Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Happy Saturday everyone - and thank you for stopping by my closet. Today I'm
talking about what I think is the absolute easiest way to get started with
a micro capsule wardrobe.
Hi everyone! This question emerges from my blog at working.com.
Someone was saying, "thanks for all the tips but, how do I get started?"
"I need to know exactly what I can do to start capsuling with a low barrier of entry. What's the easiest way to get started?"
Before I answer, let's recap what a capsule wardrobe is: A capsule wardrobe is a pre-lanned
ensemble of garments that are designed to coordinate together and to reflect a
particular style vision. And it's stopping shopping in a way where you're
purchasing individual pieces and starting to focus on "curating" a wardrobe.
I think a lot of people want to get started with a capsule but they feel
like the barrier of entry is too high.
They're not necessarily ready to overhaul their entire wardrobe or audit their closet
completely and start from scratch. They want to be able to flirt with the idea
and start reaping some of the rewards in a really simple, easy way.
This is not intended to meet every wardrobe need you're ever going to have. So let's put outerwear out of the picture ...
let's get footwear out of the picture for now. Let's forget about accessories.
Let's think about 10 basics that would help you have the style vision you're trying
to achieve and would coordinate well together. It's a little misnomer when I
say "10 basic" because I really think what works well if it's nine basics and one
wild card. So what do I mean by a "wild card"? So the basics are a dress, skirt pants, tops sweaters your
basic foundation of a wardrobe. The wild card to be anything - anything that helps
further your style vision in a meaningful way like perhaps a studded leather bag maybe a
leather jacket, maybe Louboutin heels. It's one piece that may not be a basic that
really brings your style vision to life. So in our micro capsule, we're looking for
nine basics and we are looking for one wild card that brings it all together.
Alright, so Step 1 to this is to identify the specific area of your life this capsule is for.
A capsule wardrobe is not designed to meet every single wardrobe needs.
It's designed for a particular part of your life. So typically people think of
capsules as being for work or for play. I would challenge you to break down
some of those silos and really focus in on what this capsule would do for you.
So maybe for you, your capsule wardrobe is a work-play wardrobe because your social life
happens immediately after work and you need clothes that transition from
the office to date life. Or maybe you have a work from home/play with the kids in
the park lifestyle
and your capsule needs to be representative of that. Think really hard about what this
capsule is for and define that area of your life with laser precision.
That is really going to help you make great decisions throughout the other steps.
Step two is "define the vision". So we talked about a capsule wardrobe having a
cohesive style or representing a particular style vision. Now a lot of
capsule wardrobe enthusiasts will talk about going on Pinterest, pulling different points of
inspiration and making a look book. I think that's fine, it's great if that works
for you and that inspires you, but I think that's almost a high barrier of entry
You actually probably don't have to go that far. You could honestly pick one look.
For me, I'm really inspired by Kate Middleton. I like her classic feminine style.
I can potentially pull just one look, maybe two looks from Kate Middleton and say,
"that's what I'm going for. That's the look I like and I'm going to buy pieces that work
together to help me achieve and reinforce this sense of style that she has.
Another way I think works really well, particularly if you're more of a verbal
person than you are a visual person, I think it's great to break it down to two words.
So, for example in the case of Kate Middleton maybe what you're really going for it is
"classic feminine". Or maybe you're going for "bohemian chic". Or maybe you're going for,
I don't know, "contemporary casual". Whatever it may be, break it down to the two words
that best define that vision. Now if you're struggling to do this, the way you
can really hone in on the words that matter most is to write six to 10 words that
describe the best of you
six to 10 adjectives that describe how you want the world to see you. So maybe
you're professional, you're creative, you're fun, you're energetic, you're intelligent, sophisticated ...
whatever it may be. Write down six to 10 words that best reflect who you are
and how you want the world to see you, and then break it down to the top two
that you want to be represented in your look. This is actually a trick of the trade when it comes
to creating a personal brand as well, so you're pulling from some very powerful
tools when you do this. For me, it would probably break down to
"professional creative" because I always want to look professional I always want to
look ready for the job at hand, but I want to reflect the fact that I bring a
creative, innovative approach to doing that job. So, just as I'm "creative professional"
in my work, I also want to be "creative professional" in my look because I think it
reinforces that sense of who I am. So strive for something like, break it
down to either one look or to two words and you're ready to go.
Now that you know you're functional needs, in terms of what area of your life this capsule is for, and you know your style vision, you can break it down into what 10 garments would best help you achieve this.
You always want more tops than bottoms because tops tend to be more defining - they're more memorable.
They really sort of lead the outfit. So maybe you want five tops, four bottoms and one dress.
Or maybe, for example, you want four tops, three bottoms, one dress and one Chanel handbag!
Whatever it may be ...
figure out the 10 pieces - one gets to be a wild card - and write them down on paper
and commit to them. Plan it out so that the pieces work well together and
commit
to the fact that you've come up with a great plan!
Alright, Step 4, is to review your current wardrobe to see what pieces you already have that fill one these needs.
Now it may be that you put all 10 pieces from your current wardrobe and then temporarily
maybe you get rid of most of the other stuff and start living with these 10
pieces and build on it from there. This isn't intended to be the
only 10 pieces you ever wear, it's designed to get you started in the
capsule benefits really, really quickly. It may also be that you have none of the
10 pieces that you need, but you may have accessories, footwear, outerwear ... things
that complement it. So while you're still striving for 10 pieces to achieve your
style vision, you can still take advantage of pieces in your closet to
reinforce it, or to complement it.
Alright, the last step, Step 5 is to create a shopping plan. So you've identified the garments you need in your capsule ...
you've identified what pieces you already have and therefore you now know what pieces are missing.
I would caution you to shop first from home - online. Because shopping is a
very psychological experience and we tend to get caught up in the moment. We
tend to lose sight of the bigger picture or lose sight of the "curated wardrobe"
and get excited by sales, get influenced by what sales people are telling us, and
maybe we're just relieved that we found something that fits really well and we
just want to buy it because it's so satisfying to have found this piece
but the piece doesn't really fit your larger vision. So try shopping first online when
you're little more impartial and you're little desperate, hungry, tired.
Sometimes I bring my laptop or my phone right into my closet and I hold the garments up to my other pieces
and say, "does this work is well with the pieces I have as I think it's going to?'
So you can do this to plan a
shopping trip where you're going for very targeted pieces and then by virtue of
shopping in person you know exactly what you're going for your only honing in on pieces
likely to contribute to this great style vision you're trying to bring to life.
Alright guys that's my five tips to get started very quickly with a
micro capsule wardrobe. I hope some of these tips work for you let me know how
it goes I'd love to hear from you!