I think that with a capsule wardrobe–like with so many things–there is a “honeymoon” stage, a “reckoning” stage, and a “peaceful acceptance” (or “give up entirely”) stage. Or maybe that’s just my experience of it?
Basically, for about two weeks after starting my capsule wardrobe experiment one month ago, I was unequivocally in love with the whole idea. For the first time in months (and months and months…), I felt excited about choosing what to wear, and it was such a relief to know that everything in my closet fit. I started trying out combinations I’d never put together before, and–wonder of wonders–I actually started busting out some of my jewelry again, too.
It seemed that there was no end in sight to the blissful experience of only having to think about to wear for about 45 seconds each morning.
Then, the “reckoning” hit—I’ve always been one to do laundry as few times a month as humanly possible, and once I started running out of options, I got a little frustrated. My capsule wardrobe– which I’d tried to arrange so that everything could go with everything else–ended up not *quite* as coordinated as I thought. Plus, the spring weather started tossing her beautiful head, and all of a sudden, a quarter of my wardrobe seemed obsolete.
(Confession: during this “reckoning” stage, I cheated a little—I actually rotated out a couple pieces that I’d originally chosen for the capsule (that I hadn’t worn yet anyway, so I guess I technically wasn’t “breaking” any rules) and rotated in a few more
seasonally appropriate options.)
I also realized during this period that some of my tops only looked good with skirts or certain pairs of pants (thanks to the lovely “mommy pooch” I’m still working on getting rid of), which made me rotate a cardigan, blazer, or jacket into pretty much almost every outfit. While on the one hand, I was feeling better in my clothing than I had in a really long time, it was still making me realize that even with a well-selected wardrobe, I’m still not quite used to dressing this new body shape.
But then finally, only in the past week or so, I think I’ve reached an acceptance with the whole thing. No longer eyeing the bin of clothes with all the non-capsule items (which I did more than once during that “reckoning” stage), I am now at peace with my decision to just stick with this capsule wardrobe until summer more or less officially rolls in.
And now, looking forward, I think I’m going to be much more intentional about the clothing I buy–before, I just bought things that looked cute or that were on sale or that just fit my new body period (never mind how cute it actually was), but now I think I might finally have the kick in the pants to really “invest” in a few key pieces that could work hard in a small wardrobe (like a knee-length black skirt or a collarless button-up).
It will be interesting to see what creative combinations I’ll come up with next (since apparently I’m the type that has a hard time wearing the exact same outfit twice in a season), but I think the whole thing had been good for me overall (not to mention time-saving!).
***P. S. I do actually wear shoes with pants. I just take them off literally about two seconds after I get in the door and can’t be bothered to put them on again for pictures…
