Every year on move-in day, I rediscover the same, unfortunate reality; dorm closets are too small to fit all of my clothes. I usually blame the closets, but maybe the problem is that I, along with the majority of women in twenty-first century America, have too many clothes.
According to theeverygirl.com, today’s average woman has a whopping 120 articles of clothing (not including bras, panties, etc.) while women from the 1930’s had an average of 36 items of clothing.
The reason?
Unlike in the 30’s, clothing companies now increasingly lean toward foreign labor because it costs less and produces a higher profit. Companies can therefore sell their product for a cheap price and attract more buyers. Although this appears to be a good thing (especially for our wallets), there are actually a lot of cons to this new trend in consumerism. Instead of investing in wardrobe pieces that we absolutely love, we buy mediocre pieces just because they are cheap, not because we actually want or need them. Additionally, instead of having small wardrobes filled with high quality and long lasting items, we have closets crowded with faded shirts, jeans that are one-size-DOES-NOT-fit-all, and leggings that become transparent so quickly that we end up unintentionally revealing our polka-dot thongs to the world after only a matter of months.
The solution? Capsule wardrobes.
A capsule wardrobe is a closet concept that emphasizes features of the average 1930’s wardrobe: small, high quality and filled with clothing items you adore. The goal of a capsule wardrobe is to help you declutter, make the outfit picking-out process less time consuming, and give you the most bang for your buck.
So, how do you make a capsule wardrobe?
Step 1: Declutter. Go through all your articles of clothing (shoes included!) and ask yourself: do I love this? If yes, keep it! If you don’t love it, donate it.
Step 2: Assess. Once you have your ‘love’ pile, go through each article of clothing and asses why you love each piece. Is it the color? The print? The way it fits? Find a piece of paper and write down your thoughts. Now take those clothes and divide them into piles, one for each season, since each season gets its own capsule (yay!) but note: a lot of pieces can (and will) be used for all four seasons.
Step 3: Create. Now’s the fun part. Since we are headed into the spring months, focus on your spring capsule. Assess what you have and then figure out what you still need to buy in order to have a wardrobe that you love! Things to keep in mind: buy pieces that are neutral colors so that you can mix and match, find pops of color for mixing things up, invest in pieces that are high quality, and look for timeless items (e.g. a little black dress) so that you can wear them for years to come. Although you don’t need exactly 36 items, try to keep your wardrobe between 30 and 40 items (again, don’t include underwear, workout clothing, special occasion formalwear, etc.).
Step 4: Shop. The important part of this phase is not to rush. Don’t try to buy all of your necessary pieces all at once - browse, compare, and don’t make a purchase unless you absolutely love it and can imagine yourself wearing it regularly (because you will!).
Creating a capsule wardrobe can take some time, but it’s definitely worth it. Not only will you love your outfit every day, but you’ll finally be able to go into move-in day without worrying about the size of your closet.
Below is a an example of how by mixing and matching you can make a weeks worth of outfits from only three bottoms, four tops, three pairs of shoes and two bags.