HOW TO START CREATING THE CAPSULE WARDROBE?

You may think that creating a capsule wardrobe is easier said than done. From where do I even start?
I'm here to help and will share my thoughts on the importance of a capsule wardrobe and also to give you a four-step designer's guide that will help you to get started. Before you even notice you will have a stunning set of garments that you adore - a small collection of useful clothing that you love and get your day-to-day outfits from.


MARIMO EXCLUSIVE CAPSULE WARDROBE SET
Photo Karin Kallas

I'd say capsule wardrobe is for anyone who wants to spend less time on clothes and focus on things that are the most important for them in life, but also wants to look and feel good and stunning all day, every day.
Maybe you are a person who cares very deeply about your thing, but that thing is not necessarily clothes. And even if you have a closet full of clothes you find yourself saying “I have nothing to wear” because for some reason you just don't want to wear them.

Capsule wardrobe is for you if you want to look good most of the time without having to think about it and to save your brain space on other things because every decision you make uses up your mental energy. Just the simple act of thinking about whether you should choose A or B will tire you out and reduce your brainpower. This means that the more decisions you have to make throughout the day, the weaker your decision-making process will become, and this is why many successful individuals, for example Steve Jobs, decided to reduce the number of decisions they made throughout the day by doing things such as choosing to adopt a monotonous wardrobe. Steve Jobs famously wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance sneakers every day, because he understood that he had a finite capacity of brainpower to make well-thought-out decisions. A minute in a day using his brainpower to decide which shirt to wear is a minute less of his brainpower that he could have directed into thinking about his company.

If you are constantly worrying about little decisions like what to wear, you'll become mentally more exhausted as the day progresses. In order to save mental power for your days' important decisions, you have to learn to automate the mundane ones you go through so you don't have to constantly think about them and waste your brainpower.

Once you have a capsule wardrobe, getting dressed becomes very easy - standing-in-front-of-the-closet moment each morning turns from 10 minutes into a 10-second decision - you will have clothes that you love and want to wear no matter the day or the occasion. They will fit you well, feel comfortable, and you don't have to think about how to put outfits together.

HOW TO START?

It's already clear that the idea of a capsule wardrobe is to get dressed quickly in the mornings, always wear your favorite clothes, and have many different outfits ready to wear. As you are dressing for yourself, learning the benefits of the capsule wardrobe dramatically improves your sense of style and builds you a closet you’ll love.

To start a capsule wardrobe, the first step is to identify what outfit categories you need.
It means that you need to make sure what are the primary outfit categories that are most relevant to your lifestyle right now. Are you working at home? How much socializing is in your life right now? Or are you working at the office day by day? How many events do you have?

To get started you also need to clean your wardrobe.
Make sure which are those items you actually wear, adore, and need. Items that you haven't been wearing in a year won't probably find use in the future either and therefore don't belong in your capsule. Sell or donate the pieces that still look good but no longer meet your needs.

To put together your capsule, create your color palette. If this is your first capsule wardrobe, you may want to choose navy or black as a base. Black is an all-around great base color to use because it goes with so many other colors.

Once you have the perfect capsule wardrobe, it's time to add seasonal essentials. Typically, you wear a capsule wardrobe for 3 months, then at the end of those 3 months, you update it for the next season by adding some new essential items.

HOW TO START CREATING THE CAPSULE WARDROBE

The single most important thing you should not do when creating a capsule wardrobe is allowing yourself to be tricked by "needy objects". By that I mean those items that don't quite match with the rest of your wardrobe, making choosing the outfits difficult again. 

Stay safe! Stay chic!
Mariliis / Founder and creative director