Capsule Wardrobes: Decision Time

Seasonal Colours and Capsule Wardrobes

Part 3b

So decide on your dress preference. In many senses dresses on their own are both easy and difficult, easy in that there is only one item but difficult in that you can't mix and match, and the most successful capsule wardrobe is based on a mix-and-match of items. Here is an example out of my winter capsule. I have 4 dresses – ivory daisies with pink centers on navy, teal daisies with dark red centers on ivory, dark tan leaves on light tan background and light tan with a mixed pattern. Then I have 7 pairs of trousers in differing styles, bright red, dark red, navy, brown, green, medium pink, blue. The combinations are many, patterned light tan with brown, red, blue, green or pink, navy with navy or pink, teal with teal or dark red. I also have a couple of sleeveless over-dresses to add layers and more interest in dark red or navy lace plus a couple of maxi dresses which have a multi floral pattern and can be worn over almost any trousers. This means that I have more than enough clothing to take me through a week without needing to duplicate my look and also means that I only need to do laundry twice a week (great saving on energy here). Come spring (and I am doing this now) some of the colours go away and others will come out, so brown, dark red and teal disappear until autumn/fall and blue, yellow and green appear. A bonus is that all my clothing fits in 2 fairly large plastic boxes with the current season's clothing in a much smaller box which sits on top of the others. This means that my clothing is readily accessible, storing it rolled up means that it doesn't get wrinkles, can be kept moth free, no need of smelly laundry detergent/fabric softeners as I use lavender sachets or cedar wood for scents, no need of a space wasting wardrobe/closet as the boxes stack and can be used to display items on top as well.

Please note that I have not included underwear, shoes or other accessories in the above lists. Underwear is personal to each different person, I prefer to wear a number of different thin layers because we don't keep the house at summer temperatures all year round (winter the average temperature would be around 50degF/10degC) and layering means that you keep warm much more easily and it also means that when we go out we don't need to take really heavy winter coats with us which then become a problem as soon as we go into a supermarket or shopping mall where the heat is enough to cause you to nearly pass out when wearing the coat, or you can take it off and then worry about carrying it plus all your shopping which still makes you hot. In my case this means that I have colour matched under-dresses (think mediaeval chemises) which can be worn as a petticoat under a maxi dress or as a maxi dress on their own beneath a slightly shorter kurti/dress worn over the top with trousers underneath. So this part of my underwear box is colour co-ordinated to the season. I also wear scarves all the time so these are also colour co-ordinated to match in with the season but also thickers ones in winter and thin chiffon in summer. Shoes – I have a couple of pairs as they do take up space, and this is in short supply in a tiny house but my daughter has lots of them (again stored in plastic boxes so they don't take up too much space) and they match with the couple of handbags/purses that I have, again different colour for each season. They are in neutral colours and match in with everything I have – navy, cream/ivory, brown (leopard print), plus 2 pairs of boots, one tan and one black. Handbags are leopard print, dk brown, orange for winter and ivory/baby pink/pale grey floral, pale yellow and cream for summer. They all fold down and fit nicely together inside a single box. I also have a couple of faux leather shopping bags that I use when shopping, better than plastic bags or the paper ones that always rip when you are stepping over a puddle of water or spilled ice-cream and when a scarf is tied around a handle in the latest colour for that year they are instantly updated. I have one in mustard for summer and one in tan for winter. I also have a number of those bags that fold up into a tiny ornate packet which are designed to sit in your bag until needed or are simple fabric tote bags, again ideal for shopping and they all fold up nicely into my shopping bag until needed.

If you are serious about having a capsule wardrobe so that you always have something to wear while having less clothing and space in your wardrobe/closet then you need to sit down with a pencil and paper and make several columns. See charts below for an example I found in one of my books. Equally there are a number of books out there that will give you a list of the basic necessities for a working girl – Color Me Beautiful to name but one. Fill in the chart, then sit and look at it. Fill in the second chart and then compare the two. Decide what you want to do with the extras (I favour a local charity shop when I decide to change one outfit for a new one, or as a seamstress I recycle the item(s) into something for someone else or something around the house (pillow case, cushion cover, part of a patchwork quilt, tote for shopping). Often a dress can be made into a nightdress or pair of pyjamas with a matching trousers for the bottoms. (My daughter's nightwear collection is all mix-and-match so that she just pulls out a pair or PJ bottoms and a PJ top and she knows they will go together without even having to think about it).

Based on the one found in an old book, please be honest and include EVERYTHING in your wardrobe/closet. You may need to expand the chart to cope.

