summer capsule ’19

I started minimizing my wardrobe years ago. After moving several times (my daughter had lived in 5 homes by the age of six) not carrying so much baggage every freaking time made sense. Also, there were all these minimalist challenges going around back then, Project 333, Bea Johnson’s Zero Waste Home, and all sorts of anti-consumerist sentiments, though I can’t remember where exactly I learned about the idea of a capsule wardrobe first. What I do remember clearly is my Year Of No New Clothes, which was back in 2010, and is well-documented here on the blog, but my memory’s not so clear on when exactly I started doing capsules simply because there isn’t a record of them. I think it was early 2016. I’m not sure, and it doesn’t really matter, just saying this to let you know that even though my capsule skills have been honed by years of practice, limiting the number of clothes in my wardrobe is difficult all.the.time, and for that reason I skipped the capsule nonsense last year, telling myself I was going for the dream wardrobe instead.

Except I’ve come to realize it wasn’t total nonsense to be doing it. In fact, now that we’re staying put  & have a decent amount of space again, as opposed to moving around and living in one-bedroom flats all the time, things, such as pieces of clothing, seem to have a strange tendency of piling up. While I am a master declutterer of kitchens and living rooms, and succeed rather well at keeping bathrooms tidy, my wardrobe seems to collect an unnecessary amount of blah these days. Even though I keep telling myself I’m being super conscious when shopping. (Obviously I am not, cue road trip tee).

It is this piling up of excess that baffles me. I’ve written about consumerism before (here & here & here, for instance), and am very  concerned about the depletion of our resources should we just keep going like there is no tomorrow, and yet... yet I keep making emotional purchases and acquiring all this excess of pieces of fabric. What is it about me and clothes? Dare I say women and clothes? I’m fairly certain it has something to do with the pleasure of a successful hunt, though it maybe resembles fishing more, but, okay, more on that some other time. (It’s kind of like when my husband constantly scours the Facebook freecycle groups in case SOMETHING, anything, that could be remotely useful for us is up for grabs for free. But it’s also about perfecting yourself, and that’s where the fishing analogy comes in.)

All this to say I’ve come to accept that when it comes to my clothes, I am of the type that requires  a clearish set of rules to keep things in order and stop things from blowing out of proportion. Hence this week I’ve been sorting through my closet, organizing it, and creating my Summer Capsule 2019. (You can read more about the purpose & process of building a capsule here & here. This infographic pretty much sums up my process & why I’m doing it.)

I’m not very strict with the number of pieces; what I am strict about in my selection process is that the clothes be all about what I WANT to wear as opposed to what I SHOULD BE wearing, so all concerns about fashion, trends or classic wardrobe staples were cast aside when planning this capsule. (My Pinterest board was consulted though.) I’m not big on labeling my style, or wouldn't know how to anyway; what’s most important to me is that my clothes feel comfortable and look decent oh ok, pretty. I’m also not big on buying new clothes each season; for me it’s more about filling the gaps in my wardrobe, i.e. buying new pieces if something needs to be replaced or is missing. This month I bought some tops, a tee, leggings and a pair of pants to replace worn out pieces, plus a couple of dresses because I remembered wishing I had more than one last summer.

So here are 45 or so items I'm going to be wearing from the first of July to the end of September, which is a time of great seasonal weather variation here in Finland as everyone who's ever lived here knows. While July and August can be as hot as central Europe sometimes, September usually brings with it the first frosty mornings and lots of rain, which I've tried to take into account here. Ok ok, let's get to business now. I present to you my summer capsule '19 with links to stuff I bought this year:

SWEATERS, CARDIS, JACKETS AND SWEATSHIRTS:

R1: oversized sweatshirt, black sweatshirt (thrifted), v-neck sweater

R2: striped sweater (old), rose sweater (old), oversized sweater (old)

R3: windproof jacket (Didriksson, super old), trench (thrifted), navy sweater (my dad's old)

R4: navy cardigan (similar), striped cardigan (thrifted), oversized grey cardigan (old)

R5: grey grandpa cardigan (my mum's old), long alpaca cardigan (old), cabled cardi (old)

SHIRTS AND TOPS:

Out of these, everything on row 1 is old.

On the second row, a newly thrifted tank top + old t-shirts. 

On row 3, the rose tee is old, striped tank newly thrifted, and hey, there's the famous road trip tee.

On the last row, everything is old.

AND FINALLY, THE BOTTOMS:

R1: old skirt, new leggings

R2: new joggers, old linen pants and skinnies 

R3: both pairs of jeans old, harem pants thrifted oldies

R4: newly thrifted white dress, old linen tunic, striped dress

SHOE DEPARTMENT (all old):

I'm not very good at keeping up with challenges, I tend to slip up, let them go, forget. I thought that a public record of my capsules might help me keep on track, plus they are a little bit of a reminder, if only minuscule, to me and perhaps anyone reading this that we don't need that much really. That we don't need to be buying new stuff all the time at all. I also kind of like opening my closet when it's pleasant to look rather than an overstuffed mess, so. I guess I'll keep on doing this capsule nonsense and put way more thought into getting dressed than is actually necessary.

PS. If you're inspired to make a capsule collection of your own and / or minimize your closet, here are my two tried-and-tested tips to you:

1. Don't go shopping for new clothes until you've really, properly sorted through every piece you own. There's probably surprisingly much of it (it surprises me every time).
2. Don't throw away ANYTHING that could be still used unless you're ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN and / or have no storage space. When sorting, I find it useful to have three boxes and a bag: Box 1 is for clothes usable but not in season, Box 2 is for all those 'nice, usable, but not into them right now' clothes, Box 3 is for clothes you love but that don't fit right now for one reason or another (I know my weight fluctuates immensely all the time, hormones I guess), and the bag is for recycling. NOT THROWING EVERYTHING AWAY IN THE DECLUTTERING STAGE WILL SAVE YOU FROM A LOT OF UNNECESSARY SHOPPING LATER ON. The thing is, as do your hormones, your style and preferences fluctuate, so if you have the storage space, keep that cardi / sweater / tee for a little bit longer. If after two years or so you still don't like it, donate to a charity, give it to someone who likes it, or repurpose as a cleaning rag, whatever you wish. Just don't throw away everything you have on a whim!

To end this post on a more serious, but certainly related note, here's a link to an informative Youtube flick on fashion & waste.

Have a lovely beginning of July, folks!