2024 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Gem-gem

Thank you @PipneyJane, I have downloaded the 2 hour capsule wardrobe. Interesting that you can have more than one. 

PipneyJane

That’s my idea, @Gem_gem, not the author’s.  My thought is that we should all have at least 2 capsule wardrobes:  one that works most of the year round and one for those rare, really hot summer days.  If you get it right, then the latter is just an extension of the former, with clothing swapping between the two.  There’s nothing worse on a hot summer’s day than seeing a woman turn up at the office dressed in a sundress designed to be worn on the beaches of Benidorm.  It demeans the wearer and reflects badly on every other woman in that office*. 

Really, capsule wardrobes are all about the planning, knowing the cut and colours that look good on you and thinking about how they’ll co-ordinate, when you buy clothing.  Back in the 1990’s, Next used to do this really well.  I had a lovely navy blue suit from them, consisting of a double-breasted jacket, trousers, two skirts of different cuts and a shift dress.  It got worn to death.  I used the jacket to dress up a pair of chinos for “smart casual” events, and also over jeans.  The dress was smart enough for the office, got worn to parties, and dressed up with plastic “pearls”, even made it to the opera.

ETA: if you want a visual representation of someone who did capsule wardrobes well, re-watch episodes of the X Files where they travel, and study what Scully is wearing.  Their wardrobe department obviously had someone who understood the concept and had travelled for work.  (She was my role-model when I first started travelling for work.)

- Pip



* In a separate rant, in 2016 when I first started working for my current employer, we were a division of a large civil engineering firm, based in the UK head office.  I lost count of the number of women from other divisions who’d turn up in clothes that might be ok for the school run, but were definitely not professional looking.  There’s no wonder they weren’t taken seriously.  (No, I’m not talking about the younger women who’d come into the office from a day on a construction site.  They were always smartly dressed, even if they were wearing jeans and a company fleece.)

Laura_Elsewhere

I love the concept of capsule wardrobes but the examples I see are always, always, always based round urban workwear for women. 

I almost never wear trousers, I never ever wear short straight skirts, I loathe and detest tights, and I hate modern clothing design. I love colour. I love texture. I love lace-up colourful plimsoles and proper leather shoes. 
Every single capsule wardrobe I've ever seen is based round black or navy or taupe, with semi-formal trousers and a straight, short skirt, to wear with tights or pop-socks, and with court shoes or boots. 

There's absolutely nothing for people like me to be inspired by!!

I'm currently working with a striped duvet-cover, white with light and dark green, royal blue, turquoise and purple chalk-stripes at clashing angles, which I bought a decade ago and made into a very badly-thought-out skirt and dismantled. My plan is to make a gored below-knee skirt with pockets, and have a cap-sleeved slash-neck top that buttons inside the (loose) waistband, making it a dress; also a sweetheart-neckline halterneck top that buttons ditto, and a square-necked pinafore-top that ditto, giving me three different "dresses" using one skirt. 
I suppose that is my version of a capsule wardrobe. 

I think if I had to wear office clothes every day then I would effectively steal men's clothing, and have a skirt-waistcoat-jacket in linen for summer and tweed for colder months, plain cotton or linen blouses and take my love of colour out in a range of vivid handmade ties and inventive cufflinks... 

Cherryfudge

I really like the sound of your capsule 'dress', @Laura_Elsewhere. Photos when assembled, please!

I also struggle with the traditional capsule idea, but I found the link that @PipneyJane posted is a different take on it, and I think somewhere in there there is a drift towards multiple capsules, and certainly it's not all black or navy or beige.

My capsule is jeans, which go with most things and at present I have several pairs including two or three in sage green. Then there are shirts and long/short sleeved tee shirts, and a variety of jumpers and cardigans. Dresses are all very well but I'm limited in footwear due to bone problems, so that in turn limits the dresses (thank goodness for white trainers).

I'm not an 'office clothes person': I can admire them on others but it's been a long time since I worked in an office, so I don't really have much suitable now. (One pair of formal trousers for interviews and funerals). I think a lot that I've seen regarding capsules is based on an office life, so those of us who don't do that would need to think in terms of our equivalent. So if there's no uniform attached to the job, what's appropriate clothing, are a lot of the items we have interchangeable, is there a good mixture of patterned and plain, perhaps?

For some of us, our wardrobes also need to accommodate neurodiversity, whether that's in terms of fabric, cut, labels, visual stimulus or being 'worn in'. Possibly other things too: I know there's someone who posted on another thread who finds rustling clothing very difficult. In my case, softness and flexibility, no labels (I carry scissors in my purse to dispose of any labels or loose threads because otherwise I end up scratching) and very little tailored as it's 'cold' and 'not friendly'. Of course it might not really be either but that's my feeling about it.

The author of Pip's article is neurodiverse, so she has looked at it from a slightly different angle and I'm pleased to see she thinks flowery trousers are permissible. I'm going to have another rabbit-hole dive into it now things have calmed down after a lot of housework and socialising, and see if there are any hints or principles I can use. I really do have too much but have recently found uses for items I had decided I didn't need so I don't want to get rid of things I might then miss. 

