Capsule Wardrobe Series: Part Four

Why Capsule

Sometimes, we have to go back to the beginning before we get to the end. As we finish our Capsule series, I thought it best to reflect on the premise.

In a world full of overconsumption, it is easy to follow the crowd. Yet, I have found that as I have significantly paired down my wardrobe and focused on cut, style, and color, I can fine tune my overall aesthetic much more easily. Because I have less items, I have become confident in pairing pieces that make me feel elegant and confident to take on the daily tasks before me.

Through capsule curation, I hope to inspire other working moms and women that your closet does not need to be full nor expensive to be enough. If you break down your wardrobe and truly assess what and how you want to dress, you can build your wardrobe step by step through items that give you added confidence as you continue to do the hard things. Trying to build a career and family take time and energy. I prefer streamlining my wardrobe to devote my time and energy to my family and career. A simplified closet allows for an easier morning with an ensemble that I know will fit and feel right to give me a boost to take on the day.

Final Steps

As we revert back to our home building analogy, we find ourselves in the finish out phase of our build. We have built a sound foundation, completed our framing, and chosen a style, it is now time to finish our home in both look and function. At this stage of our capsule wardrobe procurement, we are pinpointing the items that are integral to our wardrobe to complete not only our look, but our wardrobe.

For a home, finish out is the stage where you pick the finite details such as paint color, knobs, pulls, and granite. Although the other stages might have brought you 90% of the way through the process, the finish out stage is where your home turns from a vision in your head to a home in your heart.

Similarly, our wardrobe requires similar detailing. Do you prefer pants or dresses? Do you live in hot or cold climate? Do you take annual vacation to any destination that require specific clothing? Are you comfortable with sleeveless blouses, or do you prefer a cap or three quarters length sleeve? Do you wear the same jewelry daily, or are you a costume jewelry connoisseur? Does your profession require business professional, business casual, or simply casual workwear? Do you prefer a heel or a flat? All of these questions are paramount to round out your wardrobe.

For me, I require very few dresses, as I gravitate towards black or other neutral slack for my daily workwear. Thus, I have opted to purchase several variations of a black slacks including pull on, wide leg, tapered, belted tapered, and pintucked straight. Because I live in a mild climate destination, I do not require many winterized items aside from one winter puffer coat for our annual mountain trip, as well as maybe one or two dinner coats. A few swimsuit are essential as we have a pool and often drive to the beach sometime in the summer.  Since summer temps are high, I have many black or cream sleeveless and cap sleeve blouses as they can be worn solo in spring and summer, and can accompany a cardigan or jacket in the fall or winter. Although I take many client meetings, a full suit is no necessary, so I opt for several cardigan, blazer, or jacket options as they can work for both client meetings as well as elevate my causal Friday jean look and can easily be thrown on with jeans for a date night. When I choose jeans, I opt for variety of colors in high waist straight or skinny, but I forgoe any frayed or hole jeans to increase uses for both work and play. In regards to shorts, I opt for longer inseam with a classic cut, and I require no more than one pair of jean shorts. For athleisure wear, I bypass loud and patterned items, instead purchasing black and white tops and black bottoms with sprinkle of neutral, nude and pink, tops or sweatshirts to round out that subset. For accessories, I prefer to wear the same pair of moisannite earings and necklace daily to work, while for weekend wear I gravitate towards a gold hoop or stud to pair with day or night looks. I do have a taste for jewlery, a sweet tooth if you will. l never met a classic piece of gold or diamond that I did not like. I could swim in studs, bracelets, necklaces, and watches, but I focus on gold, simple variations that can pair seamless to work if I am feeling adventorous, or play if my outfit feels plain feeling plain. And for my purses and shoes, GIVE THEM ALL TO ME. Ok, perhaps that is a stretch, but it has some merit. I cannot say if it was my mom, or my paternal grandma, who fueled my purse and shoe fire, but here we are. It is possible I have the same number of items in my wardrobe as I have pair of shoes. And yet, I would not have it any other way. This is the part of my closet that can so seamlessly change without even altering any other piece of my outfit. A different shoe and purse can alter the entire look, thus this is where my capsule honey hole lies. I find many capsule adopters opt to pair down shoes and purses the most, but I prefer to keep my personal collection larger, as it gives me both possibilities and joy.

The finish out stage breaths life into your wardrobe by finishing the canvas of your wardrobe. Here I will prioritize the items that I need one, multiple or none to complete my capsule wardrobe.

Workwear:

Slacks-- Variety of lenght/cut/button, focus on black

Work Tops-- Variety of Sleeveless Blouses and Short Sleeve Sweaters

Sweaters- Variety in netural tones, both fitted and oversized, avoid pattern aside from stripes, focus on light given typical weather

Shoes- Variety of flats and few heels, focus on low to mid-height

Outerwear- Variety of cardigans and jacket/blazers, focus on transitional varietys

Accessories- One studs and one necklace

Casual Wear:

Shorts-- Variety of belted, pull on, and simply button variety, prefer 4+ inch inseam.

Tops-- Variety of body suits in netural colors to accompany t-shirts.

Blouses--Variety of neutral blouses with classic cut and pattern, focus on flowy. Lean more fancy to increase possibility of wearing to work.

Jeans-- Variety of washes, focus on transitional, high waist, straight and skinny denim, avoid any holes/fray hemmed

Swimsuit-- Varierty of classic one pieces in black or other netural tones, avoid string or non-convertile strapless bikinis

Outerwear- Handful of winter coats, variety of puffer vests in neutral colors that can transition to

Leggings-- Variety of black leggings in both athleisure as well as casual wear options, focus on no-see through

Workout-- Variety of tanks and short sleeve shirt variety in black or white

Accesories-- Variety gold earings and bracelets, prefer higher end costume jewlery to be able to wear to work and play, variety of silver, gold, as well as two-tone watches