Starting out through Day 4
I just started this progressive capsule idea on my Instagram because most capsule challenges are about simplifying decisions about getting dressed, but I’m actually quite happy with my closet and clothes. I like what I have and making choices from it. So now I’m just curious, out of what feels like a streamlined closet (about 100 items including footwear and outerwear), how much I actually wear.
These are my guidelines so far:
- I’m not going to make any effort to limit what I wear. I’ll just wear whatever I feel like.
- I’ll be including both office and casual.
- I’m going to start with 1 month and then maybe expand to 3.
I’m curious how many items that actually ends up being. My hypothesis is that it won’t be a ton more than if I had created a capsule up front. Will be interesting though because May will span temps in the 50’s to the 80’s.
This is good for those of us too lazy to pre-identify items to be included in a capsule 
It’s not even a challenge, it’s just a listing for the next 30 days, of all the item we’ve worn.
Here’s the list so far. I’ll update here on the forums periodically, but will be updating my Instragramdaily:
Day 4:
1. Elizabeth Suzanne artist’s smock 1
2. Big Old Coat #memade #handknit cardigan 2
3. Medium blue skinny jeans 2
4. Black Chelsea boots 1
5. Black trench 1
6. #memade linen shirt 3
7. Distressed jeans 2
8. Birk clogs 1
9. Faux leather leggings 1
10. Gray marled hi-lo top 1
11. Pointy flats 2
12. Elizabeth Suzann silk crepe Georgia 1
13. Gray skinnies 1
14. Born cognac sandals 1
15. Birk sandals 2
16. Sleeveless black Portofino 1
17. Polka dot pencil skirt 1
18. Denim jacket 1
The number after the item represents how many times I’ve worn it.
It’s kind of funny that by day 4, I’ve already blown way past anything a 10×10 would have accounted for.
Day 9
So I’m up to Day 9 of the challenge and although I’ve worn more items than I expected, I think it’s kind of cool that I’ve worn over a quarter of my wardrobe in less than 2 weeks. I take that to mean that it’s all working hard for me, which is a good thing!
I’m definitely seeing a few items already showing up as much-worn workhorses including my black pointy flats (essentially the only comfortable, professional shoe I’ve found for the office in warm weather), my #memadelinen shirt, my distressed jeans, and my #memade handknit cardigan.
I’ve also had the opportunity to test-drive a few items I bought for this season, all thrifted from eBay: flax colored linen pants, black silk-linen pants, a white linen and a black silk Eileen Fisher cropped boxy tank, a long black linen cardigan, and a long beige cardigan. So far I’m really happy with them. I could definitely make a good #10×10 using these pieces. I’m happy to have found @leevosburgh ‘s blog because I learned what a good color combination black and beige make. Super classy and sophisticated. The cropped boxy over wider pants silhouette has also worked better for me than the Georgia over wider pants. It defines my waist without having to be tucked in.
The other great benefit I’m feeling from this challenge is greater contentment with what I have. I’m not much of a re-mixer in the sense of wearing the same item in a bunch of different ways, but I still feel I have plenty of variety and something to wear no matter the weather or occasion. I’m feeling like there’s no reason for me to buy anything else for the rest of the calendar year, so although I’m not declaring a shopping “ban”, I am saying that I don’t see any reason why it should be a hardship to not buy anything for the next 7-8 months.
Here’s the current list and a few pics of outfits from this week:
Day 9:
1. Elizabeth Suzanne artist’s smock 1
2. Big Old Coat #memade #handknit cardigan 4
3. Medium blue skinny jeans 2
4. Black Chelsea boots 1
5. Black trench 1
6. #memade linen shirt 4
7. Distressed jeans 4
8. Birk clogs 2
9. Faux leather leggings 1
10. Gray marled hi-lo top 1
11. Pointy flats 5
12. Elizabeth Suzann silk crepe Georgia 2
13. Gray skinnies 1
14. Born cognac sandals 1
15. Birk sandals 2
16. Sleeveless black Portofino 1
17. Polka dot pencil skirt 1
18. Denim jacket 2
19. White linen blend cropped boxy tank 1
20. Black silk linen pants 1
21. Long beige cardigan 1
22. Black Tencel t-shirt dress 1
23. Flax colored linen pants 1
24. Black silk cropped boxy tank 1
25. Long black linen cardigan 1
26. Silver ballet flats 1
Day 23
Up to Day 23 of the challenge already! It’s interesting to me how doing this challenge is taking up the energy I usually expend on shopping / searching and focusing it more on enjoying and wearing what I have. I’ve enjoyed seeing everyone else’s outfits, and especially enjoyed trawling through the #memademay posts. That may be some of what fueled my sewing frenzy. I guess that might also have absorbed some of the shopping energy. We’ll see how it keeps playing out if I don’t get any new pieces, whether purchased or sewed in the coming months. My gut feeling is that I’ll still continue to feel much more satisfied with what I have.
At 23 days, I’m at 40 items, which seems totally reasonable given the crazy temperature swings, a fancy night out, work, and casual hangout and errands. It’s gotten quite warm so we’ll probably see even more shorts and tanks showing up. It’s also encouraging to me that I’ve worn 40% of my wardrobe in less than a month. It’s being worn and used quite effectively!
