Building A Capsule Wardrobe

Have you a wardrobe full of clothes and still complain you have nothing to wear?  What if I said you could have half the amount of clothes in your wardrobe but make twice the amount of outfits with them?

I am Laura Byrne, a personal stylist from Co Armagh & owner of women’s clothing brand, Laura Jane the Label.  My job as a personal stylist is to teach you to shop smarter, stop impulse buying, shop quality over quantity and overall, to help you get more value and wear out of the clothes you buy.  Today I want to talk to you about your shopping habits, where you might have gone wrong and to introduce you to a ‘capsule wardrobe’. 

First of all, I want you to ask yourself the question, where have I been going wrong when it comes to shopping?  Why have I a wardrobe full of clothes and still nothing to wear? I get asked this very question on a daily basis and my guess is that you are shopping for the wrong clothes and not thinking about the items already in your wardrobe and whether they will mix and match or not.

For example, you see a jacket on the style section on TV or on an influencer or boutique on social media and you go straight out and buy it because you want to be on trend.  What you haven’t done is asked yourself, will this suit my body shape? Does this colour even suit me? Have I at least 5 other items in my wardrobe that would match this jacket?  If you haven’t considered all of these things, what is going to happen is that lovely trendy jacket is going to hang in the wardrobe and the chances are you are not going to get the wear out of it, it’s just going hang there with the rest of your unfinished outfits.

Now let me explain to you what a ‘capsule wardrobe’ is.   A capsule wardrobe is a minimalist collection of clothes that can be put together in different ways to cover a variety of outfits and occasions. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing. This is usually achieved by buying what are considered to be ‘key’ or ‘staple’ items in coordinating colours that can be mixed and matched to make a number of different outfits.

Once you have built a full capsule wardrobe, of course you can introduce some new season trends, including some colour and print, after-all this is how we bring out our personality through our clothes.  The important thing to remember is, we do not want to invest in an excessive amount of new season trends that we just simply are not going to get the wear out of so shop smart and really consider every purchase.

Today I am going to share with you my full 20 piece capsule wardrobe checklist for Spring/Summer:
1.    Trench Coat
2.    Casual rain coat
3.    Medium wash jeans (style of your choice)
4.    Smart trouser or dress (depending on your lifestyle)
5.    Black skirt
6.    Neutral Knitwear
7.    Neutral blazer
8.    Plain white t-shirt
9.    Cami ‘going out’ top
10.    White shirt/blouse
11.    Good quality leggings
12.    Hoodie/Sweater
13.    White trainers
14.    Flats/loafers
15.    Heels (heel of your choice)
16.    Daytime handbag
17.    ‘Going out’ handbag
18.    Brown or black belt
19.    Everyday earrings
20.    Everyday necklace

If you concentrate on building a capsule wardrobe, guess what! You are going to have less items in your wardrobe, but you are going to be able to create lots of different outfits.  Eventually, if you do decide to buy that new season trend jacket, you will have a few different items in the wardrobe that you could mix and match with it because you have spent time creating this ‘capsule collection’.

Have a go and see how many items you can tick off the checklist already and I hope going forward, you will shop smarter and really consider every purchase and every last item you invite into your wardrobe.


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