Items you have	Leisure home	Leisure gym	Work	Dressy casual	Dressy formal
Skirts
Dresses
Jackets
Trousers
Blouses
Tops
Shoes
Bags
Scarves/hats
Wraps/coat/ anoraks
Waistcoat (vest)/slipover

This table below is for my Spring capsule, many of the items were carried over from winter and some will go on again into summer.

Items I have	Leisure home	Leisure gym	Work	Dressy casual	Dressy formal
Trousers	Blue, pink,	blue	Navy, ivory, pink, orange	Green, yellow, ivory	Beige silk
Dresses maxi	Yellow plain, yellow gingham	Yellow gingham		Green/ivory stripe	Navy cotton lace
Kurti midi	Floral misc.	N/A	Navy,	Yellow/ivory, yellow/green	Beige beaded lace & silk
Kurti short	Pale blue, misc.floral	Blue,	navy/ivory floral
Scarves	Plain ninja style	Plain ninja style	Navy, grey, pink,	Pink, grey,	Plain beige ninja
Shoes	Slippers, mules	canvas	Navy, brown	Navy, brown,	Brown leather
Bags	N/A	Gym bag	Navy, brown	Navy, brown	Brown leather
Gloves	N/A	N/A	Navy, brown, black	Navy, brown, mauve/black	Brown leather
Wraps/coats	N/A	Blue hoodie	Brown check, yellow wool, red, dk red lace slipover	Brown check, mauve wool check,	Beige silk and lace
Jewellery	N/A	N/A	Acrylic cross, fake pearls,	Leaf pendant, fake pearls, acrylic cross,	pearls

This isn't everything I included because of the seasonal part, but it is a fairly accurate one for winter last (the 2 brown outfits are new). Include items that you really need but only the basics. Think, do you really need/fit/use/wear this item or is it just sitting in the closet unworn/too large or small/doesn't suit. This table is based on the one I made for myself, yours will be different because your clothing choices are YOURS and not mine.
You ;may not go to the gym (or out running or whatever) but you may spend time shopping, and you may spend time eating/drinking out with friends. In this case you wouldn't have leisure gym but you might instead put casual shopping, casual dressy (eating out, cinema etc.) or if you have kids and don't have time to go anywhere you might instead include shopping with kids, teacher/parent nights, monthly night out with girlfriends, Customise to fit your lifestyle, but remember that to be successful the clothing you have left must mix and match. This means that that bright pink jacket that looked fabulous in the shop but which matches nothing in your wardrobe either goes to a charity shop/sold on ebay or you put it to one side, think about it for a week and then if you can't do without it – because you really really like it – then you go and find something to wear it with. That might be a couple of neutral dresses or skirts/trousers and top that match and can be worn with a contrasting jacket that will really make them pop. If you don't have lots of money to spare for new clothing it is well worth your while – if you can't already – to go to classes or find a friend who can and learn to sew. I was lucky enough to learn at school but my mother could sew as well so both my brother and I were able to sew from a young age. Now I am able to easily update my wardrobe with clothing (especially since I found a great shop which not only has an actual shop but also sells on-line – www.vibesandscribes.ie – and they have a great range of dressmaking and quilting fabrics (and both can be used for either). There are many other good on-line shops out there and the shipping costs are great if they are in your country of residence, otherwise the shipping costs (especially from the US to the rest of the world) are prohibitive. Give it a go because it is very rewarding and you will never again be wearing the same as somebody else (plus the item will last and be cheaper than many items purchased in stores).a

Lastly, below is another gem found on Pinterest. This is a very basic capsule wardrobe, pared back to the minimum but there is enough there for both work and entertaining (at home or out). You can go shopping, spend a day in the country or a main shopping street, go to work and then add a couple of items before going out for the evening, basically a simple everyday selection without any specialist items eg: for the athletic type or the gym afficionado or the person who spends their spare time mucking out the stables and riding ponies.

Until next week: take care, have fun, enjoy life, look out of the window and see the new shoots springing up as the weather slowly warms up for the new season (in the northern hemisphere. Southern hemisphere the trees are slowly losing their leaves, the mornings are getting darker and cooler and autumn/fall is in the air with winter following on behind).

