As part of my ongoing efforts to declutter and simplify, I’ve decided to put together a capsule wardrobe for spring. In today’s post, learn how a capsule wardrobe works, and which items I chose for my spring lineup.

I’m not much of a clothes horse, and I’ve made good progress decluttering my closet. Even so, I still probably own more clothes than I really need. I’ve been intrigued by the idea of a capsule wardrobe for a while, so I finally decided to give it a try.

What is a capsule wardrobe?

If you do an online search for capsule wardrobe, you’ll find many variations, rules and checklists. Some are unnecessarily complicated, involving multiple “modules” of mix and match possibilities. Others are simply designed to get you to buy more clothing, providing lists of “essentials” your wardrobe should include.

Probably the best known version of the capsule wardrobe is Courtney Carver’s Project 333, which involves putting together a wardrobe of 33 items for a 3 month period. I like this one because it’s simple and builds the wardrobe around clothes you already own and love. And since I live in an area with 4 distinct seasons, three months felt like a reasonable time frame to give this a try.

The basic premise of Project 333 is to choose a capsule wardrobe of 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewellery, outerwear and shoes.

The 33 items do not include wedding rings, sleepwear, socks, underwear, workout clothes and shoes, and swimwear. It also excludes “in home loungewear” so the sweatpants and t-shirts that I wear around the house don’t count toward the 33 items.

To make this work, I think it’s important to customize your capsule wardrobe project to what makes sense to you. For example, I decided not to count any jewellery toward the 33 items. I own about 8 to 10 pieces I wear often, and also other items that go with specific outfits. Jewellery doesn’t take up much space, so I decided this is an area where I can be flexible.

How to get started

Step 1 – Take inventory

Carver suggests you start by going through your closet and taking inventory. Then, set aside clothes that you love and wear often. You’ll start building your capsule wardrobe from there.

I started by going through all my clothes and sorting them into four categories:

• Current season clothes I love
• Clothes I love for the other seasons
• Special occasion and dressy clothes
• Everything else

Step 2 – Build your wardrobe

Starting with your favourites, decide which items you’ll include in your capsule wardrobe.

Spring weather where I live could mean everything from snow to sweltering heat. That made putting this wardrobe together a bit of a challenge because I needed to include a little bit of everything. Maybe I should have started in summer or winter.

I sort of approached this like packing for a trip, picking items I could mix, match and layer. If I could take a 16-day trip with just a carry-on, I should be able to put together a coordinating wardrobe of 33 items for 3 months.

Here’s what I came up with:

Clothing (26 items)

• Bottoms: 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of jeans, 4 pairs of crops/capris
• 2 dresses
• Layering items: 1 jean jacket, 1 white jean jacket, 1 grey cardigan
• Tops: 2 long-sleeved button-up shirts, 3 long-sleeved t-shirts, 3 blouses, 5 t-shirts

Outerwear, footwear, accessories (7 items)

• Medium weight jacket
• Raincoat
• Casual sandals
• Black flats
• Casual grey flats
• Sneakers
• Spring purse

April, and sometimes May, are transitional weather months where I live, so I reserve the right to wear my winter boots and rain boots if needed.

Step 3 – Separate your wardrobe items from everything else

Carver says to box up your remaining clothes and put them away. I decided to skip that step. I keep my clothes for all seasons in my bedroom closet and dresser, and I know I’ll need those other clothes for fall and winter so boxing them up felt unnecessary. Instead, I physically separated my capsule wardrobe clothing from the rest of my clothes by putting everything at one end of my closet and in one drawer.

I’m hoping this exercise may inspire me to further reduce the amount of clothing I own. While I was putting together my wardrobe, I already set aside 5 items to donate.

I’ll provide an update on how this went in July.

Have you ever put together a capsule wardrobe? How do you keep your closet under control? Drop me a comment below and let me know.