Summer Capsule Wardrobe | First Steps

Building a capsule wardrobe is a process.

Most of what I've read on the subject suggested starting a capsule wardrobe with jeans and a white shirt. Since I don't really wear jeans like that, it wouldn't make sense for me to use them as the foundation for my capsule.

Another common approach was to start with a set number of items in each category. The suggestions for this approach were heavy on the separates (tops and bottoms), and don't really work for someone like me who wears lots of dresses.

While there are some tried and true capsuling processes out there, I realized I needed one that was more iterative, flexible, and aligned to my personal style.

I was feeling stuck and decided to start my summer capsule with a color (navy) instead of a number. I eventually settled on a tri-color palette of navy + white + red. I went through my closet and pulled all the clothes that matched the color palette. I removed the items that were out of season, specialty, or special occasion.

This became my starting capsule. It will continue to evolve as I add, replace, or remove items. My goal is to keep the capsule at 25 items or less.

So far I'm at 21 items, not including shoes:

• 10 dresses

• 2 cardigans

• 2 tops

• 2 t-shirts

• 2 skirts

• 1 pair pants

• 1 pair shorts
  

The next step is to add more items in complementary colors. Stay tuned, I'll be documenting my progress in future blog posts.