Sunday, May 17, 2015

Capsule Wardrobe: An Experiment in Progress (a.k.a. Go-Time)

I think you knew this was coming...


Yes, my friend, this is the amount of shirts I have left in my closet after I finally went ahead and did the full purge. Fifteen shirts, and while I'm slightly nervous about this fact, I'm also ecstatic. I've been thinking and thinking about capsule wardrobes, reading about what works for whom, donating clothes left and right, and after a lot of deep dis-satisfaction with my clothing and tendency toward excess, I just sucked it up and cleaned it (the closet) out today. (I think a "jigga-woo-woo-woo!" is in order.)

I had a lot of wearable stuff in there. I just wasn't wearing it. You've heard this story before from me. Plus I'm kind of a clothing hoarder, always saving my favorite pieces for a special event instead of just wearing the things I really like in my everyday life. So I took some inspiration from Caroline and whittled down my wardrobe. She chooses 37 pieces (breakdown - 15 tops, 9 bottoms, 9 pairs of shoes, 2 dresses, and 2 jackets/coats) each season, or every three months. I chose the pieces that I intend to work with for the next few months and packed the rest away. Like, vacuum-packed it away and shoved it behind my headboard. And now here's what I have:
  • 3 pairs of jeans (2 skinnies and 1 distressed flare)
  • 3 pairs of shorts (I'm not going to lie - I am without a good pair of denim shorts, so if I find some during the next few months I'll have to snatch them up.)
  • 3 skirts (One of these is a wildcard that I've been hanging on to - if I don't wear it during this go-around, I'm going to donate it.)
  • 6 dresses (because I live in Texas and it's about to be H-O-T)
  • 15 shirts
  • 3 cardigans (over-air conditioning is a very real issue here)
  • 1 denim jacket
So the grand total for me is 34 pieces. I know some people who do capsule wardrobes include shoes in their number of pieces, but considering I just kept a few pairs of sandals and a pair of booties out, I didn't figure it would be a problem (a.k.a. I didn't feel like I was cheating). And full disclosure - I kept a drawer full of layering tanks. I am a mommy and I require them. Enough said. Oh, and I kept a few pairs of sleep shorts and a running shorts, but I solemnly swear to stop wearing them as legitimate clothing pieces (stay-at-home-mommy problems).



There you have it. Capsule wardrobe experiment in progress. I'm sure I'll keep you updated here and there. Maybe you'll think about trying this experiment with me?

1 comment:

  1. Good luck with this! I'm about to do a major purge as well.

    ReplyDelete