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I think if I had to wear office clothes every day then I would effectively steal men's clothing, and have a skirt-waistcoat-jacket in linen for summer and tweed for colder months, plain cotton or linen blouses and take my love of colour out in a range of vivid handmade ties and inventive cufflinks... 

Or you could have vivid shirts with a dark tie? Or bright waistcoats? Or a tie and headband combo?

I want a cherry-red waistcoat now... but nothing till I've finished a few other projects.

Watty1

Love the capsule wardrobe chat. I learnt a lot about making clothes do all seasons watching a few stylists on insta and in a rash moment having a stylist life coach who cleared out my wardrobe.

The benidorm sundress comment made me smile although I did learn that most sundresses will work for winter if appropriately styled (not all but most)   For example i have a lovely white dress with small flowers that is very summery and beach fit if worn as is - add a belt and good sandals or shoes and it looks summer smart enough for work - add a cardigan and it will go through a cooler day for the depths of winter add a polo neck (it has blue and red flowers) and a pair of warm tights and boots and a cardigan or jacket on top.  Last November someone commented on my lovely skirt as the top of the dress was hidden under the layers.  I have one summer dress that cannot go outside of summer and a jumpsuit that equally is summer weather but that is about it along with a denim pair of shorts (I'm too old for the woolly tights boots and shorts look I think!)

Watching insta etc I learnt is that the same clothes can be really varied if styled up and down.

Laura_Elsewhere

One of my problems is that I love changing my clothes with the seasons- I do have some things that can be worn year-round, but I love autumnal colours in autumn, and in winter I tend towards grey or cream as a neutral with stained-glass window jewel colours for jumpers, petticoats and stockings; in spring, it's pale grey and soft blues and greens with touches of yellow and pink; in summer I love primary colours like a box of crayons! 

It's one of my pleasures... I have far too many clothes that don't fit any of those, and sloooowly I am replacing them with things that do work. I suppose you could just about call that four capsule wardrobes... 

Sarahspangles

I may have a go at that capsule wardrobe. I think any process which is more ’considered’ has to help?!

I’ve been doing Project 333 - on and off - since 2016. It’s similar to a capsule wardrobe, 33 items of outerwear for 3 months. The first time I did it, it took ages as the first sift uncovered 200 items to sell or donate plus things to repair. The logistics of all that sidetracked me from assessing what was left. Which was only 22 items of outerwear, so there were no actual choices to be made….. These rarely even made it to my wardrobe, as they were either in the wash basket or the ironing pile! I actually made enough money selling work suits to fund purchases to fill all the gaps. Ending up with a wardrobe for my real lifestyle, which was smart casual at work and casual casual at home and socially.

You’re ‘supposed’ to review your 33 at the end of the three months, if I miss - and I have since last June - then it all falls apart….

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I suppose you could just about call that four capsule wardrobes... 

Sounds okay to me.  

@Sarahspangles, I've come across Project 333 but I've not tried it. I did wonder what would happen if I tried to limit my wardrobe to 100 items, presumably not counting 'smalls'. I'm coming to realise that would probably mean getting rid of quite a few, which is alarming, but I've no idea how many I own.

I did do KonMarie once, only getting as far as socks and pants, but those have remained in much better order since.

I'm also about to start on holiday packing and I wondered if others have a separate holiday wardrobe (as in, for places with hot sun), and do you count it in with your other clothes if you have a capsule wardrobe or similar?

And another thing: how do you all deal with getting rid of worn out clothing? I'm wouldn't donate something I no longer feel is fit for wear, but I'm also wary of taking it to textile recycling as I've seen so much media coverage about how things then get shipped across the world to be unusable elsewhere. What's trustworthy, do you think? I can and do use a certain amount for rags and bedding can go for dustsheets, then they can be be binned because I really don't think there's a lot I can do after that (and our council incinerates rubbish so it's providing power not filling landfill).

Sarahspangles

Cherryfudge said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I suppose you could just about call that four capsule wardrobes... 

Sounds okay to me.  

@Sarahspangles, I've come across Project 333 but I've not tried it. I did wonder what would happen if I tried to limit my wardrobe to 100 items, presumably not counting 'smalls'. I'm coming to realise that would probably mean getting rid of quite a few, which is alarming, but I've no idea how many I own.

I did do KonMarie once, only getting as far as socks and pants, but those have remained in much better order since.

I'm also about to start on holiday packing and I wondered if others have a separate holiday wardrobe (as in, for places with hot sun), and do you count it in with your other clothes if you have a capsule wardrobe or similar?

When I last counted I was at about 160 items and a third were sportswear. That fills one wardrobe and a chest of drawers which feels about right. I’d like to have more items in my current rotation!

I do have a holiday wardrobe but it overlaps, the only items I don’t think I’d use in the UK are a sort of sarong thing for the beach, one pair of short shorts, and a smaller handbag and purse. But I don’t do cruises, I know people do have second wardrobes for those!