In my previous post, Less Stuff, More Adventure, I mentioned that we had started a Capsule Wardrobe for my son when we moved to New Orleans, and I wanted to share more about that here in case anyone wasn’t familiar with this. So, let’s start with the basics about what a Capsule wardrobe is?
According to Wikipedia the term Capsule Wardrobe:
“Capsule wardrobe is a term coined by Susie Faux, the owner of a London boutique called “Wardrobe” in the 1970s. According to Faux, a capsule wardrobe is a collection of a few essential items of clothing that don’t go out of fashion, such as skirts, trousers, and coats, which can then be augmented with seasonal pieces.” Of course, I had no knowledge of this until I just Googled it lol. I was introduced to the term Capsule wardrobe from Instagram. I had stumbled across the #capsulewardrobe and over the years, I spent time scrolling and thinking about doing it myself. In fact every January and fall over the last 4 years I had considered doing it. The idea behind a capsule wardrobe is to eliminate or reduce the consumption of fast fashion. Filling up our closets with things that don’t serve us and getting rid of the things that don’t make us feel good and are sustainable. But honestly, I didn’t think it was for me because those on the hashtag didn’t look like me and the clothes that they were wearing did not fit my budget. I had convinced myself that I had to look the way they did instead of using what I had already to use for a capsule wardrobe. I didn’t actually commit to a capsule wardrobe until this fall when I did the #10x10representationmatterschallenge. I only did it for 10 days instead of the season that a traditional capsule wardrobe follows. I picked out 10 items and only wore those 10 items for 10 days. In a “traditional” capsule wardrobe you would pick 33 items and wear them for a season and pack everything else away. What I didn’t do in my posts was link to the brands I was wearing because I didn’t want anyone else thinking that they had to wear what I was wearing. My purpose for doing this was to show that I could make a capsule wardrobe my own and I didn’t have to buy anything to do it. What I found after the 10 days was that I not only could do it but I didn’t feel limited by what I was wearing. Which really helped my mindset leading up to our 2019 Year of No Spending.
While putting away summer clothes we discovered that our son had outgrown ALL of his pants that we had bought him the previous year. Now, I know that shouldn’t be surprising at all but it was for us because he didn’t get to wear the clothes as much since the school he is in wears uniforms. We had about 20 pairs of pants (sweats and jeans) that he had barely worn on the weekends. After seeing his “like new” clothing that he wouldn’t be able to use and thinking of the money spent on it, we decided that we would replace it with a current wardrobe. After going through everything and seeing what he truly needed, we decided that we would buy him 6 pairs of pants: 3 pairs of sweats/joggers and 3 pairs of jeans. We actually purchased only 5, (3 joggers: navy, grey and burgundy and 2 pairs of jeans: grey and blue). He only needed long sleeve shirts so we purchased 4 basic long sleeve shirts that could be worn with all 5 pairs of pants interchangeably. He’s been wearing his capsule wardrobe since September and hasn’t voiced concern about the number of pants he has. I realize that we are at a benefit since he wears a uniform to school. I do believe that you could do this even with a child that didn’t so we are doing it with our youngest. She’s 2.5 and goes to daycare 5x a week. They go outside every day to play weather permitting. For her Fall/Winter Wardrobe we not only sized up but we limited her long sleeve shirts to 7 with 2 sweatshirts. Living in New Orleans we don’t have a winter and our weekly weather can range from a high of 50 on a Monday to 72 or even 80 by Saturday. So while we’ve packed up her summer shorts and swimsuits we still have short sleeve tops as options. We did need to buy her jeans so she got 3 pairs and we also sized up by one size. I am pleased to say that capsule wardrobes are working for both kids and we haven’t had to buy anything additional for either of them.
