashionable and timeless pieces without having to purge your entire closet every time the weather changes and we’re here to show you how.
If you’re ever struggling to find an outfit for work or for a night out with friends, or spending too much money on clothes that you might not even wear, it’s time to think about doing some groundwork and creating your own personal capsule wardrobe.
Now, you might be wondering what exactly a capsule wardrobe is, so here are the basics broken down:
A capsule wardrobe is a curated collection of essential pieces of clothing that can be worn in many different ways for a specific season. The ideal capsule wardrobe is made up about 30 items. It is the easiest way to stay stylish while saving money, time, closet space, and most importantly reducing your footprint. Follow our 4 tips to jumpstart your journey into creating a capsule closet for spring!
Step 1: Choose What Works Best with Your Lifestyle
Take a second to consider how you spend your day, are you working in an office all day? do you work from your local coffee shop or remotely at home? Or does your daily schedule require you to dress formally and elegantly? It may seem obvious to mention this but it’s crucial to build your wardrobe to suit your everyday needs and according to your work life in order for this to work efficiently and stress-free.
Step 2: Choose a Colour Palette for your Wardrobe
Your first step is to select your primary colour. Picture this as a colour you can see yourself incorporating into every outfit, everyday. It does not have to be something crazy like hot pink, it should actually be something timeless and neutral. We strongly suggest white or black. It’s easy to incorporate either of these colours into your current wardrobe and it’s appropriate for laidback occasions like grabbing lunch with a friend to an important business meeting with your boss. White and black are a great base where you can start to incorporate accent pieces or build on it with other colours to finish off your look.
Once you’ve chosen your staple base colour you can start coordinating other colours. Some classic colour choices are solids such as beige, greys, blues, whites. Any neutral tone that you choose should mesh well with the main colour. The more versatile your colour palette, the more outfits you will be able to create for your capsule closet.
If your coordinating colours match your main base colour and at least two of your secondary colours – you’ve nailed it and you’re on your way to creating a fashionable capsule wardrobe for the new season.
Step 3. Add in Essential Pieces
Essentials are basic wardrobe staples that will never go out of style and will help to complete your outfits, things like blazers, denim jackets, khaki trench coats, or solid white or black t shirts that can easily be layered. A well crafted capsule wardrobe will give you plenty of choices to wear. The key is to make sure every piece has a purpose and can be coordinated with a few different pieces to ensure multiple outfits.
Before we move on to planning each outfit, it would be a wise idea to declutter your closet for pieces that no longer serve you and ones you’ve simply grown out of. You can learn how to do this responsibly by checking out our Ethical Fashion on a Budget post or The Untold Truths of Fast Fashion post.
If you find that your closet is lacking essentials that you can continue to reuse in your seasonal capsule wardrobes, it’s okay to make an investment on some good quality staple pieces that will last you a lifetime instead of constantly cycling through trendy pieces from fast fashion corporations.
Step 4. Plan Out Each Outfit
By now you have all of your pieces picked out for your capsule wardrobe - but how do you use it to its full functionality?
Spend the day mixing and matching the pieces you’ve chosen, go on Pinterest for inspiration and create a board of your favourite outfits and try to recreate ones with your chosen pieces.