Late Summer Capsule:: Part 1
Everyone has already moved on to their fall capsules at this point. I, on the other hand, just finished a late summer capsule. After being inspired by Into Mind and Unfancy over a month ago now, I decided I wasn’t going to wait until fall to put one together and tried my hand at one for what I’m calling late summer. Over the next three days I’ll be sharing what I picked, why, the outfits, and what I took away and will be applying for my fall capsule.
Incase you’ve been living under a rock, a capsule wardrobe is a select amount of pieces (tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes) that you wear for a season. By that definition, my “capsule” was really more like a 30 for 30 challenge. Here’s what I picked:
**this post contains affiliate links**
tops:: (first row across) J.Crew, J.Crew, Tahari via TJX, J.Crew (second row) J.Crew, Merona, J.Crew, J.Crew
shoes:: (top row) Birkenstocks, J.Crew (bottom row) Sole Society, Merona, Cynthia Vincent
bag:: Phillip Lim for Target
So in all there’s 27 pieces. I also think all 27 have been featured on the blog before. I tried to pick my favorites. That’s the first “guideline” I didn’t follow. Since I wasn’t doing it for the whole season, I didn’t think I needed to get to 37-40 pieces. I didn’t necessarily count the bag either since that’s not an accessory I change ever day. I included a picture though because I tend to create an outfit that does go with the bag. I put a lot of thought into having a color palette, which is something I’m focusing on even more for my fall one, since I already have a few pieces for it. Right off the bat I’m sure you can see one of the issues I encountered, which was too many tops, not enough bottoms. Also I ended up losing a pair of shoes (the Sole Society ones) during the capsule so I wore 25 different items for 30-ish days. Tune in tomorrow for the first half of outfits from the last 30 days.
Are you participating in a capsule wardrobe for fall? What are your plans for it?
love your picks! this is such a good idea bc it makes you get creative with the pieces that you already have! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
i don't have one, but you are seriously making me consider it!!
Capsule wardrobes are a great way to get creative with the pieces you already own (which I really need to do) but I don't know if I have it in me to get rid of a bunch of my stuff. lol! I definitely need to change things up tho. I have a bad habit of gravitating towards the norm….if I know a certain outfit looks good then I grab that instead of finding a new way to wear it
As someone who has been into capsule dressing for almost a year now, I think you've made really good choices. I like to dress with a lot more color than this, but you did a great job of limiting color without resorting to black white and gray.
Unsolicited advice: three of your dresses are super similar in color and two of your bottoms appear to be navy and white striped. While that may have worked well in the shorter term, if you ever decide to have a longer-lasting capsule you may want fewer pieces that are so similar.
That's exactly why I tried it. Also after finishing I felt like I was more creative with what I didn't include.
Even through all the "pain" I learned a lot about my closet and my tastes.
Thanks Sara. I think that's exactly what made things hard. I should've chosen another solid bottom instead of two stripes. I have realized I'm more of a neutral person when it comes to dressing choices. I'm not a huge fan of colors on me evidently, though I love them so much on others.
I just packed up my other things. I did such a tiny capsule because it was for a short period of time. There were about 20-something items that I instantly hung back up and I've since pulled two things out of the boxes (one from fall and one from summer) as the weather has already started throwing curves in Georgia. I have been able to get rid of some items and perhaps more over this next month, but I'm not going to get rid of everything else that's not included.
Such a great idea!! I've been thinking of doing this too!
xo,
Angela
I've never tried a challenge like this before, and I keep toying with the idea…but I haven't really tried to pull items together. It would be interesting for me, since I really hate "outfit repeating" if I can help it and this is the ultimate test of creativity!
xo Jackie
Something About That
I love doing stuff like this via polyvore, but I've never actually tried it in real life before! I love mixing and matching though, so this is a great exercise! Would love to see how this all turns out! Carylee | morepiecesofme.com
Ohhh okay, that makes me feel a little bit better. Maybe I could try baby steps and pull out certain items to use for one month and then switch it out for the next month… hmmm LOL
I tend to want more tops than bottoms, partly for laundry reasons, partly because switching out a top just feels easier. I'm wondering if the two striped bottoms is going to be tricky?
http://iamchiconthecheap.com
It was a challenge but super fun at the same time.
I saw your post the other day and really enjoyed it!
It did end up being tricky unfortunately. Lesson learned.
It really was since that was also a goal was to not repeat an outfit exactly. Since I included so many dresses I ended up having to just switch shoes and accessories with them because there's not a whole lot you can switch up with a dress. It was definitely a challenge!