[Warning: this is a big post]
What I Would Do Differently Next Month
[I learned how to put all my pictures into a "thumbnail gallery" from this very helpful post - now I have madd HTML skillz, yo!]
Summary of Items with Links to Pictures
Shoes/Boots: 8 pairs
- Black (Cydwoq)
- Purple/Tan (Bellevues Libby Smith, Fluevog)
- Green platforms (Fly London)
- Brown boots (Miz Mooz)
- Caramel Fringed boots (Predictions, thrifted)
- Leopard flats (The Bay)
- Olive/Red flats (I [Heart] Billy)
- Caramel pumps (Lauren by Ralph Lauren)
Shirts: 5
- Black asymmetrical (Morena, consignment)
- Purple brocade (Plum)
- Long striped tan/cream (Sandwich, consignment)
- Grey velvet (Club Monaco)
- Caramel midi (Precis Petite, thrifted)
Tops: 5
- Taupe tank (Ellen Tracy, swap from Caro)
- Painty blouse (The Limited, thrifted)
- White button-up (Burberry London, thrifted)
- Black leather shirt (Danier Leather, thrifted)
- Blue tee (H&M, thrifted)
Sweaters/Cardigans: 5
- Brown pullover (Banana Republic, thrifted)
- Red sweater (Reitman's, thrifted)
- Turquoise sweater (Kersh)
- Orange cardigan (Plum)
- Navy/Cream striped cardigan (Kersh, consignment)
Jackets/Blazers: 5
- Red denim (French Connection, thrifted)
- Denim blazer (Bisou Bisou, consignment)
- Brown tweed blazer (David Findlay, thrifted)
- Grey/purple brocade jacket (Naughty)
- Patchwork coat (Desigual)
Pants: 1
- Skinny cropped jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro)
Dresses: 0
Other: 1
- Leather vest (Cabi, thrifted)
General Observations on February's Capsule
- I should have put in more bottoms! I only had 5 skirts and one pair of pants, and it did not feel like enough. I got really bored of the same bottoms.
- Neutral shoes are great, but not two pairs of the same colour. I could have had 1 less pair of shoes and an extra bottom instead.
- I had chosen a couple of "closet orphan"-type of pieces (the orange cardigan, the Desigual coat, the grey/purple jacket) that were harder to incorporate into outfits. When I put together the capsule, I had to build around these items to make sure I would get more than one wear out of them. Not surprisingly, these were the items I wore the least overall.
- I intentionally made sure I had at least 2 denim items for weekends and Casual Fridays. This turned out to be a good idea. I'm going to continue to do this.
- I felt really creative this month when it came to making outfits - I never ran out of ideas, which was great. I still see lots of wear for most of these pieces.
What Got Worn the Most/Least
Shoes: A variety of shoes is important to me! The most worn were the brown Miz Mooz boots, with 5 wears, followed by the green Fly London shoes, the black Cydwoq shoes and the leopard flats, at 4 wears each. The Fly shoes and the leopard flats both received an assist on this from the 10-item Capsule Wardrobe Challenge that happened during the week of the 20th. The multi-coloured shoes (the olive/red flats and the purple/tan Fluevogs) each were worn 3 times each. At the end were the two pairs of caramel shoes (the Ralph Lauren pumps and the fringed boots) - each were only worn twice.
Skirts: These all got frequent wear; the black Morena skirt was worn 6 times, followed by the purple brocade (5) and caramel midi (5), the grey velvet (4) and the long tan/cream (3).
Pants: I only had 1 pair of pants in this capsule: the skinny cropped jeans. I wore them 4 times.
Tops: It was pretty even across the board, with all tops being worn 3-4 times each.
Sweaters/Cardigans: Again, all of these got semi-frequent wear, each 2-3 times. The exception was the orange cardigan, which was only worn once.
Jackets/Blazers: All were worn between 2-3 times.
Pants: The cropped jeans were worn 4 times.
Other: I wore the vest 4 times.
What I Would Do Differently Next Month
- As mentioned, not two pairs of shoes in the same colour.
- Not more than two "orphan"-type of pieces. Those need to be planned for.
- More bottoms!
- Dresses! I actually really missed having at least one dress in this capsule. It would have given me more options for bottoms and tops, especially if worn layered.
- More colour, or at least a more thought-out colour scheme (I did do this for March). Because of the ripple effect of the "orphans," I was forced to do more neutrals than I usually would. I found myself really missing bright colours!
What is Leaving My Closet
- The fringed boots: They killed my feet and the quality was not that good. I liked the height of them on the leg and the slimness on the ankle, and if Fluevog made a pair like this I would buy them! They were worth the $12.50 I paid for them, however.
- The orange cardigan: This drove me nuts when I wore it. It didn't lay flat and I felt very lumpy in it. I love orange, but just not this cardigan. I'll keep an eye out for other orange tops on my shopping expeditions.
What's on the Fence
- The striped cardigan: I liked it, but it's not love.
- The long tan/cream skirt: don't love it, and I have another long cream skirt that I like better.
- The blue tee: the neckline is too big; I ended up pulling at it, trying to hide my bra every time I wore it. But I love the cut and colour. Maybe if I dry it on high heat it'll shrink.
- The Burberry shirt: It's a little boring. Plus, it requires ironing. I can probably get a good trade-in or a few bucks on consignment for this, considering I only paid $4.00.
- The grey/purple brocade jacket: one of the "orphans" - I feel like I got as much wear out of this as I'm going to, pending pairing with more black, grey or purple bottoms. It's a little limited due to the colours.
I'll have to think about these - if I need to make room in my closet, they may be casualties.
Looking Forward to Wearing Again
- The Desigual coat: I just love it. I'm never ever getting rid of it.
- The leather shirt: such a cool piece!
- The leather vest: this might actually make its way into another monthly capsule later on this year. I love fitted vests.
- The skinny cropped jeans: they're just so versatile. They might also sneak into another capsule.
- The purple/tan Fluevog booties: so comfortable, so distinctive. Love, love, love.
- The Cydwoqs: I grew to love these over the month. I will buy this brand again if I find another cool style.
How I'm Feeling About the Year-Long Challenge So Far
I am enjoying it (so far)! A month is just the right amount for me to still be excited about outfit-building, without getting too sick of any particular item. This challenge is also functioning as I intended: I'm weeding out some of my lower-quality or "don't love" items, I'm learning to better plan for closet orphans (and maybe not purchase so many), and I'm getting more wear out of my clothes, instead of going months between wears.
I find myself mentally starting to categorize what month certain items are going to be worn, and I'm eager to pull out my stored spring/summer items to work into the warm-weather month capsules. I'm only a couple of days into March's capsule, but building a capsule around specific colours really resonates with me.
Anyway, it's still pretty early! I wonder how my opinions will change as the year goes on?
To refresh your memory, here are all the outfits together. You can click to embiggen them, and click on the dates to go to the original posts.
[I learned how to put all my pictures into a "thumbnail gallery" from this very helpful post - now I have madd HTML skillz, yo!]
You can vote for your favourite outfits here (you can select more than one outfit, it's okay!):
