How to Create Your Winter Capsule Wardrobe (Part 1)
Easy steps and key questions to ask yourself to purge your closet and create a stunning winter capsule wardrobe.
It’s been mad chaos this past year… moving to a new state, losing my husband, our stuff in transit and then in storage for over a year. All I had for clothes were the few things we brought that summer to get us by while house-hunting. But now. I finally have all my stuff (and it’s a blessing and a struggle.) We had all we needed with our partial shipment to the apartment. Now I feel bloated in this house. I’ve been on a purging/sorting/giving/chucking streak lately. Today. Happy sigh. I’m feeling good enough to tackle the closet.
Thought I’d invite you along and show you how I create my capsule wardrobes: snowy winter edition.
No 1.) Take Inventory
So this is everything I’ve got sans my dress up clothes (…and the dirty clothes I need to wash and hang). 😉
You can tell, its a mess.
Taking a look at everything tells me a lot. Currently hanging up, I’ve got summer tees, fall cardigans, winter sweaters, painting clothes, leggings with snares in bad places, etc.
I’ve also got some items that don’t fit right but still somehow have been granted precious real estate in my closet (when they could be someone else’s dream come true and bargain thrift store find).
Which leads us to step numero dos…
No. 2) Sift + Sort
Taking inventory usually makes this part fairly easy. It took me 7 minutes to pare it down to this…
I’m feeling better already. Aren’t you?
How did I do that so quick?
I’ve had years of practice asking myself some key questions.
When sorting out your closet for a capsule wardrobe, ask yourself:
- Does it even fit?
- Is it in season?
- Is it comfortable?
- Is it modest?
- Do I feel pretty in this?
Any NOs go off the rack.
Don’t be discouraged if this takes a good chunk of time your first go around. I think it used to take me a good hour or two.
***Dear postpartum mama: This definitely takes more if you’re in a baby season. You know, when everything fits weird and you have to try on each item because you don’t even know if it will go on your body …or not… 🙂 Hang in there. Keep the faith. Take your time. Take a shower. Have a snack. When you try on clothes, put what doesn’t fit away for later when it might… or might not… 🙂 ***
No.3) Put No-Go’s Away
Fold clothes you won’t wear until another season and tuck into a box. I keep one bucket on a top shelf that’s creatively labeled “Seasonal” for easy swapping later.
Fold the Giveaways and immediately put in a box or bag in the car sho you can drop off next time you’re out and about.
Donation options: Women’s Shelters, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Church thrift stores.
No. 4) Dream
Here’s my favorite part.
(Especially this year with all the pajama wearing and the pandemic… I still love to dream and even remember my good ole days with Dan.)
I close my eyes and imagine my dream date night winter outfit… for Christmas parties, the Nutcracker, ballroom dancing. It would include a vintage, black swing plea coat, cloche hat, and black dress boots. (All items I have not been able to find to my specifications. But that’s why I keep the dream alive for when I do find them).
I close my eyes and picture my dream outfit for shopping a local hand-crafted Christmas market with my girls, horseback riding, or chopping down a tree in the woods.
I close my eyes and picture running to the grocery store, dentist, or picking up kids at school.
Dream outfits for work including speaking events, conferences, and meetings.
And I picture my dream ballet class outfit too, for good measure, because we are still dreaming here.
Your turn.
Close your eyes, think of all the activities your outfits need to accommodate.
- Casual
- Work
- Dress
- Dressy casual
- Workouts
Go ahead and write it down. Even describe how you want to feel in these.
For example…
Winter Casual Outfits: I want to feel comfortable, warm, covered, soft, approachable.
Dress up outfits: I want to look vintage, feel elegant, and feel like dancing… beautiful and comfortable.
And that’s a wrap. Enough for tonight. We’ll put it all together next time! And I’ll share some pics of what I ended up with in my pastel and neutral toned capsule.
Peace be with you!
