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August’s Monthly Focus is closets, and there’s no better place to start than your own and with the clothes you already have. This post on how to create a capsule wardrobe is one of our most-loved stories (and one of the most-commented!) because it’s proof that a calmer, more functional wardrobe doesn’t require a shopping trip.
Are you frustrated by the clothes in your closet and looking for a simpler way to organize your clothing and keep your options to a minimum? A capsule wardrobe might be just what you need to minimize your options and declutter your closet.
What is a capsule wardrobe? A capsule wardrobe is a limited selection of clothing that is interchangeable. Multiple pieces that can be worn with different separates creating endless combinations. The capsule wardrobe isn’t a new concept, it’s been circulating for years and is especially popular in minimalist circles.
While a traditional capsule wardrobe might include an arbitrary number of items and very specific amounts of each item: 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of jeans, 5 short sleeve shirts, 5 long sleeve shirts, 2 sweaters, etc., I am concentrating more on minimizing options and keeping what I love wearing.
How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe (with the clothes you already own):
I started by removing any quick edits – anything that I knew didn’t fit, was damaged, or wasn’t a favorite. I started with my fall and winter clothing, but you can do this with all your clothing or separate it out by season like I did. I keep a basket in my closet for donations and used that to put the clothes in while I edited the collection.
QUICK TIP: If you’re unsure of any items, turn the hanger around and if you don’t use it within a month or two, let it go.
Next, I pulled out all of the prints and separated them from the solids. This is helpful just to see what you have and assess the best and must keeps. This also helped me see how many striped shirts I have, how many florals, etc. I don’t wear all of these shirts and circulate through my favorites so seeing them grouped together was helpful.
I did the same thing with the solid colors and then refined it down further by grouping like colors together. Now I can see how many white shirts, blue shirts, black shirts, etc. I have when they’re all grouped together. Doing this also helps you see a color theme that you can use to formulate your capsule wardrobe.
Once I had everything separated out by prints and solids and grouped by color, I did another quick sort of those two categories and let go of a couple more shirts in each category.
At this point I paused on the shirts and went through my pants and jeans, put them in color order and tried each pair on. Anything that I didn’t love the cut or fit, I put in my donation basket.
The last big step: decide on a color theme for your capsule wardrobe. This can be super specific like white and black or it can be a little more general – neutrals, cool colors, or warm colors. My theme is cool colors – whites, blues, greens, grays, blacks. Not everything will be interchangeable but there are plenty of combinations to choose from. Do I have a couple non-cool color options? Yes, but they are neutrals – like beige and cream – and will fit right in with my interchangeable capsule wardrobe.
Now that I have my color theme decided, I went back through AGAIN and removed a couple more items from the selection.
Now comes the fun part – putting the capsule wardrobe together. I put the prints and solids together in color order – whites, pinks, greens, blues, grays, blacks. You can decide how you want to arrange your capsule wardrobe but this makes the most sense for me.
A few of you have asked how I approach shoes and boots — and honestly, I keep this part simple too. I stick to one pair of workout shoes, two pairs of dress shoes, two pairs of sandals, and two pairs of boots. The same edit-and-group method works here: pull everything out, be honest about what you actually reach for, and let go of the pairs that don’t fit the life you’re living right now (we all have that one pair we keep “just in case”).
Accessories can follow the same rule — if you haven’t reached for it in a season, it’s probably not part of your capsule.
Do You Need to Rotate Seasonally?
Not everyone needs to rotate their closet by season — and that’s okay! If you live somewhere with mild winters or long warm stretches, your capsule might stay mostly the same year-round with just a few swaps (a jacket in, sandals out). The method is the same either way: edit, group, choose your colors, and keep only what you love wearing. Your closet doesn’t have to look like mine to work for you.
I was motivated to go through my spring and summer clothes too – I followed the same method and process.
Here’s my completed capsule wardrobe for fall and winter – some basics, some fun prints, and everything fits and will be rotated through. The best part? This was free! I didn’t have to purchase any new items, I was able to simply sort through the best clothes in my own closet.
