Making a Capsule Wardrobe Work

note: this is sadly not my capsule wardrobe nor my room! credit: Yasmine Boheas on Unsplash

Since summer ended I have been managing (just about) with a capsule wardrobe. I found it so much easier to think about and plan autumnal outfits and feel like 6 months is a decent amount of time to try and make it work – and it does I think! I moved everything that I wanted into my wardrobe and hung it up – including T shirts that would normally live folded in a drawer. My current capsule wardrobe consists of:

• 3x jeans – 1 black, 1 grey and 1 blue
• 6x short sleeved T shirts – black, grey, burgundy, black/white stripe, burgundy floral, grey with logo
• 2x Long sleeved T shirts – black, white/navy striped
• 2x long tunic tops/dresses (that cover the bum so can be worn with leggings) both grey (whoops)
• 3x dresses – black floral, leopard print, gingham checked
• 5 x jumpers/cardis – leopard print, black and white cardi, mustard cardi, grey wool V neck, Burgundy long cardi
• 4x leggings – 2 plain black, 1 patterned black, 1 grey

So that’s 25 items of clothing to see me through autumn and winter. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wear ANYTHING else as I didn’t get rid of all my other clothes yet, as I wasn’t sure how I’d get on with this so I probably did end up wearing a few extra things but I think I could easily have managed with just these 25 items for every day wear. I didn’t include cami-tops and tights in the allowance either, as I see them as essentials!

What I did find though was that my jeans started looking tired pretty quickly, so I think for next winter I need to buy better quality jeans (mine are all either supermarket brandsr primark I think and are starting to look a bit tatty and lose their stretch too. Alternatively I could add a couple more pairs in on rotation. I didn’t include shoes and boots in my ‘allocation’ of items, but generally wore either black nike trainers or one of a couple of pairs of ankle boots – black studded, brown chelsea boots or leopard print ones. I also didn’t include coats, as I have a few that I wear depending on how cold or wet it is!

Another thing I streamlined when I started the process was my underwear drawers! I had altogether far too many pairs of tights that I hardly wore, and tonnes of knickers that I had been wearing for donkeys years, in fact some where part of a set that I bought around the time Sam and I got engaged, and seeing as we’re celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary later this year that’s a pretty long time! So I got rid of all the ones that were ancient, anything that wasn’t a nice breathable cotton and anything with loose elastics or that were too small! I’m now down to 10 pairs of pants and 3 comfortable bras (none with underwire – life’s too short for painful bras!) and 10 pairs of ankle socks.

Also a couple of weeks ago I picked out a few items to add to my underwear collection from the Women’s lingerie section of UK Lingerie [gifted], so added two black bras, one every day one from pretty polly which is incredibly comfortable and then a racer back lacy one from Wonderbra and the matching knickers to go with it. Thinking forwards to summer a nice racer back bra will come in handy for some of my dresses and tops! I never used to worry about straps and lumps and bumps from underwear but as I’ve got older I’ve realised that there a lot to be said for dressing to suit your shape and wearing underwear that fits well so you don’t get the lumps and bumps! Women’s shapewear like slimming vest tops and seam free pants are essentials for any capsule wardrobe I think.

So for next autumn/winter although I hope to be able to treat myself to some items of clothing in smaller sizes due to jumping back in to weight watchers this past month I’ll be using the same amounts of each item but with a few more pairs of jeans I think! I think winter is easier to manage as it’s easier to layer things up and pretty much live in jeans and a jumper, summer will be more of a challenge I think!

Do you manage with a capsule wardrobe? I’d love to see any posts or videos on it so please let me know! I also spoke to a personal stylist about how to start a capsule wardrobe, you can read her advice here.