The first time I heard about the capsule wardrobe, I was living overseas. I worked 40 hours a week, had a four-hour commute, and was being paid in Turkish lira (at the time, a 2:1 conversion rate). I had access to bohemian boutiques and European fast fashion stores that I’d never seen in the Midwest. And yet I was still floundering in my style.

I was also working in a city with people who had the kind of money I’d never even dreamed about. That meant I needed to make my small budget work for me. I wore lots of black, and every Sunday I ironed my clothes and did my nails. It was both fun and exhausting.

The capsule wardrobe, or the minimalist wardrobe, was a life-changer. It helped me save money, time, and physical space. It also helped me get a better grip on my style, which was starting to crystalize in my 20s.

I was the capsule wardrobes’ biggest fan and told all my friends about this system. But when I came back to America, moved three times, and got married, my curated wardrobe started to fall apart. It wasn’t because the capsule wardrobe was a bad thing. I had changed a lot in the past eight years, and coming home allowed me to reflect on those changes. Those changes were then reflected in my wardrobe.

It’s been about six years since I first started researching the capsule wardrobe. I’ve gone in and out of it, more than once. I have a love-hate relationship with the minimalist exercise. Now that I’m 30, I have to ask: is the capsule wardrobe even worth it?

What is the Capsule Wardrobe?

There are several definitions of the capsule wardrobe online. Some use it as an exercise in minimalism or some create travel capsule wardrobes for trips. Some people use the classic capsule wardrobe to streamline their busy lives as I did.

However you choose to use the capsule wardrobe, the idea is to take the things you love (and actually wear), and chuck the rest. This will, in theory, lead to a more intentional wardrobe, more space, and less aimless shopping.

The folks over at the Good Trade describe it as “a practice of editing your wardrobe down to your favorite clothes (clothes that fit your lifestyle + body right now), remixing them regularly, and shopping less often and more intentionally.”

Of course, a lot of this depends on your shopping habits and where you live. My wardrobe for the midwest is MUCH different than the one I have now. I live in West Virginia, where we have all four seasons and I love coats so very, very much.

If you abhor shopping and everything it entails, you can find a classic capsule wardrobe that fits you, and never stray. I remember thinking “If I can nail this whole thing, I’ll never have to worry about style again.” While some things have stayed consistent, I am a different person than I was in my 20s, and you can see that.

Besides, I really enjoy clothing, so I really enjoy shopping. The capsule wardrobe in this context feels like telling Julia Child she can only cook chicken recipes for the rest of her life.

What I Love About the Capsule Wardrobe

It might sound like I’m against capsule wardrobes, both personally and in theory. Far from it. It continues to help me save money, closet space, and, frankly, brain-power.

It Saves Money

Part of the “minimalist wardrobe” ethos is that you buy higher-quality pieces, less frequently.

When I first started the capsule wardrobe, I was buying pieces from H&M, Old Navy, and Mango. They were cheaper pieces, but the Old Navy stuff wrinkled and lasted two months. H&M, six months if I took care of it, and I had one sweater from Mango that I made last two years (RIP my perfect dolman sweater).

Now I buy shirts that have better quality fabric, and while they’re more expensive, they’ve lasted four years and counting. I’ve learned where to buy jeans that last longer than four months. It’s saved me so much money and frustration in the long run.

It Saves Space

I’m a visual person. I like things to be aesthetically pleasing. So, I like my closet to organized (by color, thank you). I also realized that I like to see my clothes instead of tucking them away inside a closet. I’ve either taken the doors off my wardrobes or bought free-standing ones.

I am also a lifelong renter. “Walk-in closets” are so far outside of the realm of possibility for me and my husband its kind of depressing.

Since space has always been sparse, and clutter makes a small space even smaller, the capsule wardrobe has helped me keep things orderly. As much as I’m a fun (read: messy) creative person, order gives me peace.

It Saves Brain Power

“Decision fatigue” is a real thing. I remember being a teenager and spending my mornings trying on several outfits when I should have already been out the door. I had a bunch of stuff in my closet that I rarely wore, and finding things to wear was less joyful and more stressful. Ditto for shopping.

The capsule wardrobe system helped me with a lot of the stuff in my closet that didn’t mesh with the rest of my things. Eventually, everything in my closet worked together, creating a cohesive aesthetic and eliminating my stress.

Now I reduce my brainpower even further with the Cladwell app. Anytime I buy a piece of clothing, I plug it in Cladwell. They use the data to create pre-made outfits, and I can either tweak it or save it straight to my calendar. In the morning all I have to do is open the Cladwell app, and there’s an outfit for me to wear.

It Saves My Style

This is the best reason I would give for using a capsule wardrobe. Doing the capsule wardrobe for so long allowed me to hone in on my personal style. Now that I have a solid idea of what I like and don’t like, finding things in stores is second nature.

It also makes shopping so much easier. I either go in knowing exactly what I want, or I’m ready to try something new. When I do try something, I can tell almost immediately if it’s going to work for me long-term, or if it’s a fad I’m willing to let go.

