Sometimes after you shop, you come home and find nothing to wear with the piece you just bought. Or even though you bought the latest trend, you cannot fit it to your wardrobe. Or maybe simply, you can’t find anything to wear.
There are some ways to make sure that you’ll always have something to wear last minute. Today I’ll talk about the capsule wardrobe. But what’s a capsule wardrobe?
Capsule wardrobe means having 10-20 pieces in your closet and having tons of different outfits you can make with them. Many people suggest different selections and I will be showing you mine in this article. Quick disclaimer, I am talking about my preferences, I am more of a solid colors and basics girl. If you like patterns, bright colors or anything different, you can always do whatever you like the most.
Also, depending on your budget, you can change where to get your basics. Getting good basics from sustainable brands is a good investment but if those are too expensive, you can look at thrift shops since they have many of these or any brand that you like to shop from!
First, start with deciding what you do the most. Are you a student, are you a business person, are you someone who is mostly home? Then pull out some colors you like to wear, for the sake of capsule wardrobe, I will be recommending earthy tones and black&White today. But you can easily select a color palette and fit the capsule wardrobe into that.
My selection is a student living in Milan who goes out very often. Keep in mind that Milan is one of the fashion capitals and everyone walks as if they are going to a fashion show.
First is basics, obviously a capsule wardrobe requires many basic pieces so that you can make several looks with them. You need tank tops in mostly 3 colors. Black, beige and white. I suggest getting them with short sleeves, long sleeves and with straps. You can buy 1 or 3 or how many you like from each. These are also amazing for layering. (Zara)
Secondly, you need to have 1-3 jeans that fit you perfectly, or that you love so much. Again, I suggest having one white, one blue, and one black. White is the most optional one here due to being more of a seasonal color. But again, you can always wear white whenever you want. Besides jeans, it's always a good idea to have good tailored trousers that become your favourite piece in your wardrobe. (DjerfAvenue)
Next is shirts. You can opt for oversize or more fitting depending on your preferences. I have one white oversize and one black satin. I usually wear the white oversize with the tank tops and bralettes daily. Black satin is more for dinners and night outs. Also similarly, I suggest having one more formal black blazer for meeting, night outs, etc... And one daily light colored blazer. (Zara shirt, DjerfAvenue blazer)
For skirts and shorts, I’ll say they are more optional. However, you’ll probably need some good denim shorts for summer. When it comes to skirts, my advice is getting one for more formal events and another for going out. If are more of a skirts person rather than pants, get some flowy solid color ones for summer and earthy tones for all year long.
Another necessity is having good outerwear. I choose to wear black/beige long coats for winter and denim/leather jackets for other seasons. I think you can never go wrong with a good outerwear and they compliment your whole look so well. (Zara left, Acne Studios right)
Finally dresses! This is a hard one for a capsule wardrobe since there are millions of different types of them. For the sake of a capsule wardrobe, I’ll say find a dress that you can wear in several different situations. Have one little black dress to wear up or down and get one special events dress. (Zara)
Shoes, bags and jewelry are more personal items in my opinion. For jewelry, you can never go wrong with simple gold earring, necklaces and ring. For shoes, having go to sneakers is the best. But you’ll probably need nude or black high heels for several events. Also for bags, you can get a lighter colored small bag for daily wear and simple black night out bag. The one in the picture is an investment bag of course but there are always similar and affordable options! (Gucci)
Once you make a capsule wardrobe like this, it’ll always be easy to combine them with different patters and layers. These are also good to make a travel bag since you don’t have to think much about them. Like I said before, you can change the color palettes as you like but this will probably the easiest one to have and make. Also I think it’s the most suitable one to play with. You can add anything you like to monochrome looks, bright neons, patterned blouses, extravagant skirts or just whatever you want.
I hope this will help if you are looking to build a capsule wardrobe. I decided to have one this year and always read several fashion articles, or looked at influencers for help. I tried to write one that included what I looked for so far.