Firstly I want to introduce you to a fellow blogger, this is Julie. I found her via the dashboard the other week when she was talking about Capsule Wardrobes. Ever since reading about her decision I have been spending my downtime reading up on different capsule wardrobe challenges and how to do one myself.
Why? Well at first I was mildly horrified. I have spent most of my life proud of the clothing collection that I have amassed. Especially since having the blog because I felt so sure that I was investing in something to make the ever difficult what to wear question, easier. But as I read Julie’s reasons and looked into the blog Un-fancy I couldn’t help but hear a nagging voice in the back of my head ask me, “Do your many clothes make it easier or harder to get dressed? And do you really, really, deep to the bottom of your heart love every single thing you own?” The answer? Its complicated.
– I don’t want to get rid of my whole wardrobe because it feels wasteful and more importantly I do wear most things.
– Do I love, love, love everything? No maybe not.
– IS my wardrobe cohesive and easy to dress from? Hell no.
So what do I plan to do? Well for all intents and purposes I may also undertake the challenge alongside Caroline and Julie however I think for me it is important to make my own rules. When I set out yesterday to roughly pull out 37 things I love and wore all the time I found only 23 clothing pieces not including shoes. Not even close to the 37 pieces or even 33 suggested. But that is why I think these challenges are important because they make you truly stop and look at your wardrobe as a whole and ask the difficult question, has greed or make yourself happy shopping stopped you being sensible in your choices, do you need all this to be happy? In the up coming weeks I aim to bring you insight into my wardrobe, into the fact that there are things that I do still need (shocking) to make my wardrobe work. But also more importantly its that I intend to buy less, not even shop less but to buy less. If theres something I noticed its that there are a lot of impulse buys, or things that only work one way and that doesn’t make a sensible wardrobe either.
So far I have thrown another black plastic bag of clothes away. Getting rid of old sentimental pieces, un-worn pieces and things I never really liked. I Split my wardrobe into two halves, one for out of season and none everyday pieces (fancy pants pieces etc) and the other for my in the making capsule wardrobe.
I began planning my capsule wardrobe and my clothes choices going forward using Caroline’s Rule of three I also used the rule of three when throwing. For example I now only have, three pairs of leggings (most I was continually repairing, which was slightly daft in the grand scheme of things), three long sleeved basic shirts, three tees etc I may add I didn’t throw anything thats still cute and useable that was one of my stipulations, if I liked it it wasn’t going anywhere just because of numbers, it was more funny because it actually just fell like that accidentally!
I’m also reading the blog Into Mind, I love this girls insights into the business of dressing its made the most sense to me in the grand scheme of things and I think going forward I will be mixing her thoughts and Caroline’s together to make my own. This blog is a great for anyone looking to make their wardrobe work for them. Finally I’m going to pull upon this piece from the Urban – list about The Five Piece French Wardrobe which I thought was incredible and helpful in creating a lasting (and stylish!) wardrobe!
I am hoping to share more on this as I gather my thoughts together and I hope its something that many of you will enjoy, this does not mean that I will be stopping daily outfit posts they will still be going on! As well as my favourite Autumn trends. I refuse to forget that I love fashion just because I want to make everyday dressing easier! In fact I am hoping that this will make my style easier and more prominent because it will teach me that great basics can make a great wardrobe!
Also if you want to partake in any of the challenges mentioned there are links below to help you out!
Resources;
therealjlow 
I look forward to seeing your journey and reading more of your blog. The Un-Fancy blog was a great help to me, I also found Claire who blogs at justalittleless helpful also. I am currently reading The Joy of Less by Francine Jay which is also good and blogs at miss minimalist. Regarding your reply above about jeans, I found that jeans made from 98% cotton and 2% elastane were hard wearing compared to others that were a 50/50 mix of different materials. The best advice is dress for who you are, not for anyone else.
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Ah excellent! I have been looking for more blogs! Moral support is always needed! 🙂
I found what I hope are good pairs from zara and your gonna laugh but from the European supermarket lidl – £7 supermarket jeans ftw! Haha the difficulty for me is the shaping because I’m an apple rather than a pear shape I find it a lot harder to find jeans with waist forgiving and leg slimming attributes at the same time! But we will see as we go another great of shoot of this appears to wing able to review the quality of different stores products! Thanks again! Jess x
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*wing? Haha I meant be! Lol x
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I’m super excited to see where this journey takes you, and also that I inspired someone to take a new look at the things they already have! I think my capsule is going to be 41 pieces (at least for fall). I’m making the finishing touches on mine this week.
xo Julie
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Oh gosh me too! I’m so greatfull I stumbled upon your blog because honestly I haven’t felt this to my bones deep excitement for my clothes in a long time! Fashion yes but not my own style so this had been a major revolution so I apologise for my blog stalking! Hehe so far I realised my main problem is missing connecting pieces like I have a favourite grey tee but no great jeans or trousers etc so I’m really focusing on the long lasting basics and spending a bit more on them! And even better the shopping! Have you found yourself being more sensible with purchases? In just a week I’ve been out three times and stopped myself on anything not perfect which before I would have just bought it! It’s incredible! sorry for the essay but im so happy about this challenge I’ve become a gusher! Haha 🙂 xxx
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