Insert generic observation about how January is a million days long, February three days long, and we’re a third of the way through March.
Capsule Wardrobe. I failed! I learned! So I succeeded! I fail every time! But I still succeed!
Huh?
I set up a capsule wardrobe for January through March, which you can see more here, or here.
Overall, the system worked well, but I crashed and burned in a few regards:
(1) I returned to work on January 6 and struggled with the balance of formal vs. casual, in particular, with regard to pants. I had just 2-3 pairs of pants, and some of them didn’t work well for winter.
(2) I also struggled with dressier shoes, as I seemed to only have heels and two pairs of flat boots, and almost no dressy flats that aren’t entirely for warm-weather.
(3) Finally, returning to work crashed my daily laundry system, and clothing was laundered in fits and starts – sometimes on Thursdays, sometimes throughout the week, and sometimes only on weekends, but then I didn’t always get to folding and returning it to my closet and drawers right away. So, I’d end up looking at a closet that looked like this:
Honestly, this triggered a feeling of scarcity, because I was just too cold to want to wear skirts and dresses (which I’m only rarely in the mood for outside of summer), and I didn’t always want to wear my tall boots or ankle boots just to have flats, and the ankle boots and dresses were often not the look I wanted. So I don’t necessarily feel the things which are theoretically quite versatile, are versatile year-round.
And so I added a few things back in (like more sneakers, a pair of heeled boots) and shopped Poshmark (a pair of heeled booties, a sweater or two), and got a Fix from Stitch Fix (a pair of boots, a pair of jeans), and then bought some things through Shein (who am I even), which I’m currently auditioning as some are good right away (a pair of faux suede loafers and a blouse), some were purchased with summer/vacation in mind (a tan dress, a taupe dress), and some I’m not sure will work (some good trousers that show every. single. panty. line). I’m also working out consistently now, and I do think my body is starting to change, but I haven’t lost any weight yet (the joy of being in my forties), so I’m not sure if things will fit in the next few months or not. I’ve also managed to declutter a few things from my capsule due to wear or uncertainty, and other things have gone into purgatory (my version of clothing “time will tell” — see about minute 18).
The net effect? I have like 50-60 things in my working wardrobe right now. But I refuse to see this as a fail. I love these sorts of projects, to be honest, because I always learn something. What have I learned from this challenge?
- I really don’t like having functional items put away. Why own them if I don’t want to use them? From this I can glean that I really do prefer to edit regularly, but function with a two-season closet; e.g., WARM and COOL weather. I don’t care that I don’t wear my sweaters and snow boots in June, but when they are put away in January because of an arbitrary number, it stresses me out. Use it or lose it, and I don’t want to lose it.
- Focusing too much on someone else’s system means I incorporate things that don’t work as well for me at the expense of things that do.
- For example, I spent the better chunk of about 18 months “dressing my truth” as a Type 3™ in Carol Tuttle’s style system. I think the women and community are fantastic, and I have seen a deepening of the nuance in style there in the last two years in particular, but it wasn’t quite spot-on for me and I kept pushing against it – especially in each new year (I typed myself in May 2021, started dressing as a “3” in June 2021, committed to it until I rebelled against it in January 2022, was formally typed in February 2022, came back to it in frustration in May 2022, received secondary confirmation after deeper exploration in September, and still rebelled against the system for January 2023). When I dress my “truth” I like (a) that everything in my closet “goes” with itself, that it’s spot on for my personal movement through the world (active, reactive, textured, substantial, systematic, streamlined, organized, detailed, comfortable, varied) (this corresponds to an ordering of 3-4-2-1 in the DYT world), which feels spot on in terms of my movement and how I’m “put together” on the inside. But I struggled with all warm/rich clothing. I missed my cool, muted tones, and didn’t like having black eliminated (though pretty happy to minimize or reduce to lower-half wear with very, very few exceptions).
- Following a nagging hunch, I pursued Seasonal Color Analysis through Carol Brailey online, expecting to be a fully-muted season – soft summer or soft autumn. Soft autumn would have left plenty of room for T3 colors…soft summer would have been trickier to make work, but I could have straddled the T2 and T3 color cards…I think. Except…I was a True Summer. I couldn’t imagine being fully cool, except that it’s the same season as both Carol, and Kendra in the video, and what I do see is a fundamental grayness to overall tone (muting/desaturation), warm (sallow) overtone (which is exacerbated by wearing neutral or warm tones), and medium contrast… so ultimately, I could accept this is me. But what I am not is summer archetypes for soft (unless textured or substantial), floral, overly feminine…
- In Kibbe terms, I feel most closely aligned with Natural, BUT NOT QUITE, because I incorporate classic for work and winter (with a touch of gamine essence, due to my short stature), ethereal for casual/warm weather, and romantic for date night and girls’ nights out.
- I like texture and substance from DYT Type 3 and Natural essence.
- I like clean lines and tailoring from DYT secondary 4 and Classic essence.
- I like Summer coloring with incorporated Soft Autumn/Muted neutrals from Seasonal Analysis. (This also functions as a crossover from DYT Types 1/2/3, but I prefer the 1/3 with gray/desaturation at some level.)
- And don’t get my started on Zyla and other systems! I’m trying to learn more about those now because I think my truth is somewhere that incorporates a bit of all of these things.
So, I’m…me?
I’ve been dancing around all of these for the past five years, when I look back, and honestly think I’ve mostly come full circle…My favorite outfits of the fifteen from the past half-decade are the one next to the black chair (in my old office) and the one with the knit poncho and taupe boots (in my dining room)…
AND ALSO…
Going back to work has been a huge adjustment. I end up away from home most of the days, and that has included my Thursdays (my “off” weekdays). This has left precious little time for writing and filing, and the channel (here) has suffered for it. I am hoping to correct this by incorporating shorter and less-edited videos to get into the swing of things better.
AND ALSO ALSO…
The above has been exacerbated by learning (confirming, really) that I do have ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder), combined type, which means I work in fits and starts and struggle to control what I am doing and really have to follow my motivation wherever it goes. It also means that things with a lot of steps confound me until I start them (like planning a video, filming a video, editing a video, uploading a video is super-overwhelming one the whole), and perfectionism creeps in, which means I don’t want to edit unless no one else is around and I’m not interrupted…which is NEVER or WHEN I MUST BE SLEEPING.
So what’s next?
I’m going reset my wardrobe without concern for number.
I’m going to look at mostly True Summer and some things from the lighter side of Fall/T3.
I’m going to try to film my process.
I’m going to expand purgatory substantially.
I’m going aim for a good closet clean-out of things I really don’t want or need.
I’m going to try to post things with less editing needs. This may mean casual chats or filming myself doing things without talking to the camera and then talking over it, a la my clean-up-Christmas video, which felt the most “doable” overall.
Wish me luck…
xo/Roo