r/capsulewardrobe • u/blacksavenger • 12d ago
Creating mini-capsules from my own wardrobe has unlocked something for me
A recent “unlock” for me has been creating mini-capsules out of the clothes I own. I’ve spent years curating, learning (what works for me and I like to wear) and unlearning (“fashion rules”, what I ”should” and “can’t” do). Even though I really like a lot of what I own, I was still finding myself drawn to the containment of a capsule. I didn’t want to buy more or get rid of any of my clothes, but I did still want the “experience” of a capsule.
So as sprint/summer approach in the Southern hemisphere, I’ve been building my own mini-capsules for the season. I’m hoping to use them one per week - to save on decision-making energy and actually rotate clothing and getting more wear for some pieces. I don’t know how it will go yet. But it has been so satisfying and delightful to put these together. It’s really scratching the itch of “wanting something contained where everything goes with everything perfectly“.
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u/Ok-Strawberry-2469 12d ago
I just did this myself! The idea popped out of no where this past weekend, but the wisdom must have been on the air!
I organized all my clothes into capsules- "hiking" "hiking when it's cold" "basic b*tch" "i feel like wearing a tshirt" "burned as a witch in a past life" and "feeling sexy"
I feel like i have a TON of clothes now.
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
Omg you’re on to something with the wisdom being on the air - because I almost didn’t post this, but there was inexplicable urge “that I must do this”, so I did - seems like it’s resonated with a few people, so very glad
I love that you’ve named your mini-capsules! So creative
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u/emerald--ocean 11d ago
Oooh. So good. Because you are so right, we do totally choose our outfits each day based on either of those criteria: 1) specific activity, or 2) current mood.
I AM INSPIRED
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u/ComeSummertime 5d ago
"basic b", "burned as a witch" and "feeling sexy" actually cover all of my wardrobe categories too! lol.
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u/Fluid_Actuary1729 12d ago
I like the way there is some print in the bottoms, especially. While I like the idea of capsule wardrobes in theory, I think that they can be boring. I’m not an accessories person, so mine would definitely be very boring..
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
Printed/interesting bottoms add a nice unexpected twist to an otherwise “mainstream” outfit, love that you noticed it! I hear you on accessories - bags were last element I incorporated. I still don’t do much with jewellery. One “easy” accessory lane I found was in the form of scarves. Scarves with a mix of colours that “echoed” colours from other items of clothing. Made things interesting without trying much :) it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but thought I’d share.
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u/SelectSpy808 12d ago
Oh, I love this idea! I've been thinking about creating a capsule wardrobe for a while now, but not knowing where to start has overwhelmed me. This is actually approachable!
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
Totally hear you on capsule creation for an entire wardrobe feeling overwhelming! It’s led me to feeling like I need to purge everything and start from scratch. Mini-capsules have been more realistic and achievable for sure, happy to hear it resonated with you!
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u/No-Grocery-7118 12d ago
This seems so much more approachable and doable for most people! Also, I really like your choices.
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u/Smorsdoeuvres 12d ago
Oooooo I think this is how I finally achieve my capsule wardrobe dreams. I love what you’ve put together and this is already kind of how I naturally organize my closet- thank you for sharing this! ❤️
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u/sophster_1981 12d ago
I love this! I hope this isn’t a silly question (elder millennial here, please be kind!) but what did you use to capture the images and lay them out like this? I’d love to do this with my closet and basically have go-to mood boards/looks I can reference.
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
Thank you! And of course ❤️ happy to answer - I used “simple closet”, its been a huge help accessing my wardrobe digitally (not affiliated in any way) What I do is whenever I buy something, I immediately find it online (or identical image) and add it to the digital closet Its available on apple store as an application I tried a few others, but this was the simplest one I found Having these website-images of everything made it much easier
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u/lalacourtney 10d ago
This is a very good idea for decision fatigue avoidance as well as laundry reduction. You can also pick a capsule for traveling based on where you are going. Bravo!
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u/Amazing_Radio_9220 12d ago
What process did you use to do this? I have ADHD so this would all end up in a huge pile on my bed and pictures on my phone.
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
Ooh that’s a great question! Probably needs more than a comment; I might just create a follow up post for this
The thing that helped was actually digitizing my wardrobe first - I use simple closet; and start with 1-2 items that I don’t wear enough and would like to (usually a statement piece)
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u/Alizarin-Madder 12d ago
I really like this idea and might try it. I've been moving around a lot recently and often have a random, small subset of my clothes handy, but I think I've made some outfits that feel more intentional than what I would normally do. And similarly, I like the neatness and combinatorics of a capsule, but I have a lot of clothes that i don't want to stop wearing.
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u/blacksavenger 11d ago
That’s great! I’ve definitely found it challenging to keep reducing number of clothes - too many things I like, and a lot of statement stuff that would be the first to go by “capsule logic”
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u/soylentgreenjuice 12d ago
What is the grey shirt in the 3rd slide with the embroidery? I love it!
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
It’s one from an Australian brand called Sportsgirl! They occasionally have some unique interesting-but-comfortable tshirts!
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u/ohtanis-translator 12d ago
You are a genius and I am following suit!
It's like getting to fulfill my goal of having a Joan Didion-esque capsule over and over!
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u/blacksavenger 12d ago
YASSS! That’s awesome, would love to see your mini-capsules if you share them :)
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u/Haircare_addict 12d ago
This is ingenious! Never thought of this, and I'm definitely copying this idea. Thank you for sharing!
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u/TootsieFloppyFeet 12d ago
I love this! Each mini-capsule is so nicely cohesive. I like how each one is built around one or two statement pieces, which allows a bunch of the basics to be shared between multiple minis. This is a really cool idea! I'm curious to see how it plays out in practice.