Create Your First Capsule Wardrobe: Pro Fashion Tips
You’ve probably heard about it, but what is a capsule wardrobe? To put it simply, a capsule wardrobe is a collection of versatile pieces that create interchangeable outfits that are cohesive in fashion style, color, and purpose.
The pro fashion tips included here will help you create your first capsule wardrobe with minimum effort. I’ll show you how to add a personal fashion style to it, and how to get the right number of outfits for your lifestyle.
A capsule wardrobe can also help you get rid of that ‘nothing to wear’ feeling as you have ready-made outfits for every occasion. You can have a work-from-home capsule wardrobe or a vacation capsule wardrobe just as easily.
These fashion tips will give you more than just new outfit ideas. These methods have been successfully used by Wonder Wardrobe students for years. There’s a lot to take in, but I tried to make it as clear as possible with as many visual guides as possible.
Why you should build a Capsule Wardrobe
the Wonder Wardrobe Way.
A Wonder Wardrobe Capsule is the more advanced version of a regular capsule wardrobe because it is created with tops and bottoms that create totally interchangeable outfits. It also lets you express your personal style and have different outfits for different occasions.
All of these little extra things lead to increased wearability, reduced choice fatigue, and controlling shopping impulses.
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Step 1: Figure out how many clothes do you need to create a capsule wardrobe.
The classic capsule wardrobe usually is limited by the number of clothing you can include. Some say 33 clothing items are enough, others give a specific list of items to include.
But in my opinion, how many items you have in your capsule is irrelevant. You shouldn’t look at your wardrobe as a collection of separate items but as a cohesive collection of outfits.
I have students that have 80-outfit capsules and students that have 10-outfit capsules.
Related article: Large wardrobe: 100 outfits from 31 pieces.
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As you can see, in both cases the results are beautiful. But, most importantly, they help these women put together a ready-to-wear wardrobe that fits their unique lifestyle. They’ve all started the same way.
Here’s how you start a capsule wardrobe plan.
Put down on paper all the events you need to get dressed for in the next 3-4 months.
Create categories for the number of outfits you need for each activity. The outfits you need for every type of activity should be worn multiple times and can even be used for multiple activities. It all depends on your lifestyle.
Now I’ll divide them all by the number of times I can wear the same outfit during these 3 months. So if I need to dress up 45 times in the next 3 months, I am ok to wear the same outfit 3 times.
This means I only need 15 outfits for the first activity and approximately 40 outfits in total.
By doing this simple calculation, you should have a clear view of how many garments you need for a season or for the entire year. Of course, you can add more outfits, shoes and accessories to your seasonal capsule wardrobe but at least now you know when to stop shopping.
Here's an example of a capsule wardrobe that consists of 43 outfits and is made of 7 tops, 2 skirts, 1 pair of jeans and 3 pairs of pants, and 1 dress.
Step 2: Building a capsule wardrobe in your personal style.
You are the main focus of your capsule wardrobe, and so the resulting fashion style should reflect this. If you’ll just try to copy a style, a fashion trend, or a few looks, you will quickly discover that this won’t work for you long term.
Moreover, you would spend a lot of money on clothes that might look great on others but not on you.
This will lead to a new pile of unworn clothes and stressful situations from not having what to wear.
I know that most blogs show you the same neutral looking capsule full of basics like black pants, simple shoes, or white sneakers, white and blue shirts and classic jeans. The thing is that a capsule wardrobe can look as fashionable, modern and cool as you want to. You can really express any fashion style or even combine a few to cover different moods and occasions.
Check these examples of wonder wardrobes below that all have different styles and unique pieces.
Style: Casual style with dramatic elements.
Style: Classic style with romantic elements.
Style: Dramatic style with creative elements.
Style: Modern Classic Minimalist Style.
Step 3. Create a mood board.
Start by asking what your personal style is. You might not have the answer straight away. It can be hard to put into words. Try this instead.
Save images of some outfits you like, colors and patterns that attract you, everything that inspires you from a visual perspective.
Create a mood board that includes everything. This will help you steer away from unnecessary purchases and focus on what you like to wear for your future capsule wardrobe.
Teaching and learning personal style takes time and a lot of visual practice. Style is more often than not a balance between what we like and what really works for us. I’ve created a special class called The Style Harmony Class that will help you to define and evolve your style in your new capsule wardrobe.
Put 'personal' back into style: Discover & Evolve Your Fashion Style.
Step 4. Pick the right colors for your capsule wardrobe.
We’re all attracted to colors for different reasons, but just because we like green, for example, doesn’t mean it will make us look good.
Besides, if you keep picking colors randomly it won’t get you a fully versatile capsule wardrobe.
