Why I Don’t Have a Capsule Wardrobe

I love capsule wardrobes, and I love the idea! If it works for you, I’m so glad! 

I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe! I watch the YouTube videos about them and I truly enjoy learning about them. But, the honest truth is, a capsule wardrobe just isn’t the right fit for my current fashion journey. 

Click the video below to learn why I don’t have a capsule wardrobe: 

If you’ve never heard of a capsule wardrobe, in a nutshell it’s the idea that you want to way, way, way simplify your wardrobe (sometimes down to as few as 10 items for a season!) so that your closet only has pieces that you really, truly, absolutely adore. Nobody likes waking up in the morning and walking into the closet only to be bombarded with a bunch of pieces that you don’t even like. It can be really helpful to place parameters around your wardrobe, such as limiting how many pieces you choose to keep, to make sure you are only holding onto pieces you truly love. 

After all, the first rule of organizing any wardrobe is to make sure that it only has clothes in it that you could actually wear and feel good in today. It is better to have just a few outfits that you absolutely rock than to have fifty outfits you feel so-so in. 

But, like I said, the incredibly restricted wardrobes just haven’t worked for me so far. Here’s why. 

Years and years ago I was an electrical engineer and, I kid you not, my life’s goal was to blend in. I didn’t want anyone to notice me, and that was absolutely reflected in the clothing I wore. When I got my first big girl job as an electrical engineer I bought five outfits – and those five outfits were all I wore. I wore them to work. I wore them on the weekends. I wore them to church. And let me tell you, these were plain outfits. Black or gray pants. Very standard tops. Professional, but not exactly what you’d call flattering or confidence boosting. 

I would see beautiful clothes in stores or on models in magazines, but for whatever reason, I truly believed that I, personally, could not dress beautifully. 

Fast forward several years. I had quit my job as an engineer, started my own business, and I had two small children. I bought the cheapest clothes I could find those days. My philosophy was more or less, “Whatever works!” One day I randomly decided that I wanted to wear something that day that I really felt good in. I walked into my closed and realized that I did not own one single item that I truly loved and felt good in. Not one. 

And so my fashion journey began. 

I order clothes from anywhere and everywhere: Stitch Fix, J Crew, Trunk Club. When you are experimenting with fashion and trying to figure out what looks good on you, it is NOT the time to buy less. The only way to know what looks good on you is to try it. 

But, here is the key. While I recommend trying on anything and everything, you should be really, really, really picky about what you keep. I would order several hundred dollar orders from J Crew, and only keep 20% of what I ordered. If it doesn’t quite fit, return it. If there’s just this one thing that needs tweaked to make it perfect, return it. If you don’t love it, return it. 

Now I have a closet full of outfits that I’m excited to put on in the morning, and I no longer decide not to wear something just because I fear what people will think of me. Yes, I have a lot more than 10 items in my wardrobe, but I still follow the cardinal rule of only keeping things that I love. 

And, one last bonus tip, I also expanded my accessories collection quite a bit. A good necklace or pair of earrings can really bring flavor to an outfit, and there are so many affordable places to shop for accessories – even Walmart and Target! 

Hopefully sharing my story has inspired you to build a wardrobe you love – whether it has 10 items or 100 items!

Organization that actually sticks for busy, happy lives.