Capsule Wardrobe: Spring/Summer 2019

March 29, 2019

It's been about six months since completing my first capsule wardrobe and I'm still happy with the system but it's a new season, so time for a refresh! I've acquired more new things than I planned for last time, and it felt like my closet was starting to fill up again.

You know the show Hoarders? How they say that if you don't address the hoarder's core mental issues, the second you clean out their house they'll just fill it back up? That's how I feel about this. I'm still learning who I am and it's reflected each season when I buy a bunch of new things that I don't wear. At the end of the last capsule, I bought things that I felt I needed to round out my closet. Some of those were great purchases that I'm still loving and wearing today (Target BF jeans, hello!) Some of them were not good purchases. Things I thought I "needed" but actually never wore. An example is when I thought I needed more basics and less patterns. I did buy a few basics...guess what, they are in the donate pile right now. I never wore them! I don't think the word "basic" is in (or should have been) in my wardrobe vocab. It's just not me.

Another reason I overshop is Trunk Club. If you don't know, Trunk Club is a service that sends a box of clothing and shoes to your door every 1-3 months. The pieces are all within your budget and you communicate with your assigned stylist beforehand to discuss what you need. Trunk Club has been great for me because 1) I love the element of surprise! It's like Christmas every time I get a trunk and 2) I end up with things that I may not have selected for myself. But lately, #2 hasn't been happening as often. I do have some killer pieces from TC but lately I've been keeping things just so I don't send the Trunk back without taking anything. It feels wrong to not take something – yes that's my Catholic school guilt again. But yeah, I always take something and more often than not, those pieces end up in my donate pile.

To combat my subtle shopping addiction, I've paused my Trunk Club account. I couldn't bring myself to de-activate it yet but a pause felt necessary. I want to see how much I shop without TC being a factor. I want to see if this is a real issue or not.

I feel good about the pause. Part of the capsule wardrobe strategy is to curb unnecessary spending by asking you to plan your wardrobes by season and ONLY shop for things you need during the first two weeks of said capsule. I followed this pretty strictly last time but by January, I was back to my old spending ways. Let's see how things go this time.

It's also worth noting that my Spring capsule was a quick refresh vs a full revamp. It's still pretty cold in Chicago so I'm keeping a lot of things from my Fall into Winter capsule, like sweaters and boots. I did swap in 1 or 2 pieces from my seasonal stash since the weather will supposedly get warmer here soon!

Mini Refresh steps:

Pull all clothes, shoes and jackets out of the closet and into a pile on the bed, including your seasonal pile.
Sort into three piles: YES, MAYBE and NO. I didn't create a Seasonal pile this time because I'm not ready to put any of my winter stuff away.
Revisit MAYBE pile at the end and sort into YES or NO piles.
Peep into your summer seasonal pile and see if anything can be brought out early for spring
Put everything away! Be careful to only put apparel or shoes back into your closet and not any of your feline friends who may be lurking under your clothes pile or in your purse.

It feels weird to have not gone full-force into this update. I didn't complete the worksheets or the planner this time, and honestly I think those steps help. They hold you accountable and make you think about who you are and who you want to be. That's hard shit for me to think about and writing this now, I can see why I avoided it this time. Avoiding it also allowed me to keep a few things that I probably shouldn't – one piece in particular, a coat that I absolutely love but I only wore once or twice. And, I sewed my own buttons on this coat and they aren't lined up/they don't function properly so it's not even a practical coat to wear! Yet, it's still in the closet because I'm not ready to let it go.

There are a few pieces like that for me this time but I plan to use the worksheets and follow the proper process again in June when I organize my summer capsule. I have a feeling it will be a more productive experience.

Regardless, I did edit down my Fall into Winter closet, including some pieces that were fairly new (sigh) but I'm feeling good about where things stand. Here's my Spring into Summer capsule - let's see what I can do with it!