Building a capsule wardrobe should be easy, right? After all, I got rid of most of my clothes and shoes during the past year. I have fewer choices.

I thought it would be easy. And it was – sort of. But now, I think I need to make some changes.

What is a capsule wardrobe?

First, you might wonder what a capsule wardrobe is. Don’t feel bad. I knew what it was, but I didn’t know what it was called until about a month ago.

A capsule wardrobe is a set of clothing – usually tops and bottoms – that mix and match so every piece works together. For example, if you have four tops and three bottoms, you can wear each top with each bottom and get 12 different outfits. Your two or three pairs of shoes also should match each outfit.

Capsule wardrobes are perfect when you want to pack light and travel carry-on only, because this amount of clothing will fit easily in a carry-on suitcase, even with shoes, toiletries, accessories, a jacket, hat, etc. Packing it is an art – but that’s a topic for another blog.

I learned about capsule wardrobes in greater detail through my new job. It’s my bread-and-butter now, so to speak: Packing lists and capsule wardrobes.

Building my first capsule wardrobe

With excitement, I realized I could try a capsule wardrobe for the first time when I went to Wisconsin for the holidays.

What to pack? First, you consider the weather where you’re going and what you’ll be doing there. A beach vacation will require different clothing than skiing in the mountains.

For me, I needed to consider it’s Wisconsin winter (cold and snow). I’m going for the holidays to visit family and friends, and I’d like to hike or walk outside while I’m there.

I laid out options on my bed and considered if all the tops matched all the bottoms. Mostly. I switched them out until I thought I had outfits I could live with. Then, I snapped a picture so I’d remember what I came up with.

During the following days, however, I started to question if that’s really what I wanted to wear. I have a few go-to pieces I really like. I’d be more comfortable in those, right?

Downsized to a capsule wardrobe

That also made me wonder why I still keep some of the clothes I have. When I moved out of my house earlier this year, I downsized to a couple of suitcases and an armful of hanging clothing. During each of my subsequent moves, I’ve gotten rid or more and more. Even now, I continue to shed items that no longer fit or no longer work with my current style, but I have more work to do that way, obviously.

I haven’t quite gotten to a capsule wardrobe in my day-to-day life, but I’m close. I like my dresses and skirts. If push came to shove, I could do it – get to a small cache of items I could wear indefinitely. I knew when I moved to Portugal I’d take my small backpack for my laptop and one suitcase. Now, I know it will be a carry-on suitcase. I will  use a capsule wardrobe for three months when I’m there.

This holiday trip will be my test run for a capsule wardrobe. I might need to get my clothes out again to see if it’s really what I want to wear. I don’t have that many choices. This should be easy, right?

---

Be a Better Writer Tip

 

Use subheads. If you write a blog, and aim for search engine optimization (SEO) in a program like WordPress, you’ll be encouraged to use subheads. They break up the copy and make it seem easier to read. We used subheads in long newspaper copy for the same reason.

Maybe it’s short attention spans or the nature of the internet, but SEO programs encourage you to have no more than 300 words of copy before you have another subhead.

Subheads can help readers navigate a long piece. This especially is helpful if you write a how-to piece or something with a lot of suggestions, tips or information.

In this piece (and most of my blogs), I used subheads as a progression tool, to transition from one section – or idea — to another.