Montreal-to-go Day 2: The Case for the Capsule Wardrobe
Recently I was unexpectedly stuck in a small town for a month with 15 articles of clothing, not including a winter jacket and snow pants as I was on a snowmobile trip. These 15 articles included a swimsuit, under garments, socks, and an overcoat. For 30 days exactly this is all I owned.
Part of me loved this experience, I had little laundry loads to do and I genuinely felt like I was getting great wear out of my items. The other side of me loathed this experience, today a month later, I can’t bring myself to wear almost all the items (minus a fantastic pair of denim).
This story should have a caveat that I booked, packed, and departed from Montreal to Vancouver within five hours. I was also only supposed to be away for 10 days maximum, but y’unno– life happens.
The experience of a severely limited wardrobe did put a full wardrobe, dresser, and storage unit into question. There is no reason that I should have this many items of clothing (and we’re not even at the footwear or accessories.)
In the effort of a zero-waste and designed lifestyle I have begun crafting guidelines and rules to help me clear out clothing, surprisingly much of what I own has sentimental value and makes it more difficult to get rid of even if it’s an item I don’t wear often.
My guidelines aren’t perfect, and “does this spark joy” doesn’t do it for me. I want to love how I feel in each of my items and wear them until they no longer serve me, but I want to be mindful. I live in a city with a huge swing from hottest to coldest days, I love to hike and partake in specialty outdoor activities, and –lets be real– my clothing is fashionable. A capsule wardrobe can’t not be fashionable, that is arguable the point, selecting items that work perfectly well with each other.
Next, once I’ve decided on the clothing I no longer want, it usually takes weeks for me to either sell them (I hate this part) or donate. Selling clothing has no appeal to me. I know that the items will not be paid for with ‘fair’ value and the back-and-forth with potential buyers is not worth the monetary return.
My (newfound) philosophy with clothing is to bring items to a donation site unless they are high ticket items where my return is in the hundreds.
Thrift and secondhand shops have been the source of a few of my favourite and most worn items, only seems fitting that if I wish to continue to find items worth their weight in gold, I should supply items that were once golden to me.
But now, I digress, to the guidelines. Any “noes” are instantly taken out of the closet:
• Can I wear this item in multiple seasons? Ideally more than three.
• Is this item made of good fabric and material?
• Does this item fit?
These three guiding principles should reduce my closet down with little emotional attachment. Each day this week a new section is being tackled and hopefully my hundreds of items will whittle down into a manageable bunch that will lead to Anna-Edit like capsules that are perfectly crafted.