Have you tried a capsule wardrobe? Would you try this method? Let us know in the comments!
This capsule wardrobe method came straight from a conversation in Homekeeping Society — and closets are exactly what we’re digging into this month. HKS is open → join us here and let’s tackle your closet together, one small step at a time.
If you’re ready to build simple routines that support the systems in your home, The Clean Mama Method will walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a calmer, more manageable home—one day at a time.
→ Learn More About the Clean Mama Method
The Clean Mama Method is a 21-day guided home reset that gives you a clear daily plan, short videos, and just 15–30 minutes a day. No marathon cleaning sessions. No starting over every weekend. Just steady progress that actually sticks.
As much as I ❤️ the idea, I am and have always been a clothes horse! There, I said it out loud! ???? I will though, go though and edit down all the items I keep scrolling through and not wear. It is time…..
I’m a clothes horse too – I LOVE CLOTHES! You’re in good company 🙂
This may just be the best article I’ve read on creating a capsule wardrobe! Super helpful. I love the fact that you did not purchase anything new. Your article gives me hope that I can actually do this. Thanks for sharing.
Becky,
I have read a lot of articles about creating a capsule wardrobe. I want to create one, but I get so overwhelmed until I read your article. I like how you went slow and put colors together and then prints etc. So you can see what you have, and then let go of what no longer fits or you no longer care for. I will do this today with my closet.
Thank you,
Cynthia Ann
Thank you Cynthia!
Love those closet organizers!!! i need that in my closet 🙂
Great article. You’re helping me a lot. Many thanks.
So helpful, and love the sustainability of taking a closer look at your own closet before starting from scratch! Where are the jeans, sneakers, and grey sweater with shoulder zipper from? All three are adorable, and very much fit the look I’m trying to create!
Thanks again for putting this together – love it and will give it a try!
Thank you so much Lauren! This is my signature look for the winter and it’s also a stock photo so I don’t have sources – it’s similar to a sweater I have from Loft and Kut From the Kloth jeans that I have 🙂
Love this! What a great way to “shop your closet.”
Also love your closet system. We just built a new master bedroom suite and need to put a system into our new walk-in closet. What brand is yours and how do you like it?
We love our system – it’s from Home Depot and the Martha Stewart line – I’m not sure if they still have it.
I agree with J. This may be the best article I’ve ever read simplifying the capsule wardrobe process. Would you create something that can be printed off briefly outlining the steps? Loved seeing the visuals, too…beginning, middle, end.
I’ll see what I can do 😉
I am so inspired to try this method of beginning a capsule wardrobe; this just makes sense. Thank you for sharing!
Do you keep all seasons in your closet the whole year? I have a medium size closet, and last year I rotated clothes but I didn’t like that. We are in a weather zone that stays fairly nice with some really hot time and fewer really cold days, so many things can be worn all year. Just wondering.
Yes! Our closet naturally had things divided up – you can see the spring/summer clothes on the left side of the closet. I keep workout pants, pajamas, and shorts in the drawers.
How do you capsule shoes and boots ?
I have a minimal approach to shoes so it’s pretty easy for me – one pair of workout shoes, two pairs of dress shoes, two pairs of sandals, two pairs of boots.
Getting ready to switch my clothes from summer to fall and am so excited to use this method! Thanks Becky for always being so timely with your info!!
I have just kinda sorted my clothes to wear,
This has made me look at my wardrobe and decided that I need more of a varied colour blue to wear, and include some stripes again,I prefer navy linen dresses for summer,it’s the darkest I can go, black is too dark. I tend to replace what wears out for cotton t-shirts, My wardrobe is a “all year round
wardrobe only less layers in summer, then on to my
dresses,
Thanks for an interesting article
I love this! Im a jeans girl.
This has simplied my life. Now I can find my clothes and have pre-set outfits ready to go that I can dress up with a few accessories.
Life is good! And it didn’t cost me anything because I already had it all.