Capsule Wardrobes, Ideas

Seasonal Colours and Capsule Wardrobes

^{Part 3a}

Sorry for the gap last week but yet again weather intervened. This time we had snow, and whilst it wasn't enough to take out our power or internet (although many parts did lose both, we did have frozen pipes so water was from large plastic jerrycans filled at the house of a friend who had water (but no power). Luckily we have a fabulous neighbour who loaned us 3 20 gallon jerrycans plus a very large electric radiator (he was worried we might get cold but the insulation in some of these old places is quite amazing and while it went down as low as 6degC/42.8degF overnight most of the days were spent around a very pleasant 10degC/50degF. At present it is a warm 16.8degC/62.24degF with no heating on, just the warm air outside coming in through the vents plus whatever the uv heating bit is that comes in through glass. Luckily our heating bills are virtually nothing which makes a very nice change, (we spend about Euro10/£8.86/US$12.30 per week on all our electrical needs – heating, lighting, fridge and 2 freezers, charging phones/laptops etc. - with gas for cooking, we couldn't spend less if we tried and it makes an incredibly lassez faire difference knowing that there are no huge bills coming in the post cause we just put a tenner on each week – pre pay – and we're done.) I can't recommend living in a tiny house highly enough, although we would be better in a couple of tiny houses given we have 4 adults in one tiny house, problem when we all have different work-at-home needs and more office space really would be good but hey, tiny is cheaper living expenses so can't complain.

And this brings me nicely into this weeks topic which is capsule wardrobes. I have been researching into capsule clothing wardrobes for a couple of months now and the first thing I have noticed is that everybody has a different definition of 'capsule wardrobe'. Some encompass everything under the one heading, others split work and leisure into 2 different groups, others split things up even further by adding in going-out, staying-in, working-out, sports and so on. So I have gone for a relatively painless version of my own which includes regular change as part of the collection. Basically I have 4 capsules, one for each of the seasons. I freely admit that some items change between all seasons, these are my neutrals that cover almost any occasion, but I have tried to take the colours from my seasonal chart – deep going into warm autumn – and split them into colours that epitomise, for me, the different seasons. So here goes:

Winter - navy, ivory, dark red, green, teal, brown, pink

Spring - navy, ivory, green, yellow, blue, pink,

Summer - navy, ivory, green, yellow, orange, blue, pink, misc. floral,

Autumn - (or fall for the Americas) navy, brown, orange,green, blue, pink, dark red, teal.

If some of the colours seem to keep recurring it is because some of my dresses have several colours in them, for example I have ivory daisies with pink centres on a navy background, this dress is worn with navy, ivory or pink. Equally one of my tan dresses has red, pink, baby blue and green in the pattern so again this can be worn with any of these colours. This means that I have some new items every season while equally others get put away until needed in another 3 months or so.

Colour chart below (courtesy of Pinterest) shows the basic colours for deep autumns, there are many more in more detailed charts, plus the all season neutrals have been omitted – navy, grey, white (pure, winter or creamy) etc.

Next you need to decide on what you LIKE to wear, not what others think you should wear. My own personal choice is a dress and trousers (based on the Indian salwar kameeze/kurti look, but loosely classed as Indo-western), and the dress can be knee length or ankle length, have slits up the side, the center front, off-center at the front – single or a pair – or an A-line with no slits at all. This started when, in decades past, I used to run a backyard smallholding and while I am adept at digging and mucking out the chickens or rabbits in a maxi dress it is undeniably easier when wearing trousers. However I am also larger than I used to be (lots larger as in double my body weight) and find that a dress or kurti over trousers is more flattering, plus I have never really lost the love of maxi dresses from the 1970s when I was growing up (first maxi skirt – 2 of them, both in paisley, one green and one red aged about 7/8 years old), and while I have often had a pair of jeans – first pair aged 12 – I have never found them to be really comfortable or practical. How many others have their current dress sense rooted back in childhood fashions I wonder? I also prefer to dress modestly although I hold that you can reveal as much or little as you like, but it should be YOUR personal choice and not the choice of some fashion editor or a group of peers who decide. I also suffer from lymphoedemia and find that wearing trousers fitted to the ankle, similar to so called hareem trousers but not elasticated by choice, and long between ankle and knee mean that most of the swelling is hidden and stays hidden when I sit thanks to the longer leg length allowed by the fitted ankles. I freely admit my styles are based on several salwar patterns which can easily be found on YouTube, although I stick to the plain churidar or pyjama styles when possible, many designs only really look good if you have super long legs (size not a decider, one of the best wearers of mini-skirts I have ever known was a size UK20 because she had legs up to her armpits whereas another friend who was the same height – 5'8” - looked terrible because she was a skinny size 10 with normal proportion legs and they just didn't suit her at all).

To be continued next week. Capsule wardrobes part 3b, what you have versus what you really need.