I did a years’ worth of capsule wardrobes and now I wonder will I do another?

I did a years’ worth of capsule wardrobes and now I wonder will I do another?

I now have a full year of capsule wardrobes under my belt and it’s given me pause as to how I wish to continue. I feel as if there are two camps of capsule wearers you have the camp that follow the Project 333 rule of thought which is where you have only 40 odd pieces or the more modern un-fancy rules which mean that we are re training ourselves to shop more responsibly and less in order to allow us to stop storing of an infinite amount of clothes.

After a year my problems come down to this, if I was to become truly a minimalist I should be able to cut my clothes down and live with my bare minimum. If I had properly developed my style would I still have the urge to shop? Would I still have clothes in storage? Probably not and that is where I wonder whether I should continue with a capsule wardrobe or whether I should upgrade or change the whole premise.

I think what is interesting is that those of us who subscribed to Caroline (and I would wager even herself) went into this happy dance because finally someone or something was going to make sense of our wardrobes when in reality it was all pretty simple.

• Don’t buy pieces which you can’t wear

One simple sentence I think is at the crux of most of our wardrobe dramas the different reasons for why we don’t wear something are different but the simple fact is most of us buy things we don’t wear. We have skinny pants (for skinny days), The red shirt we bought even though it goes with nothing in our wardrobe, the trousers that have always done something weird to our crotch, the trend muppet jacket which we feel self-conscious in or worst, the shoes that hurt our feet but we can’t bear to part with.

A relatively simple fix has made us all feel confused and upset. In the heat of fast fashion we have forgotten the simple rules our mothers gave us; “Will you wear it?”, “Does it fit?”, “Can you sit down in it comfortably?”, “You already have one of those.”, “Those will hurt your feet,” “You’ll break your ankle . . . the list goes on.

Somehow the capsule has helped as all it’s certainly helped me assess my spending. It makes me ask serious purchasing questions such as do I need this? Will I wear it all the time? Does it work with my wardrobe, all really, really important questions! So yes I’m still not sure that I will do another capsule wardrobe but at least I know it has taught me some really valuable lessons about responsible purchasing.

Now all I have to do is ask myself this, how do I wish to continue? Do I wish to just limit shopping, or my wardrobe as a whole? In my new house how will I manage my capsule with only one wardrobe (Where I used to hide out of season in another) will it help me get dressed or hinder me? And what is the best, long term, sustainable solution?