Intentional Closet Creativity
I am in the middle of a year long experiment. In an effort to live smaller and with intention, I've been experimenting with a ten item capsule wardrobe inspired by the book Lessons From Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott.
Inspiration: Lessons From Madame Chic
In summary, the capsule wardrobe idea is to choose from only ten core wardrobe pieces throughout a season. The core pieces do not include things like shoes, jackets and t-shirts, but those items are to be limited as well.
I worked with a capsule wardrobe from January to June of this year and I learned so much about clothes and myself. Here's what I found out in the first six months:
- Fast Fashion is not a good thing
- I don't need as many clothes as I think I do
- Layering is best for Florida weather
- Fabric is key - I now look at tags and mostly go for 100% cotton or linen
- Buying higher quality items saves me money
- I should only buy what I know I will wear
- I love wearing ballet flats so I should make those an investment piece (i.e. spend more on a quality item that will last longer)
- I have much more to learn so I'm repeating the experiment for the next six months
My investment piece this season is a nice pair of black ballet flats. I went with some simple, but classic, Sam Edelman leather flats.
To kick off July, I built a new capsule wardrobe with more hot weather friendly pieces. I did keep one pair of dress pants and one pair of jeans from the first half of the year. The remaining items were stored away for the next winter season. I had one pair of old jeans that were worn out, thus they had to go. My ten item capsule now consists of the following:
- 3 cotton tops
- 2 linen pants
- 1 dress pant (leftover from Season 1)
- 1 pair of jeans (leftover from Season 1)
- 2 dresses (1 cotton, 1 linen)
- 1 linen skirt
- Extras: 4 cotton t-shirts, 1 light cardigan sweater, 1 pair of black leggings
- Shoes: black leather ballet flats, black leather sandals, brown leather sandals (I also have 2 pairs of heels I can pull out to dress up an outfit)
My extras consist of 4 cotton t-shirts and a cardigan
I'm excited to see how this all works out after a year. I must admit, I like the simplicity of a capsule wardrobe. It makes shopping much easier and my wallet very happy.