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I’ve been planning to sort my wardrobe soon & I know this ‘capsule wardrobe’ method will work for me. Loved the simple, step by step method way it was explained. Can’t wait to try it! Thank you!
I SO LOVE THIS ARTICLE!!! I’ve tried to do capsule wardrobes for years and just gave up! I’ll give this a try!!
Thank you!
I’m not there yet, but I heard a tip on a podcast about a year ago about defining your style. I have settled into my style is in the winter dark pants and synthetic fiber tops and in the summer synthetic fiber dresses. Once I nailed down that, it is easy to let things go that don’t work (I’m looking at your floral pants) and make sure what get’s added will really get worn (hello second hand navy stripped top).
Great article. It does simplify the steps and makes paring down seem more manageable. I have tried something similar, but I can never get rid of anything. I always find an excuse for keeping the clothes, even when it is not that loved or worn, or even fits that well (I will lose those pounds, you know!) As it is, most of my wardrobe is black based or works with black, so partway there. Sigh, as part of spring cleaning I will try again.
Great video! I have been using the capsule wardrobe for several years. Made it easy to dress for work (corporate), and for weekends (casual). I also have a summer color theme and a winter color theme. I arrange my closet by color however, each color section starts with tank/tee shirts and goes all the way through long-sleeved. This makes mixing and matching a breeze and I get more use out of everything which makes my capsule wardrobe feel bigger. Once surprising thing- it makes packing for trips amazingly easy and keeps me from overpacking since I can tell at a glance what pairs with what. I now no longer over buy (saves money), things stay organized (no over crowding), and getting ready is much easier.
Today is Tuesday and this email arrived two days after I did a huge closet purge. What’s funny, other that the coincidence is that it doesn’t look all that emptier but there are at least 40 hangers in a box on the floor and two stuffed black trash bags in my car. I didn’t do a lot of organizing by color or season because where I live now it’s possible to wear a huge number of my clothes all year. I have many more ankle length jeans than crops and I wear mostly white crops when it’s warmer so I left them all in neatly stacked piles on a shelf. I don’t have space to hang them. And I didn’t realize this until I read your post that I only own two solid long sleeve shirts and two sleeveless. All my knits (tees and tanks) are in dresser drawers not hanging due to space limitations in a very small closet. I’m not saying I’m a clothes horse exactly but I tend to replace without removing original. That’s against the general guidelines I guess. I did remove stuff that I don’t like how I look in it and stuff that accentuates my Covid muffin top which will not go away!
Today is Tuesday and this email arrived two days after I did a huge closet purge. What’s funny, other that the coincidence is that it doesn’t look all that emptier but there are at least 40 hangers in a box on the floor and two stuffed black trash bags in my car. I didn’t do a lot of organizing by color or season because where I live now it’s possible to wear a huge number of my clothes all year. I have many more ankle length jeans than crops and I wear mostly white crops when it’s warmer so I left them all in neatly stacked piles on a shelf. I don’t have space to hang them. And I didn’t realize this until I read your post that I only own two solid long sleeve shirts and two sleeveless. All my knits (tees and tanks) are in dresser drawers not hanging due to space limitations in a very small closet. I’m not saying I’m a clothes horse exactly but I tend to replace without removing original. That’s against the general guidelines I guess. I did remove stuff that I don’t like how I look in it and stuff that accentuates my Covid muffin top which will not go away!
I also noticed that a good 80% of my tops is from Loft and we have similar taste in jeans! I have two pair of Kut from the Kloth and a bunch from NYDJ of which 3 are white. The rest in various washes. I also love Chicos jeans
Thank you Becky, this was one of the best articles about creating a capsule wardrobe from what you already have! No need to go out and buy more stuff but love the things you already have and curate your wardrobe. I think the colour theme is a brilliant idea, I’m choosing navy and white as by base colours. I always feel so comfortable in them. You have motivated me to get sorting! 😉
Love it!
I loved this article. It was really straightforward and stress free. It has also helped me to see gaps now that it only contains items that fit and that I like to wear. Thank you Becky.