You may or may not have heard of the Capsule Wardrobe. Essentially, it’s a way to streamline wardrobe choices so that one eliminates the guess work and stress of getting dressed. You can do a google search and find lots of blog posts about how to build one. There are also lots of videos on YouTube (of course).
The reasons that building one of these capsule wardrobes is beneficial is because
- It makes getting dressed easy. Each piece coordinates so that everything goes together. A lot of clutter can lead to confusion where as having a few key pieces makes it simple.
- You have more money to invest in quality pieces. Quality means comfort and better fit.
The only negative I can see is that one may begin to feel stale if there aren’t enough “options” to allow you some freedom in style choices. I don’t know that it would be an issue for everyone, but I tend to get tired of things easily and am always looking to try something new. Since becoming a mother, I don’t even really have time to get too crazy, so, problem solved!
There are so many ways to implement this and it really depends on you and what you need in your daily life. I’m a stay at home mom (now small business owner -smiley face) so I don’t need to have business attire in my capsule. Obviously, if you’re a sales rep, you’re not going to have a ton of jeans and t shirts in yours. I’ll probably do several posts on different styles and how to create a capsule around them, but for my first fashion post, I’m going to talk about one I’ve already done, my own. The mom wardrobe! I’m not talking Mom jeans here. I would hope no one would pay good money to get those! I’m talking about a wardrobe that is comfortable, easy to put together, but isn’t yoga pants and lululemon jackets all day, every day. There are some things to consider when putting together this wardrobe:
- Washability – There is almost a 100% chance that at some point in the day, I’m going to have slobber, spit up, boogers, throw up, or poop on my clothes. I need something that I can wash a lot. No dry clean, no hand wash, I need durable, put in the washing machine and dryer at least once a week clothes.
- Comfort – I think we want this with everything but for sure, I need to be able to bend down on the floor and play legos without my butt crack hanging out just as I need to be able to run and catch a toddler walking into on coming traffic. So probably not heels.
- More shirts than normal – So the goal of the capsule wardrobe is to have a few pieces to mix and match and wear a lot. Referring to #1, one must realize that you may have to change a shirt more than once in a day. The mom capsule wardrobe will have more shirts than the average.
- Easy boob access – I know that’s a weird one, but I’m breastfeeding and I need to be able to easily go into a bathroom, pop a boob out, feed my kid, and get back to it. My toddler doesn’t exactly love hanging out in the bathroom while I feed Alex, but I’m too embarrassed to feed in public, so it’s what we do. I would actually probably have a lot more dresses if I didn’t have this one requirement.
Having all of that information, here is my capsule wardrobe. I would love to have more pieces from local shops but taking into consideration the above, most of my stuff came from Ann Taylor Loft, Jcrew, and Gap. I also want to add that I already had some things that I elected to keep. A couple of sweaters I bought last year, a pair of jeans, and a couple of jackets.
Loft Polka Dot Blouse
Loft Navy Blouse
Mine is actually navy but I can’t seem to find it but it’s this same style
Loft Turtleneck Sweater
Loft Long Sleeve Black Tee
JCrew Striped Tissue Turtleneck
Gap Cotton Shirt, Long Sleeve
Nordstrom, Tan and Orange Blanket Scarf
Those are things that I bought for this season. I usually like more expensive jeans and this is where I really feel it’s important to invest in quality BUT I am not 100% what size I’m going to be after breastfeeding, so I opted for Gap which actually has really nice, mid price jeans. If you can’t afford to spend $150-$200 on a pair of jeans, I recommend going to Gap. With the sales going on, I bought two pair for under $100.
I’ll be posting more about wardrobe building, but if you’re interested in seeing my outfits put together, please follow me on Instagram! I don’t always post an outfit of the day because I’d run out of new ideas in about 2 weeks, but I will be posting different outfits weekly. Let me know what you think about the capsule wardrobe. Could you do it? What would be your must haves?
Thanks for reading!
