Original post by Lotte, May 24, 2020. Translated by Lisa Scheer in 2023/24.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post might redirect you to a site in German. Feel free to use Machine Translation (such as DeepL or Google Translate) to get the information provided on these sites.
A full wardrobe but still nothing to wear?
You might relate to this: You are standing in front of your bursting wardrobe in the morning and you still feel like you have nothing to wear. You may not like a lot of the pieces you own anymore, or you don’t quite know how to match them to other clothes. We often tend to buy even more clothes as a reaction to this. Of course, that’s not sustainable at all, it costs a lot of money and is surely no long-term solution for the problem. By doing so, you become trapped in the vicious cycle of consumption. That’s why I would like to introduce the concept of „capsule wardrobes“ to you.
What’s a „Capsule Wardrobe“?
A capsule wardrobe is a minimalistic wardrobe. The key idea is to only own clothes which can be used in a multitude of ways and that can be easily combined. The goal: fewer clothes in good quality that go well with one another.
How can I create a capsule wardrobe?
To begin, you should ask yourself, which kind of capsule wardrobe you want to create for yourself. There are different options.
All year around
Clothes can be worn and combined all over the year.
Seasonal
Create a new, personal „collection“ each season. Everything that does not fit due to the weather gets packed in a box and put away.
Change every few months
Once you have decided on an option, you can start.
First of all, you need to take inventory. It’s best to just clean out your entire wardrobe and to look at what you already have. Now you can analyse which colours you like to wear. Which patterns work best on you. Which your favourite clothes are.
The second step is sorting your clothes out. This is about finding out what you like to wear and what you wear a lot. Everything else can be given to friends, or you could donate your clothes. A good tip when sorting out your clothes comes from Marie Kondo. Ask yourself with each piece: „Does this spark joy?“ or „Is it of use to me?“ It could be that you are not sure if you want to keep a certain clothing piece or not. Here’s a simple tip: put these pieces in a box and put it away. If you don’t miss them in one month or even longer, feel free to give them away.
People often talk about only being allowed to keep a certain number of clothes after sorting through it. Personally, I would not take this too strictly. Instead, have a look at what you truly need.
Once you have decided which pieces can stay inside the wardrobe, analyse which outfits can be created with those pieces and what might still be missing. It is important to not buy everything that is missing straightaway. Make a list instead and let some time go by before adding more to your wardrobe. After a while you might figure out that you don’t truly need these clothing pieces. It would be ideal to buy the clothes needed second-hand or from fair fashion manufacturers. We already do have some of this information on our website. Have a look at Fair fashion and Second-Hand.
Get creative and have fun creating outfits with your favourite pieces.
More on the topic of minimalism in the wardrobe
Project 333
The goal of this method is to live with only 33 clothing pieces for three months. Everything counts to these 33 pieces, also jewellery and jackets. The only exceptions are athletic wear and underwear. There is a detailed description on the webpage and there are also good posts and tips. https://bemorewithless.com/how-to-build-a-capsule-wardrobe/
The 5-Piece French wardrobe
Here, you aim to only have basics from different categories (such as trousers) and radically get rid of the rest. Every new season you may get five new pieces in good quality at most.
The 10-item wardrobe
You choose ten pieces, which represent you best and then look for extras to combine them with.
Good reasons to switch to a capsule wardrobe
- Conserve resources
- Make a statement against consumerism
- More space in your wardrobe
- Clearly laid out wardrobe -> easier decisions -> saving time
- Saving money
- No matter what you wear, it matches.
- Your wardrobe is curated for you
- You find your own style
“Minimalism isn’t about having less. It´s about making room for more of what matters.”
Melissa (Simple Lion Heart)
Further links:
- Fast Fashion
- Etwas Musik von einem Grazer Trio: „Billi(ge)e Jean(s)“
- Wie veranstaltet man einen Kleidertausch? Hier kann man sich dafür auch viele Kleiderständer und -bügel ausleihen: Nachhaltig-in-Graz-Verleihstation
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