Transform Your Closet With a Capsule Wardrobe

Does your closet make you feel peaceful or overwhelmed?

If your closet is overflowing and you’ve ever thought, “I have nothing to wear” then it might be time to transform your closet.

Are you familiar with the term "capsule wardrobe" ?

The term "capsule wardrobe" originated in London in the 1970s but really caught on in North America in the 1980s sparked by Donna Karan and her "Seven Easy Pieces" collection.

Although this concept has been around for a while it is currently making a comeback. Today you can find many variations of this popular method of streamlining your closet.

A capsule wardrobe is basically a set number of garments that you can mix and match with one another to create many different outfits. The foundation pieces are essential pieces that don't go out of style and that can be updated with seasonal pieces. Typically, you wear a capsule wardrobe for a season, then at the end of that season, you update it for the next season. Obviously many items would carry over to the next season and you could add just a few items to keep things fresh.                                               

Typically the seasons are split up like this: Winter (Jan-March), Spring (April-June), Summer (July-Sept), Fall (October-December).          

Here is one example using 33 items: 

• 15 tops        

• 6 bottoms

• 6 pairs of shoes

• 2 dresses

• 4 jackets/coats

THE BENEFITS OF CREATING A CAPSULE WARDROBE 

1. Less Decision Fatigue - Streamlining decisions like what to wear gives you more mental bandwidth for more meaningful choices that you are faced with throughout the day.

2. Save Time - How much time do you waste trying things on in the morning as you decide what to wear? Also consider the time you spend impulse shopping for clothing pieces to stuff in your closet. Once you create your capsule wardrobe, you’ll get all that time back for what really matters to you.

3. Save Money - What did you spend on clothing or other fashion related items last year? How many of those purchases were items you actually needed? How many were driven by emotions, marketing, or boredom?

4. Conscious Consumption = Less Waste - In a single year, Canada produces enough textile waste -- clothing and other goods like upholstery -- to create a mountain three times the size of Toronto's Rogers Centre stadium. Click here to read an article on clothing consumption.

5. A Clutter Free Closet - Self explanatory!

If you’re like most people, you own a bunch of clothes and only wear about twenty percent of them. This is called the Pareto Principle. Also known as the 80/20 rule.

This suggests that you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time. When you have a capsule wardrobe, Pareto’s Principle doesn’t come into play. You wear everything. End of story.

Creating a curated collection of items to wear seasonally can help you simply transform your closet. That in itself is a great reason to try a capsule wardrobe.