Trying on a Capsule Wardrobe

Last week, my sister-in-law Aleah and I were discussing shopping and my self-proclaimed mild shopping addiction, and she showed me this beautiful blog, Unfancy. After reading about Caroline's journey towards a simple, cohesive wardrobe, I was inspired. She created a system for capsule wardrobes that I decided ((full disclosure: Aleah totally convinced me)) that I would give capsule wardrobes a try for this season. Although I'm not totally convinced that this method will work for me, I don't want to continue filling my closet with great deals that gather dust in my closet. This post on shopping has given me great perspective about how to make my purchases (including thrift store scores!) more meaningful and this post really hit home with me about how I feel about so many things in my closet . This is her simple guide to capsule wardrobes, and while I didn't follow the rules exactly, I still found her method helpful.  This is the process I went through to get to my own 37 pieces ((full disclosure: more like 39. Or 40. I want to be flexible)) which, I will mention, that I did most of this process without looking at my clothing... So... I don't recommend that.

1. I wrote down  the items I wore all the time, both to work and otherwise. These are my go-to, wear all the time in every season pieces, like my black skinny jeans and button up blouses. If I had been at home during this process, I would have pulled them out of my closet and made a pile, but between 8 hours in the classroom and 3 hours of class every night... You get the picture.
2. I wrote down the items that I love, but don't necessarily wear frequently because I don't want something to happen to them (read: glue smears, marker dots, a 3 year old's boogers, salad dressing drips). Looking at my closet, I wrote down things like the beautiful blue silk blouse I've had for 2 years and have worn 4 times, the mauve button up I bought full-price because I couldn't wait to wear it. I added those to the list because I want to wear them. I realized that most of my wardrobe was bought from clearance racks and thrift store piles, and therefore didn't cost much. Almost all of my favorites are basics that are easily replaceable and therefore if something happens to it (read: a 4 year old is so excited to see me they don't wait to wash their hands after painting to give me a hug), I can always find a great deal on another similar piece. 
3. I filled in the blanks. I used Unfancy's guide to building a capsule, I rounded out my list and included some things I didn't think about immediately- like flats (I hadn't worn any since November until yesterday) and a blazer. 
4. I created a color palette. I think ideally this step should be coupled with the planning process, like before you shop or pull together your pieces- but being away from my closet I used this more as a check to make sure the colors I put together made sense. I used this tool, then shared my palette with Aleah. We compared our color selections and we nearly had the same palette- classic colors with soft accents. 
5. I actually looked in my closet. This step should probably come second, no? At this point I made my adjustments to my list- added slacks (I forgot to include workwear, that's why my list is 39 piece instead of the usual 37) and removed some sweaters (I forgot its Texas winter- its 80 degrees today). After I adjusted my list, I adjusted my closet. I moved my other items into storage, or made piles for giving away or selling ((full disclosure: this is still happening. Sorry for the mess, E!))

I found this whole process both exciting and exhausting- I made the mistake of starting building my wardrobe the same week my university semester began... Not recommended.

Although I've only been working within my capsule for a few days, I've had one insight: Having a capsule wardrobe gives you permission to wear what you love all the time. I'm no longer guilt-tripped every time I get dressed- I can wear my all-star piece every day! That alone might keep me using a capsule wardrobe. We'll see how the next two months go!

These are the majority of my pieces- a few of them are thrifted vintage pieces I can't find equivalents of online.