Now that Spring has fully arrived here in the UK, I thought it was high time that I wrote a warm weather update to my capsule wardrobing series.  In case you’re new to the blog, and haven’t yet read the original posts on capsule wardrobing, they are here, here and here.  And in case you’ve never heard of the phrase “capsule wardrobe” before, let me explain, in the briefest of briefs, what I think it means…

The UK wardrobe is in dire straits.  The ubiquitous “buy and wear only once” mentality that so many people are plagued with continues in its quest to stuff our wardrobes full of cheap, badly made clothes that we neither care for nor, more importantly, actually wear.  Masses of shoppers pound the high street every Saturday afternoon, feverishly searching for the latest ‘must have’ items, all the while completely forgetting the piles and piles of under worn clothes they already have at home.  Bad for the people who make the clothes (often in the most grotesque of conditions), bad for the environment, and bad for the shoppers themselves too (seriously, who has the cash for that sort of thing?!).

Enter a solution, in the form of the capsule wardrobe.  Low on quantity, high in quality and versatility, the capsule wardrobe isn’t bursting at the seams with clothes such as those I’ve described above.  The capsule wardrobe is of modest size, but everything in it is well-made, ethically sourced and incredibly versatile.  It might have fewer clothes than a wardrobe stuffed with Primark’s finest, but what it does have are the right clothes.  The clothes that fit, the clothes that last, and the clothes that go with almost anything.  Having a capsule wardrobe won’t win you prizes for quantity, but it will push you streets ahead in terms of quality, versatility and style.  Which in my opinion is a better place to be than the friend who has five hundred things in her wardrobe but is forever complaining that she has nothing to wear.

But enough from my soapbox.  Let’s talk about the weather.

Spring is a fantastic season for experimenting with our clothes.  No longer bound by the need to wear six layers to stave off the cold, it’s time to have fun with what we wear again, and to relish the fact that it’s often entirely possible to step out of the house with little more than a cardigan for a cover up.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I sometimes feel uninspired to wear a fantastic outfit in Winter – if you have to hide it away under a coat to stop yourself turning blue, then why not take it easy, wear something simple and cosy and spend the rest of your time fuelling up on porridge and tea?

Not so with Spring, however.  There’s something about a warm, sunny day that compels me to want to wear something beautiful and go outside to show it to the world.  Dressing up for the day lifts my spirits tenfold, and if I know I don’t have to bury my body away under myriad scarves, hats and coats, I’m much more inclined to be a little more experimental.

Spring-ifying your capsule

The simple way to shift a capsule wardrobe in the direction of Spring is to harness the dual powers of layers and accessories.  An idea that I took rather a long time to get to grips with.  I used to have so many clothes that I couldn’t actually fit them all in my wardrobe at once.  I had to divide them up by season and rotate the entire thing once a year.  Not something I was particularly proud of.  These days, after a long period of selling, donating and selling again, everything I have fits in the one modest cupboard.  And with the exception of items that are obviously related to one season, such as heavy jumpers and sheepskin-lined boots, everything is worn throughout the year, adapted to the changing seasons either by adding or subtracting layers and changing my accessories.  Helped along by a few Summery staples, it’s goodbye to wardrobe rotations and a beaming hello to fuss-free dressing.  My essential Spring/Summer capsule wardrobe pieces (and everyone’s will be different) are as follows:

• A lightweight, non-black trench coat.  Mine is an amber shade from H&M and is one of the best jackets I’ve ever bought.  I can throw it on over anything and it instantly looks at home.  Low maintenance, high wearability, and the perfect defence against those impromptu April showers.
• One beautiful, feel good, God-I-CANNOT-stop-wearing-this dress.  Last year’s was the purple and yellow square neck floral I’m wearing in my picture.  I wore this everywhere last Summer: to weddings, to uni, to the beach – I even wore it on a roller coaster in Las Vegas!  The best part of the story is that I bought it in a charity shop for £8.  One of my all time favourite capsule wardrobe pieces.
• Sandals that go with everything.  My chosen colour is tan.  I bought mine in Clarks last year (I cannot rave enough about Clarks shoes – one pair of those at £45 really is worth all the £2 flip flops the high street can throw at you).
• A large, brightly coloured scarf.  My favourite is from H&M.  It’s square, which means I can tie it into a top or even a mini dress, as well as wearing it around my neck and over my hair.  When travelling last year, it morphed into a shoulder bag, a pillow and a beach cover-up.  Multi-functionality at its very best.
• One bikini/swimming costume that fits and that makes you feel great.  I once went on holiday for a week with a different bikini for every day.  And I ended up wearing only two of them.  Why?  Because those were the only ones I really liked and felt comfortable in.  The other five were a complete waste of money (and seriously, who needs seven bikinis anyway?).
• Sunglasses.  Finding the right pair of sunglasses is a daunting task, and not one that I’m particularly fond of.  I prefer classic styles to the bluebottle trend that seems to be forever in vogue, and don’t get me started on the John Lennon, “look at me I’m so creative but soooo pained”-type.  No one will ever suit John Lennon glasses apart from the man himself.  Leave them for Strawberry Fields and opt for something simple.

Basics

Basics are the most crucial part of the capsule wardrobe, whatever the season.  Underwear that fits and that makes you feel good.  Basic tops and vests that keep their shape throughout the day (again, H&M’s are the best affordable option I’ve found).  Tights and leggings that are ladder-free and big enough to avoid the horror of the sagging crotch area (it’s happened to us all at some point!) and a handbag that carries all of your junk but still looks the part.  If your basics are in good shape, the rest of your Spring/Summer dressing will be a walk in the park.  Leaving you with plenty of time to actually walk in the park, or do something equally as enjoyable.

Shopping

All this renewed joie de vivre that comes with the arrival of Spring can have unwanted side effects.  When the clocks leap forward I always have to fight the temptation to rush out and buy armfuls of dreamy, candy coloured chiffon blouses and deliciously long, floaty floral skirts.  Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of reasons why that wouldn’t be a good idea.  For one thing, heady spontaneity often leads to regretted purchases later down the line.  We all know what it’s like to buy on impulse, and I bet most of us know what it’s like to wish we hadn’t done so later on.  The second reason is that while Spring may well have arrived, it isn’t actually particularly warm out there yet.  So while you might get away with shedding a layer or two, all out Summer dressing when it’s not even April yet could well lead to a belated case of the frostbite.

Don’t give up on your wardrobe as the weather gets better, or denounce it as plain, or too black, or too boring.  Chances are that there are more things in there suitable for Spring than you know, and it might just be that all you need to do is shed the long-sleeved top you normally wear under that dress, or wear your jeans with ballet pumps as opposed to those clunky Winter boots.  Have fun with the weather, and your wardrobe.  Because really, that’s what it’s all about, innit?

What’s in your Spring capsule wardrobe?

Image above from Flickr - TheLittleRooster.