My Latest Fashion, Part Two

Home sick today, so tell my boss I'm sleeping (because I was and am about to be again), but I also wanted to share how my wardrobe is now more manageable. As I'm tired and my head is getting fuzzy again, I'll keep this brief.

So, sometime before moving last summer, I heard about the Dressing Your Truth online class. I'd long been frustrated with the full-closet-and-I have-nothing-to-wear syndrome, so I signed up. With the class I learned about movement energy, and which energy I tend to express most, and what to look for in clothes that will compliment my natural energy.

Sooo many hangers. Bye bye!

I tried to follow through, but I had timed it badly with moving, and moving had a higher priority than reworking my fashion, especially as that was a deadline that wouldn't budge. So, I tried paring down my wardrobe, keeping only the pieces that suited my type (or that I really loved anyway), and I made some notable progress, but when push came to shove, I ended up packing just about every single thing in the closet.

Fast forward several months, and I'd grown quite tired of shifting hangers around, trying to find the clothes I liked, wanted, and needed. So I'd began reading up on how to do a minimal wardrobe, or capsule wardrobe, something I'd thought would be a good idea for me for a long, long time. So when my last three day weekend came around, I decided it was time. (Right after I got my hair cut. And on that note, it's amazing how clothes can look and feel different with a new 'do. Taking care of both on the same weekend was a good choice.)

I did a fair bit of looking around online. Pinterest was actually one of my first stops in addition to a Google search. There's quite a bit out there on the topic. The blogs I found to be most helpful can be found here, here, and here. Most sites and links I found focus on a goal of 30-40 items (some had a goal of fewer, but the most important point in all of them was to work with yourself and what you want), and some mention having different capsule wardrobes for different seasons.

I looked for lists of must-haves and instructions on how to pare things down, then I just went for it. The "rules" were my guidelines but not requirements. I just started with finding what I truly loved the best, and got rid of what I knew I didn't but had until now felt obligated to keep. I divided things into type (shirt, dress, skirt, jacket, pants), and tried most everything on unless I knew I'd want to keep it. My mantra as I tried on piece after piece, determining if I liked the look and feel and if it would go with anything else, or as I pulled something I knew I didn't want off a hanger was, "I don't owe _____." I didn't owe any person who may have gifted me the garment. I didn't owe any sentimentality of what once was. And I certainly didn't owe the clothing itself (though I often felt as if I did!). What I did owe, what I did want, was my own peace and not to be owned by my closet. That kept me going.

Ta da!
...I'm getting a sense of naturally preferred color scheme/tone here.

I didn't take any before pictures, because I was focused and in the moment, and hadn't thought I'd be blogging about it and oh a comparison for effect would be good. Ah well. Just ooo and ahh and trust me when I say this is impressive.

I'm not quite done as there are some garments not pictured that I haven't decided what to do with yet, I'm pretty sure I ought to thin down how many jackets I have, and I haven't looked at most of what's in my chest of drawers, but the current count of hangers in my closet for shirts, skirts, dresses, and pants? 37. (And 5 sweaters, which I did go through, but they go in the drawers.)

The in-progress end result is several bags stuffed full of perfectly good clothes that other people can enjoy, and I can see what I own at a glance, and quickly figure out ways that most pieces will go with others, for an easier to enjoy wardrobe than I remember ever having before.

I'll keep working on it. There are still some things I think I want to pare down more or replace. But I got the bulk of it done, and getting dressed in the morning has been a whole lot easier not having to play the clothing version of Tetris every day.

Have you ever attempted a capsule wardrobe? Did you succeed?


Now I'm back to bed. The Teddy Grahams are calling and my eyelids are falling.