An Easy Pill to Swallow

A Non-Minimalist Take on the Capsule Wardrobe

Capsule Shirts

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolution—that’s for a different time—but it’s hard to ignore the changing of the year and the feeling of a fresh start. With that, I have been thinking about my own closet, and how I want it to change in 2024.

It seems I’m not alone as I received variations on this question from a few readers:

What’s the size of a good capsule wardrobe for someone who is in the office three to five days a week, rarely wears a suit, but likes to wear a sport coat or overshirt to the office and out on dates?

The cheeky answer to all this is that a capsule wardrobe should be big enough, and no bigger, but I know that’s not what you’re looking for.

According to Wikipedia, a capsule wardrobe is a “minimalist collection of clothes that can be put tougher in different ways to cover a variety of outfits an occasions. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing.”

For me, it’s a reasonable collection of versatile pieces that can be mixed and matched to build a functional wardrobe. While versatility is key, I think it’s most important that, no matter how many pieces you have, you’re able to put together outfits that feel like you.

What a Capsule Wardrobe is Not

A good capsule isn’t trying to cover everything you might need to wear. I am not counting workout clothes, lounge clothes, or formalwear, in this wardrobe. If you have things to cover daily activities or the handful of one-off events already in your closet, great, don’t touch those.

If you’re looking for guidance on a capsule wardrobe that is the fewest number of clothes to cover your outfit needs, this isn’t for you. I often see capsule wardrobes that are set with a hard limit on the number of clothes. “Two jackets, two pants, etc.” is a great way to get bored after a couple three weeks. Stripping down your wardrobe to a near-bare-minimum number of pieces can actually make it harder to get dressed over time. You will have to be okay wearing the same outfits week after week but more importantly, you’ll have to be okay removing much of your personality from your wardrobe in exchange for every single piece working perfectly together. This is not a sacrifice that I want to make simply to hit some arbitrary number of garments that someone other than me has determined to be the right number for a capsule wardrobe.

Every Capsule is Different

A capsule wardrobe, especially a good one, will be different for each person. Your life and needs are different, and how you want to represent yourself is different. The weather, your laundry schedule, your day-to-day activities will all influence what goes into your wardrobe.

I live in Austin, with mild winters, big temperature swings in the spring and fall, and hellacious summers. Owning lots of cozy knitwear, or even flannel suits, is but a dream for me. Dressing for the weather is important, and it should have a bearing on your wardrobe.

If you hate doing laundry—or you’re prone to spills— you might need more clothes in your capsule to get you between washes. Factor that into your decision making. If that means a couple more days worth of shirts to get you through dry cleaning, so be it.

Over the next few newsletters I’m going to break down what would be my capsule wardrobe for the next couple of months to answer the question above. But, instead of keeping it purely in the world of theory, I’m going to wear only this capsule for the next two weeks. I’ll document outfits and give some context for where they might also get worn along the way.

As always, if you have any particular questions around sartorial matters, or you just wanna talk about clothes, feel free to get in a touch, a comment or email will do.