Of course, you can go for a basic neutral palette but it suits only a very small percentage of women and might limit your self-expression. Though if your favourite colours are neutral shades like black, grey, white, camel or brown, check this guide on how to use them in your capsule to not look basic or boring.
There are four color types you can belong to: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Each color type can wear a wide range of colors that will increase their natural beauty.
Correctly identifying your color typology depends on the color of your hair, eyes, eyebrows, and skin undertone. The contrast between these features will also factor in when determining your color type.
If you want to do this assessment quickly and safely, I would suggest taking The Color Harmony Class. I will be there to make sure you get your color type right.
Find your best colors here: The Color Harmony Class
I’ve recently launched The WoW Color Bundle which consists of the Color Harmony Class and a color palette of your choice. Each color palette consists of 40 colors. It’s a tool that will help you create great color-matching outfits quicker.
In essence, by having a cohesive color palette you will wear more of the clothes you have because it will be easier to match them into harmonious looks. This will help you stay away from impulse purchases that don’t fit with what you already have in your capsule wardrobe.
Step 5. Closet revision.
What to keep & get rid of when you create your capsule wardrobe.
Related article: How to Create a Spring Capsule Wardrobe: 45 outfit ideas.
Clothes to KEEP in your capsule wardrobe:
The clothing items you should definitely keep are those you wear the most.
Clothes to SELL / DONATE / RECYCLE in your capsule wardrobe:
You might really, really love that fuchsia blouse, but you get anxious every time you wear it, so that’s why it never leaves your house. It’s time to let it go together with all the other clothes in this category.
Another category of clothes you should consider letting go of your capsule wardrobe is the so-called ‘promise’ clothes. I ‘promise’ I’ll wear it when it fits. We tend to keep certain garments as a reminder that we need to lose or gain weight to fulfill unattainable standards that someone far away invented to sell you more clothes. We don’t wear these clothes, but when we see them we get a nice feeling. My advice is to take the last selfie wearing that item and then let it go to someone that will create new memories in it.
Gifts and impulse purchases that you barely touched should also be freed from your capsule wardrobe so that someone else can enjoy them.
What pieces do you need for your first capsule wardrobe?
My main advice would be to start slow. I have yet to meet a woman that started creating their first capsule wardrobe and got it right, myself included.
We all have clothes we shouldn’t have bought, clothes we don’t wear and so on.
What’s done is done, and we can’t change it. What we can change is the future capsule wardrobe you're about to build.
What will help you greatly is to take it slow. If you don’t know where to start, the Wonder Wardrobe Course and its huge community of like-minded women are there to point the way.
Related article: How to match clothes after decluttering: 15 Spring outfit ideas.
Taking it slow means starting your capsule wardrobe with what you have and slowly adding one or two items per month that increase the wearability of your outfits.
The more your tops match your bottoms, the fewer clothes you will need. And every new, carefully planned addition will just increase this number of outfits when you build a capsule wardrobe.
If you prefer to have a large closet and more options, you can easily create 100 outfits from 32-35 pieces of clothing. I showed how to do it in this article.
How to take boredom out of your capsule wardrobe.
When you start a capsule wardrobe, Variety and keeping Boredom at bay can be easily achieved by understanding your stylistic needs, your lifestyle needs, and then meeting them, or even exceeding them.
Capsule wardrobes can have many categories depending on your lifestyle. You can build a capsule wardrobe for work, or build a capsule wardrobe for your leisure time.
But for now, let's see how to build capsule wardrobes for different seasons.
If you notice that a seasonal capsule wardrobe does not have enough outfits, you can always supplement that.
But it’s very important to store it out of sight once the season is done. Start a capsule wardrobe for the next season before this season is done.
When you decide to build a capsule wardrobe for next season can include items from the past capsule that you find are still wearable.
If you have other capsule wardrobes already, see what you can use from there as well to build your capsule.
Creating a capsule wardrobe this way will show you that having 'nothing to wear' will never be an issue again.
Related article: Wardrobe storage and declutter ideas: Bento bags.
Repeated surprises are a very good reason to have a capsule wardrobe. And you can only have them once you don’t see your seasonal capsules for a while.
I love packing my capsules out of sight in these beautiful Bento bags.
Building a capsule wardrobe with clothes that don't go out of style can help your closet and obviously your bank account.
If you want to know what clothes don't go out of style for your personal style, I would suggest taking The Style Harmony Class.
Fast fashion always goes out of style that's why it is called fast fashion.
Your closet might be full of fast fashion now, but the best way forward for your closet is to use them for as long as you can and then slowly add great stylistic pieces that will make getting dressed a joyful experience.
Seems doable, right?
Do you have a capsule wardrobe? What helped you create it?
Share with us in the comments so we can learn from each other!
