I don�t know why I haven�t done a Q&A before now. Thank you for asking the questions that you did. I�m really excited about answering them and it has sparked off some post ideas for me too.
I�ve decided to answer one a day. At this stage I have twelve questions, so I�ll be posting each day until I�m done. It�s not too late to tack a question onto the end if you have one too!
First up, lovely Rosefrom Australia asked:
I've become interested in capsule wardrobes like those Jennifer (The Daily Connoisseur) advocates. I know you are into decluttering and minimising, do you aim to have a capsule wardrobe? If you do, what are your essentials?
I do have a sort of informal capsule wardrobe currently, and I have done Project 333 once in the past.
I love the concept of
Project 333 where you build four seasonal capsules for the year, made from 33 items of clothing (33 items to do you for 3 months).
It�s fun to see a cohesive collection that you have put thought into, and it�s easy to weed out the items that don�t go with the look/feel/colour palette so you can put them aside for another collection (or declutter).
Because it�s between seasons at the moment I�m wearing some transeasonal items and some warmer items, depending on the day�s weather. For that reason I have not done another 333 capsule, but I do have a limited-ish number of items that I choose from.
I�ve done quite a bit of wardrobe decluttering and, if not gotten rid of, they are waiting to be moved on in my donation box anything that is:
Frumpy
Scratchy
Not a colour I want to wear
A little bit worn
I�ve never felt amazing in
You know, those pieces that you wear because they�re there but they aren�t your favourites. I want everything in my wardrobe to be my favourite.
With underwear, I had a big cleanout just before I started Tonya Leigh�s Slim, Chic & Savvy course in October last year, and then one of the lessons was on upgrading your underwear (because everything is energy, even what you wear underneath that no-one can see � you can see it!). I refined my selection even further and invested in some new pieces. This included nightwear and I now have a couple of summer sets and a couple of winter sets of nightwear that I am really happy with.
Both on her course and in her public online soirees, Tonya talks a lot about �essence words�. They are usually two or three words that you might use to describe, for example, how you want to feel for the day, how you want your home d�cor to feel, or how you want your wardrobe to feel. For my underwear and nightwear, I decided on two essence words � sexy and sophisticated. Having those two words in mind helped me shop really efficiently for new items on my wish list.
They had to be within my budget too though. I knew I didn�t want to buy cheap (�buy cheap, buy twice� as the saying goes), but neither did I want to buy super-expensive underwear/nightwear I was too afraid to wear in case I snagged them.
Having essence words also helps when doing a wardrobe cleanout. Many recommend a change of season as a great time to do a cleanout, and it is. You�re looking at what you want to wear for the season ahead and you can have a go at doing a capsule wardrobe if you want to, because it's a nice clean slate. Courtney Carver, who invented Project 333 said she found her first capsule quite random, but as she did a new one each season, found it easier to see what gaps there were.
What I have been doing, and it�s quite useful to do before you even think about creating a capsule, is to put an item I�ve worn to the left as it gets put back, whether it�s in my hanging wardrobe or folded in a drawer. That way I can see items that are repeatedly passed over (as they move to the right) and I can either force myself either to wear them or simply put in my donation box. A self-selecting capsule if you will.
The transeasonal clothing I have been wearing recently is in a moody palette of:
Black
Charcoal
Denim
Blue-grey
Camel/tan
 |
| A close-up of my hanging clothes showing aforementioned moody palette |
My colouring suits soft and muted tones - bright, clear colours are too harsh for me. I�m a Soft Summer in Colour Me Beautiful world.
The essentials in my wardrobe are what I would consider my current uniform:
- Skinny or straight-fitting jeans in classic denim blue, charcoal grey or black
- A slightly dressy/fashiony top in black, charcoal, mid-grey, blue-grey, navy or camel
- Ballet flats or leather boots with a small heel
I then add a scarf maybe, and a jacket if it�s cooler.
I contributed to a
USA Today article back in 2012 about �The Fashion Uniform�. One of their writers contacted me about this topic as she was researching it and had come across a
blog post I wrote. I was too shy to share it with you guys at the time, but I�ve gotten over that now. She was kind enough to post me the section the article was published in. What a thrill!