Here’s the current list and a few outfit pics from the past couple of weeks:
Day 23:
1. Elizabeth Suzanne artist’s smock 2
2. Big Old Coat #memade #handknit cardigan 5
3. Medium blue skinny jeans 4
4. Black Chelsea boots 3
5. Black trench 5
6. #memade linen shirt 6
7. Distressed jeans 9
8. Birk clogs 3
9. Faux leather leggings 1
10. Gray marled hi-lo top 1
11. Pointy flats 7
12. Elizabeth Suzann silk crepe Georgia 3
13. Gray skinnies 4
14. Born cognac sandals 1
15. Birk sandals 6
16. Sleeveless black Portofino 2
17. Polka dot pencil skirt 2
18. Denim jacket 3
19. White linen blend cropped boxy tank 1
20. Black silk linen pants 1
21. Long beige cardigan 1
22. Black Tencel t-shirt dress 1
23. Flax colored linen pants 2
24. Black silk cropped boxy tank 1
25. Long black linen cardigan 1
26. Silver ballet flats 4
27. Long sleeve gray tee 1
28. Dark blue skinnies 2
29. Cognac booties 1
30. Gray cashmere v-neck 2
31. Black skinny jeans 3
32. Black cotton-silk sweater 1
33. Short-sleeve cashmere sweater 1
34. #memade white raw silk Georgia copy 2
35. Madewell striped shirt
36. Flax linen tank 1
37. #memade Emma-like kimono 3
38. #memade Georgia-like black linen 1
39. #memade Georgia-like flax linen 1
40. Distressed cut-off shorts 1
Day 30
OK – Day 30 has gone past! This was a truly interesting exercise for me. I wore 46 total items in 30 days, the most worn had 10 wears, 9 other items had 5 or more wears, and 20 of the items were worn just once.
Here are a few things that I realized over the course of 30 days:
- I can have an obscene amount of fun sewing my own clothes. During this challenge, I sewed 3 Georgia-like tops (white raw silk, black linen, flax linen), 3 Emma-like kimonos (black silk matka, flax linen, gold/flax silk matka), and one Harper-like tunic (flax linen.) This was in addition to the Linn-like flax linen top I had sewn earlier. Yes, that’s 8 new pieces in a wardrobe that I had culled down to about 100 items. That’s a pretty big influx of clothing. But man was it fun, and I am loving wearing all the pieces. I have to admit, I feel a little odd sewing my own ES knock-offs, but they are purely for personal use, and I’m continuing to support the brand in purchasing pieces in silk crepe, because I love that fabric from them.
- ** I love wearing silk and linen. I mean LOVE.** What’s funny is I’ve read bloggers that talk about this all the time — the joy of wearing these wonderful fabrics. And it previously fell on deaf ears. They just seem high-maintenance, and I try to keep my wardrobe as low-maintenance as possible. But ES makes both fabrics feel so approachable, I had to give them a try, and indeed, I now feel like life is too short not to wear silk, linen or cashmere (which is something I had discovered for myself over the winter) just about every day. Between sewing and thrifting, I plan to replace / cull most of my synthetic fiber clothing in the future.
- I’m making good use of my wardrobe. As far as number of pieces worn — I have about 100 pieces (well, close to 110 now, lol), and I wore almost half of it in 30 days. I like that.
- I am most comfortable wearing a boxy / loose silhouette lately. However, just like the voice I mentioned on Instagram that questions my wearing of black in warm weather, there’s a voice that questions why I would want to wear such loose and boxy clothes. Some part of me feels like I should wear slimmer-fitting clothes as it would be more traditionally flattering. But as I look over my outfit photos, and think through how I felt when wearing my clothes, it’s the boxy clothing that I felt best in. So… I guess that voice is just going to have to pipe down
Here’s the final list and a few of my favorite outfit pics from the last week:
Day 30b:
1. Elizabeth Suzanne artist’s smock 3
2. Big Old Coat #memade #handknit cardigan 5
3. Medium blue skinny jeans 5
4. Black Chelsea boots 3
5. Black trench 5
6. #memade linen Linn-like shirt 7
7. Distressed jeans 10
8. Birk clogs 3
9. Faux leather leggings 1
10. Gray marled hi-lo top 1
11. Pointy flats 9
12. Elizabeth Suzann silk crepe Georgia 4
13. Gray skinnies 6
14. Born cognac sandals 1
15. Birk sandals 9
16. Sleeveless black Portofino 2
17. Polka dot pencil skirt 2
18. Denim jacket 3
19. White linen blend cropped boxy tank 1
20. Black silk linen pants 1
21. Long beige cardigan 2
22. Black Tencel t-shirt dress 1
23. Flax colored linen pants 3
24. Black silk cropped boxy tank 1
25. Long black linen cardigan 1
26. Silver ballet flats 5
27. Long sleeve gray tee 1
28. Dark blue skinnies 2
29. Cognac booties 1
30. Gray cashmere v-neck 2
31. Black skinny jeans 4
32. Black cotton-silk sweater 1
33. Short-sleeve cashmere sweater 1
34. #memade white raw silk Georgia copy 3
35. Madewell striped shirt
36. Flax linen tank 1
37. #memade Emma-like black kimono 7
38. #memade Georgia-like black linen 2
39. #memade Georgia-like flax linen 1
40. Distressed cut-off shorts 1
41. Peep toe heels 1
42. Garnet Hill jersey dress 1
43. Black sandals 2
44. Leopard day dress 1
45. ES Mara jumpsuit 1
46. #memade Emma-like flax-colored kimono 1
