I discovered the beauty of capsule wardrobe during a time in life when I had to make a lot of hard decisions. Recently, I discovered what I wrote about that experience:

Originally Posted on October 7, 2018

The fashion buzzword of the year (as determined by me) is capsule wardrobe, especially as it applies to minimalism. For the past year, I have been taking great efforts to be more mindful about what I purchase and the amount of stuff that I have in general and that inspired me to begin building a capsule so that I would have less waste and be less likely to unnecessarily spend money on clothes that I don’t wear.

There are lots of articles that have been coming up recently on how people build a capsule especially on how to build a minimalist wardrobe and I tried to follow images that I found on Pinterest but all that left me with, after 6 months was more clothes that fit someone else’s capsule inspiration and that I didn’t wear. So it really didn’t work for me at first…I listened to a lot of great podcasts, read Anuschka Rees’ book The Curated Closet, and watched youtube videos on building a wardrobe but I was utterly confused on how to actually build one that felt like me.

However, around the same time I was trying to build a capsule, I also got really interested in reducing decision fatigue and learned that many successful people move to a “uniform” to streamline their life and figured it would be great to focus my minimalism on reducing stress and time spent deciding what to wear. Below are the five steps I used to build my Fall Capsule, I hope they are helpful for you 🙂

Step 1. Take a Practical Look at your Week

For starters, I looked at my work week. I absolutely love dresses and skirts but I know that Mondays are going to be spent in a warehouse, so I on those days I keep it simple with jeans, Sperry’s, and a company shirt. I also know that Friday will be very similar to Monday’s and I try to make it a company pride day and wear another company shirt. When I broke out my week this way, I realized that I only have to worry about 3 days each week. And the list of days where I needed to find an outfit grew smaller.

Step 2. Find an Outfit that Flatters your Figure

Find one look that compliments your figure. When you feel good you look good. I can pull off almost any hairstyle, short, long, braided, pixie, I really have been blessed with that, however, I do not have the ability to pull off any outfit. So it was critical for me to be realistic about what looks good on me, and what I feel comfortable in. When I did I realized that tulip and A-line skirts really flatter my figure so I set out looking for one skirt to add to my weekly uniform.

Step 3. Find your Color Palette

I used to love Project Runway and when the competition got near the end, the remaining designers would make a runway collection. Each person had their own process but they would choose a color scheme or theme and all of the pieces within their collection would have some element of those colors. By doing this they made sure that their collections were cohesive and automatically looked more put together. When it came to my capsule wardrobe I realized that I could approach building it in a very similar way, and I accomplished this by finding a staple/anchor piece.

Step 4. Find your Staple/ Anchor Piece

My anchor piece is the one item in my Fall capsule that ties everything else together. When I first started building my capsule last year I was really confused about choosing items. Should I choose black shoes or brown shoes, should I get this shirt in purple or green, the list goes on and on. But what I realized is that when I found my anchor piece the choices about shoes and other items got exponentially easier. Things also got easier when I realized that I can choose my capsule for each season. So the anchor piece in Fall 18 doesn’t have to be the same as Spring 19. I get to choose. My Anchor piece ended up being a brown houndstooth skirt and I found the palette by using the Pantone app (Apple | Android) and identifying the main colors in my skirt. From there I just began building around those colors and the result is a solid Fall capsule.

Step 5. Keep it Simple

When I began putting my ideas for a uniform together I was reminded of an episode of Doug when you see his closet and the image of his uniform; an army green sweater vest, white t-shirt, and cargo shorts which was hilarious when I was younger. But the more the idea of minimalism, decision fatigue, and capsule wardrobe solidified the more I was able to get comfortable with adopting this for my own closet. The anchor piece in my wardrobe came in two other colors so I scooped those and got a couple turtlenecks and a couple t-shirts, a chambray shirt and quickly realized that I had everything I needed for a great Fall capsule.

Check it out below and let me know what you think! Are you building a capsule wardrobe? If so what is your inspiration, color palette, etc?!

How I Built My Original Capsule

Like Mama always say’s…Never Buy Unlined Pants

Understanding Your Body Type When Building Your Capsule Wardrobe