Fast fashion, low prices, changing trends and impulse purchases often lead us to accumulation and the all-too-famous “I have nothing to wear”. How is it possible that we buy and buy and buy new clothes and still have nothing to wear!
The clothing industry is responsible for 8-10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, so buying for the sake of buying comes at a price for the environment. Now picture this: a closet with less than 40 items, interchangeable, true to our style, timeless, and environmentally friendly. Seems like a dream, right? This is what ‘capsule wardrobes’ propose: simplicity, money-saving and a step towards having a more sustainable closet.
What is a Capsule Wardrobe?
Capsule wardrobes are a collection of basic, good quality and interchangeable pieces of clothing that can form a complete closet by themselves. The goal is to achieve with a few garments a great number of looks.
Although today it is a trending topic, the term emerged several decades ago. Coined by British fashion icon Susie Faux in the 1970s, the capsule wardrobe concept spread to the United States in 1985, when designer Donna Karan created her “Seven Easy Pieces” line. Today, in the fast-fashion era, it represents a shift in our consumption habits and our relationship with fashion overall.
Traditional capsule wardrobes generally have between 30 and 40 practical and versatile pieces of clothing per season. The idea is to have the right clothes, avoid impulse purchases and don’t accumulate things you don’t wear. This way, you will get a timeless closet with quality and combinable pieces.
Why Choose a Capsule Wardrobe?
Have you ever, while rummaging through your closet, found that item of clothing you bought months ago that you still haven’t worn or that you forgot existed? We usually don’t realize how many clothes we have and don’t get to wear. Having a capsule wardrobe is a creative way to avoid this and to seek balance and coherence between the clothes themselves, and the clothes and our lifestyle.
The challenge? Wear a limited number of garments for one or more seasons (jeans can be part of both summer and winter capsule wardrobes). The allies? Basic and neutral colors, quality and self-control (believe me, you don’t need to buy five white shirts).
Other advantages of having a capsule wardrobe are:
- A wardrobe filled with ‘key’ garments that combine with each other with which you can achieve different looks.
- Helps to bust decision fatigue since all your clothes (or almost all) will combine with each other and, overall, de-stresses your relationship with clothes. Don’t believe me? A study on capsule wardrobes by the International Journal of Market Research showed “a positive impact of a 3-week capsule wardrobe on our participants who felt less stressed, detached from fashion trends, have found joy in their fashion style, and enhanced their awareness of conscious consumption.”[1]
- It helps saving money since compulsive shopping is no longer a necessity.
- It is a way of approaching a more responsible and sustainable life because you don’t enter the vicious circle of fast fashion.
- It helps you to get a greater aesthetic self-knowledge because it requires a detailed analysis of the lifestyle you have and for which you have to dress. Let’s face it, there is little point in accumulating evening gowns if your routine demands joggers.
What About Trends?
In a way, a capsule wardrobe equals ‘timeless’, so if this is your goal try to be careful with the latest trends because that inevitably leads to the abandonment of clothes and the scary ‘nothing to wear.’ Saray Martín, author of “The Capsule Closet Method” says that “if we want a good closet and key garments, we can’t have in our closet all the trends we see; that doesn’t work.”[2]
But in the fashion world there is no such thing as ‘forbidden’, nor ‘perfect’. The key is to strike a balance between basics and on-trend garments. Just keep in mind that trends change every season and that the idea of having a capsule wardrobe is to be aware of our style and what goes with us to stop buying clothes seasonally.
Are Capsule Wardrobes Sustainable?
If we think about production chains or fabrics, sustainability isn’t always present in a capsule wardrobe. However, a garment is not sustainable only because of the fabric it is made of, but also because of how much we wear it! A fluorescent sequin garment may be made sustainably and have minimal impact on the planet, but how often will you wear it? Yeah… not much. One of the pillars of sustainability is durability and lower consumption, key pillars on a capsule wardrobe as well.
Since capsule wardrobes don’t depend on the latest trends, they promote slow fashion. By reducing our cost per wear (cost of the item divided by the number of times you wear it) they also reduce the carbon footprint of our clothes as we purchase one good quality item for the long term. So apart from being cost-effective, capsule wardrobes teach us to be smart shoppers and allow us to live a more sustainable life.
Your Capsule Wardrobe in Three Steps
Here are the three steps to get a capsule wardrobe:
1. Get to know yourself and your lifestyle
For starters, to create a capsule wardrobe you need to be aware of your personal style and your lifestyle. If you are a yoga teacher, chances are you’re not wearing gowns every day, right? To make this first step easier, try answering these questions: Do I need work-specific clothes? If so, which kind? Do I live in the city or the countryside? Do I travel a lot? Do I have kids/pets? Consider all your needs so that you don’t miss anything.
2. Analyze what you already have
The second thing you need to do is to take out everything you have in your closet and analyze every piece in accordance with your style and lifestyle. Here are some questions you can ask yourself when doing this analysis: Do I like it? Does it fit my body and my lifestyle? Have I worn it in the last year? Does it go with my other clothing? How well does it reflect who I am?
3. Time to choose!
The final step is to separate your clothes by season and choose between 30-40 pieces for each season. This doesn’t include sportswear -if you only use it for sports-, underwear, pajamas, jewelry and accessories, and clothes for a special day (like a wedding).
I know, choosing the pieces that make up a capsule closet is not an easy task, especially because you need to get rid of much of what has been accumulating for years. Just remember that the basis of a functional capsule wardrobe is to have interchangeable garments that can create multiple looks for our everyday lives. If, after a thorough analysis you believe there are items that are missing, this is the time to go and get them! But be conscious and choose wisely, the environment will thank you.
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! Congratulations, you now have a capsule wardrobe.
But wait! What about the clothes you decided not to include in the capsule? Don’t worry, you don’t have to throw them away. There are always other more sustainable ways to deal with them like giving them away (family, friends and charities are always a great option), having some fun and upcycling them, or even making some extra money by selling them!
The Pieces of a Capsule Wardrobe
Although the pieces of a capsule wardrobe vary depending on the person, according to Vogue[3], some of the most often repeated pieces are:
– A white shirt
– Basic T-shirts
– A striped shirt
– Neutral sweaters
– Jeans
– Suit pants in a neutral color
– A long dark blazer
– A leather jacket
– A trench coat
– A pair of classic sneakers
– A pair of ballerinas or loafers
– A short or midi black dress
– A lingerie dress without too many ornaments
– A slip skirt
– A tote bag
Will you try creating a capsule wardrobe? How sustainable do you think they are? Let us know in the comments below!
