What Is a Capsule Wardrobe?

Mariah Carey’s shoe closet

Remember that time I told you guys that I’m intrigued by minimalist wardrobes but it’s not something I could ever do?  I mean, what is a capsule wardrobe anyway? Well, I’ve been doing some research, and I’m certainly still intrigued.  As a matter of fact, I can say that I’m all in.  To be more specific, my interest/inquisition has prompted me to actually try it myself in the form of a capsule wardrobe.

Let me back up a bit and explain where all of this is coming from.  I like organization.  I do not like clutter.  I like order & clear surfaces.  I do not like inefficiency or excess.  See where I’m going with this?  I’ve also been reading this book recently (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo) that is helping me understand the importance of surrounding myself with the things that bring me joy.  The book has some other principles that are a bit far-fetched for my lifestyle, but it’s definitely still an interesting read.

The minimalist lifestyle fits me, in some ways. So though I could never exist on a wardrobe of 2 pairs of shoes and one pair of pants, I do think paring down the excess in my life and only focusing a wardrobe on the things I love are right up my alley.

who could ever forget Carrie Bradshaw’s amazing closet…

My inquisitiveness has led me to something called Project 333. The premise is simple.  Every 3 months, you utilize a wardrobe of only 33 items. Initially, I thought “I can do that. No problem!”  But that was until I found out those 33 items include shoes, accessories, and jewelry.  Crazy talk, right?  For me, that’s crazy talk indeed.  But what I can do is pare down my wardrobe to a certain number of pieces and do the same for my jewelry/accessories since I need to purge quite of few of the pieces I no longer wear anyway.  Since I typically tend to wear a “uniform” in each of my regular settings – i.e., work uniform, weekend uniform, church uniform, etc. – I imagine this won’t be too difficult for me.

As for the shoes, I’m not so sure.  I just find it hard to believe that the same pair of flats/heels/sneakers/boots can work with every outfit. That just totally goes against my very sensibilities.  Dramatic, I know, but there’s no way I’m getting rid of my purple sequin converse, my teal converse, or my white leather hi-top converse! They are just simply not interchangeable and all serve different purposes in my wardrobe.  Maybe my opinion on the matter will change as I get deeper into this capsule wardrobe thing or maybe it won’t.  What I do know is that I expect this exercise in eliminating clutter in my life to be very liberating.  I’m ready for the challenge!

I’ll be back soon to give you some specifics on what my Summer capsule is looking like.