What I Hate About the Capsule Wardrobe

There are very practical reasons for using a capsule wardrobe, but there are also issues I’ve noticed over the last few years.

There is A Lot of Emphasis on the “French Girl” Myth

When I first found the capsule wardrobe, it was because I was using Pinterest to look up “french girl style.” While the concept of the capsule wardrobe has evolved since then, it still has strong French Girl overtones.

So what’s the French Girl, and what’s wrong with it?

The idea of the French Girl is a series of stereotypes about Paris and the elusive French Girl aesthetic. I’m sure you’ve read at least one article about it: the French Girl is stylish, laid back, uses her grandmother’s jewels and purses, never gets fat, and only wears a bright red lip for makeup.

There are good things about this myth. At the heart of it, it’s suggesting that women work with what they already have and don’t fuss about staying on-trend. Know what you’ve got, know what you were given, and let your natural beauty shine through. Also, any beauty routine that relies on SPF and red lipstick is one that has my full attention.

The problem is that, in practice, “French Girls” all look the same: white, skinny, and wealthy. She can afford to hang around Parisian cafes because she doesn’t need to work. She’s naturally slim with great skin because she inherited those belle époque genetics. And her grandmother’s jewels? Well, she had money in the first place.

Obviously not all Instagram “French Girls” are like this. But this Parisienne ethos is straight out of a storybook, and to quote the great Nicholas Cage, “the storybooks are bullshit.”

The capsule wardrobe emphasizes this “effortlessly chic” ethos. As a result, there are times when I felt like it wasn’t promoting individual sustainability, but an idea of white, skinny, wealthy, conformity.

Some “Basics” Aren’t Basics

The reason I brought up the French Girl myth is that it ties directly into this second point. Sometimes a capsule wardrobe checklist makes suggestions about “basics” that turn out to be… not basic at all.

Leena Norms created a video “Lies about clothes to unlearn in your twenties.” that I loved. Not only do I agree with most of what she says, but she has a great point about how some “basics” don’t work for everyone.

Some of this is location-based. An LA-based minimalist wardrobe blogger is going to recommend different things from a London blogger.

Some of it is lifestyle-based: almost every minimalist wardrobe checklist I’ve seen recommends a white shirt. For messy eaters (or parents of messy eaters), the idea of wearing a white shirt is impractical.

Some of this comes down to personal taste and style. When I started my capsule wardrobe journey, I kept seeing trench coats on the list. So I saved my money and got the nicest trench coat I could afford, only to never, EVER wear it. It felt bulky, uncomfortable, and didn’t look good on me. I wish I’d gone with my gut and saved my money, but alas, this was not the case.

It Can Put Stress on You

Because capsule wardrobes are a part of the eco-friendly community, there’s an added moral-based element to the exercise. If you have a capsule wardrobe, you’re helping the environment, reducing the impact of fast fashion, and in short, helping to save the planet. And don’t you want to save the planet?

I am NOT saying that you shouldn’t be concerned about conservationism. I am NOT saying we shouldn’t try to be more responsible consumers (reduce, reuse, recycle 5ever).

I AM saying that keeping a capsule wardrobe doesn’t make you an inherently better person. I’ve known thrifters and minimalist wardrobe users who are The Actual Worst, no matter how great their capsule wardrobe.

It’s still an exercise I’d recommend for personal and ethical reasons, but if you don’t keep a perfect capsule wardrobe, you’re not a failure or a bad person. Imperfect action is better than no action in the long run.

I Like Clothes, and I Don’t Like Arbitrary Rules

Fashion is a creative outlet for me, which can work within the capsule wardrobe parameters. But if I want to buy a weird outlying piece because I want to experiment and evolve, I will. If that means I have 34! pieces instead of 33, then so be it. Fashion is a tool to serve me, not the other way around.

Do I Recommend Using a Capsule Wardrobe?

Back to my original question at the beginning of this article: is the capsule wardrobe worth it? I’d say my definitive answer is “Yes, but…”

YES…

There’s a great saying by Pablo Picasso: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Fashion, like every other form of personal expression, has rules. The capsule wardrobe, among all the other practical reasons I mentioned, is a great way to learn the rules of YOUR personal style. When you have to narrow down your likes and dislikes into 30 or 40 pieces of clothing, you learn what you can’t live without.

Learning about my style has been the greatest reason for me to use the capsule wardrobe. I still use it for other reasons, but this is the reason I’d recommend it to everyone else.

… BUT

Make sure that this not only works for your lifestyle but for you as a person. A closet full of chic Audrey Hepburn neutrals might be pragmatic, but it won’t work for you if you prefer Betsey Johnson.

The Final Word

I’d suggest you look at the capsule wardrobe like one of those elaborate coloring books. You have the same basic picture as everyone around you: tops, pants, dresses, skirts, jackets, and shoes. But it’s up to you which colors you want to use, which patterns you want to emphasize, and which bits to leave blank. In the end, you should have a pretty, cohesive picture that looks unique from the ones your friends have.

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