Most blog posts on how to build a capsule wardrobe will, almost without exception, list 30 pieces you should buy. A white shirt. Straight-leg jeans. A new coat that costs more than your rent. The article is a shopping list wearing the costume of a decluttering guide, and following it will only get you the wardrobe of whoever wrote it. In our view - that's not it.
A capsule wardrobe is not always about owning less. You will not here from us that 33 items is the correct number of pieces to have, or that your shopping addiction is a character flaw (in fact, we passionately believe shopping gets an undeservedly bad rep (just like most other things that is majorly associated with women…)). A capsule, used properly, is a working set - pieces that play well with each other, that you feel comfortable in, that actually get worn.
The thing is - you most likely already own a capsule. You can have a large wardrobe and a sharp capsule inside it. You just have to dig it out and chrystallise it. Shed off the layers of your wardrobe you don't use as much. In other words - the work to achieve a capsule wardrobe is not buying more, it's visualising better. Here's how to do it.
photograph everything
Not most of it. Everything you would plausibly wear out of the house. This is the tedious part and also the only step that is non-negotiable, because every decision after it depends on seeing your whole wardrobe at the same time.
- Do it in sessions. One drawer at a time is fine.
- Don't forget about the laundry items. The things in the laundry pile are, by definition, the things you wear.
- Include shoes, jackets, scarves and bags. They can add more to outfits than a top.
By the end of this step you should be able to look at one screen and say, out loud, how many black tops you own. Most people are wrong by a handful.
sort by what you reach for, not what you love
Now go through it once and mark, honestly, the things you have worn in the last month.
Not the things you love or the things you bought for a version of yourself you are planning ahead for. The things that have physically touched your body recently. While other items might still be worth keeping - sentimental value is real value - they are not doing the work. You are looking for the boring answer - the four or five pieces that appear often.
find the pieces that combine
This is the step that makes it a capsule rather than a list of favourites. A capsule piece is not defined by being neutral or expensive or classic. It is defined by combining. The jeans that go with eleven tops are worth more to your wardrobe than the perfect trousers that go with two.
Expect to be surprised at least twice. There is usually one piece you think of as central that turns out to combine with almost nothing, and one you think of as filler that is holding up half your outfits.
build the looks before you need them
A capsule that exists as a list is good. A capsule that exists as 15 saved outfits is better. So build the outfits now, while you are sitting down and not late. Put them somewhere you can find them at 8am - a saved album, a note, a folder of photos.
The whole point of the exercise is to move the outfit decision from the moment you are running late to a moment when you are relaxed and can let your creativity flow. This is the part that changes your mornings.
find the gap that unlocks five outfits
Look at your fifteen outfits and ask what is missing. Not "what does every wardrobe need," but "what one piece, added, would produce the most new complete outfits from things I already own?".
It could be a pair of spring boots, a cardigan that fits under your jacket but is thick enough for winter, a brown belt. Whatever it is, it will be a specific thing rather than a category, and you will be able to picture the outfits it completes before you buy it, which is a very different feeling from buying because a list told you to.
None of these steps requires an app. All you need is a camera, a will, and an afternoon. But if you want, we built Fetch Wardrobe to help with exactly this. Upload photos of your clothes and you can style outfits on a paper-doll with your features, with a lot of smart features to organise and plan your looks - and it's free. The link to download is here.
