Last month, I shared that one of my goals for 2025 is to glow up my personal style (you can read more about that, and my other goals, HERE if you missed it). I feel like I’ve been working on this goal for all of my adult life. And while I’m making a real effort this year, I’m sure it will continue to be a work in progress. Because styles (and bodies) change and evolution is a natural part of this journey that we call life. Right?
Five years ago, I plotted out a plan to build a capsule wardrobe, which I documented HERE. In that post, I mentioned I had tried this once or twice before. And I will admit that I have attempted it again since. Well, it should not be a surprise (I did mention it in my 50 x 50 post HERE): I’m trying it one more time. I’m going to round down and say I’m up to Capsule Wardrobe 4.0 at this point.
My most recent attempt skewed toward mostly neutrals, thinking that was the easiest way to make everything mix and match, but it was SO boring and honestly, not very flattering. I felt blah and looked washed out and that made me feel bad about myself. Shouldn’t this be fun?
To up the fun quotient, I scrolled Pinterest and edited my boards to cull the fashions my younger self fancied (and of course I added to my boards too because hello, Pinterest— still one of my favorite hobbies lol), I picked three little words to give my style vision more definition, and I took a season/colors quiz (or two or three) to see what colors best suit me. I also focused on whittling my nail polish collection to a cohesive color palette, pared down some of my earrings and necklaces, and created predefined ring stacks to wear throughout the week.
Pinterest: my personal style board has gone through many transformations over the years, and after a quick scroll through just now, it is currently still pretty neutral heavy (you can check out my Pinterest board HERE). But the look and style of these pinned outfits are what I like most. They’re meant for inspiration, not direct plagiarism. And I think you’ll agree they evoke my Three Little Words, right?
Three Little Words: I heard about this concept on the A Beautiful Mess podcast (last year I believe) and was intrigued. I gave it a lot of consideration, but ultimately decided on “creative, comfy and cute” as my style descriptors. If I could have a fourth word, I’d add in “cool” too. A girl can dream…
Ever since it was a thing, I’ve always gravitated toward “bohemian” as my defining keyword when searching Pinterest for style inspiration (”bohemian business casual” to be exact), but the results were always a bit much for my real life (or what I was really looking for). “Artsy” was in the running but in the end I liked the alliteration of “creative” and “comfy” (a non-negotiable), and “cute” just rounded out the bunch nicely, while sticking to the persona I want to put forward: being attractive and approachable, definitely not sexy, but not boring either.
Season/Colors: earlier this year, I took a few online quizzes to figure out my season and my colors (because this is all the rage right now and I didn’t want to be left out) and based on my results, I am a dark/deep autumn. Coincidentally, the colors I shared in my 2020 post (see below) are part of the palette for dark/deep autumn. Maybe I subconsciously knew what I was doing back then…
As I’ve built back my wardrobe since that last colorless capsule attempt, I’ve incorporated some of my dark/deep autumn hues in a few pieces (see featured image for my current collection of sleeveless tunics). Even with these colorful additions, I would say most of my clothing can be mixed and matched and everyone (me and my clothes) are much happier. Yay! But still a capsule wardrobe it is not.
Capsule Wardrobe 4.0
In preparation for this post, I pulled some pieces out that I definitely don’t like. I still need to edit what’s left down to a comfortable capsule. To simplify things, this post is going to focus on work clothing only, Monday through Thursday, as those outfits are my main wardrobe woe. I will also implement a capsule approach to dress down Friday outfits and weekend ware, but for now, here are my current go to work outfit formulas and the target pieces/quantities I’d like to have:
Formulas
Ideally 1 per week on a random rotation… so as to not appear too uniform…
- Blouse/button down with pants or skirt
- Tunic (3/4 or long sleeve) with pants or skirt, scarf if it’s chilly out
- Tunic or blouse (short sleeve or sleeveless) and blazer with pants or skirt
- Tunic or blouse (short sleeve or sleeveless) and cardigan with pants or skirt
- Long sleeve tunic under a chunky cardigan if it’s a frigid winter day, brrrrrrr
Tops
- Tunics: 12, of varying sleeve lengths
- Sleeveless: 5
- Short: 3
- 3/4 Length: 2
- Long: 3
- Blouses/Button Downs: 8, of varying sleeve lengths
- Short: 4
- Long: 4
- Cardigans (Spring/Summer/Fall): 3
- Blazers (Spring/Summer/Fall): 3
- Pullover Sweaters (Fall/Winter/Spring): 3
- Cardigans (Winter): 3
Bottoms
- Pants: 6 pairs
- Skirts: 2 (1 mid, 1 long)
Shoes
- Flats (last Spring/Summer/early Fall): 4
- Boots (late Fall/Winter/early Spring): 4
I think my Tops section still needs to be edited some, but for now I am going to leave it and see how I do with this collection. I’m hoping that I’ll have better success with this fourth attempt at building and wearing a capsule wardrobe. I hope it makes getting dressed easier and more fun, and that I consistently feel good about how I’m expressing myself everyday through my clothes and personal style.
Have you tried a capsule wardrobe? Did you feel limited or free?
