A Domino Effect

Hi friends, and welcome to a little three-part series I’m doing over the course of the next couple of weeks about something I like to call capsule wardrobing.  Here’s the premise:

Imagine your boss/teacher/other half calls and informs you of an unexpected trip to an unknown destination.  The details are few and far between, but you are advised to prepare for formal and informal activities both indoors and out, the latter in a variety of weather conditions.  You can only take one suitcase with you, but you must make sure that you have clothing to cover all eventualities in it.  You have five minutes to pack before your lift arrives to take you to your destination.  What do you do?

Turn to your capsule wardrobe, that’s what.

The capsule wardrobe is a wardrobe that works.  It’s not necessarily a minimalist wardrobe, although it certainly can be if minimalism is your thing.  The idea behind the capsule wardrobe is that our clothes should always be prepared for the unexpected, whether that’s a three-day business trip, an impromtu fortnight of heavy snow or a black-tie ball you’re invited to at short notice.  The capsule wardrobe is one that can take unforseen circumstances in its stride, leaving you free to concentrate on other, much more important things.  It’s organised, it’s accessible and it’s full of clothes that fit, are in good condition and make you feel great, so that in the event that you do find yourself having to pack a suitcase in a rush, you can happily avoid sartorial meltdown.

I’ve split the series into three parts: Part 1 I’ve called Laying the Foundations; Part 2 is Construction and Part 3 is A Word on Shopping.  Please do feel free to join in with any extra ideas you have, or comments you’d like to make – I’m forever on the quest to perfect my own capsule wardrobe, so I genuinely would love to hear your thoughts!

And so to Part 1…

Laying the Foundations

Go to your wardrobe.  Open the doors and look inside.  What’s your first reaction?

My first reaction to my wardrobe is always ‘bloody hell, that’s a lot of stuff’.  Always, without fail.  I make no secret of the fact that I, like many other women (and a sizeable number of men I should add), have a bit of a thing for clothes.  To me, fashion is a form of art, and getting dressed in the morning has never, for as long as I can remember, been something I do without thinking.  I wish it was.  I wish I was content with two pairs of jeans, a handful of jumpers and a pair of sturdy walking boots.  But the fact is, I’m not.  I see what I wear as an expression of my personality, in the same sense as the books I read, the music I listen to and the films I watch.  And try as I might (and Lord I have tried), I simply don’t feel like ‘me’ when I’m not wearing my kind of clothes.  Does that make sense?

But although I have a deep-set appreciation and fondness for clothes, I also have a deep-set hatred for wardrobes that are full to bursting with badly-made, ill-fitting clothes that do nothing other than hog valuable space and make us feel guilty.  Fashion may be a form of art, but it also has a practical purpose to serve, and the wardrobe that doesn’t fulfil that practical function in an effortless way is, to my mind at least, more of a burden than any kind of pleasure.  It also desperately, DESPERATELY needs to be capsulized.

But how do you do it?

You can’t build a capsule wardrobe unless you have some idea of what you already have.  In a nutshell, this means that you’re going to have to take everything out of your wardrobe, and I mean everything.  All those tops that are screwed up into little balls and stuffed at the back; all of the broken shoes that have found their way to the bottom and all of the underwear that’s escaped down the back of your chest of drawers and is now languishing, unworn and forgotten about.  If the idea of completely gutting your wardrobe in one fell swoop makes you feel even moderately queasy, spread the task out over the course of a few evenings.  With the UK weather scene being what it currently is, there’s never been a better time for Brits to block out a few evenings during the week for tackling big projects like this one.  Put some good music on, get some snacks and a tea supply together and enjoy yourself.  You can also split the work up into sections: dresses and skirts one night, for example, accessories and shoes another.

Once you’ve emptied your wardrobe, or the part of it you’re working on, lay your clothes out in a place where you can see them.  The bed is a good place for this, as are the living room floor and the kitchen table.  Make sure the lighting is decent - you don’t want poor visibility talking you into making bad decisions.  Now comes the fun part: deciding what to keep and what to throw away.  This can be a difficult process, so here are some tips I came up with to try and make it a bit easier:

• Look for ways to save things.  If you don’t like the colour of something, consider dyeing it.  If you dislike the buttons, consider lopping them off and sewing new ones on.  You can also change hemlines, add piping, lace or ribbons.  A whole world of possibilities awakens when you open your eyes to alterations, and the good news is that you don’t have to be a sewing goddess to do a decent job.
• Don’t keep what you won’t wear.  If you haven’t worn something for over a year, what are the chances you’re ever going to put it on again?  Be realistic, and try to remember that the test of the capsule wardrobe is wearability.  Things you don’t wear fail that standard, so take the plunge and get rid.
• Having said that, if in doubt, err on the side of caution.  Don’t work yourself up into a frenzy of ruthlessness and discard absolutely everything you’re unsure about.  What’s trash to you one day might well be treasure another, so take your time, and only get rid of something if you’re absolutely sure you want to.
• Don’t be bullied by your wardrobe.  So something cost a fortune and you’re determined not to let it get away despite the fact that it repulses you and you’d rather never see it again.  My advice in this situation is to get rid, and get rid fast.  We’ve all made unwise purchasing decisions in the past.  The best thing to do is to learn from our mistakes and resolve not to do it again, not to put the thing back in the wardrobe because we’re scared of admitting we wasted our money.  And the chances are, if an item genuinely is worth a bit of cash, someone on eBay will be interested in buying it from you.
• Don’t give in to emotional pressure.  Of course your best friend might be offended if you get rid of the bracelet she gave you, but does her temporary irritation really outweigh your having to carry the thing, whatever it is, around with you until the world implodes?  The short answer is no.  Tell your loved ones you’re on a mission to downsize your life, and remind them that getting rid of their material gifts doesn’t mean you love or appreciate them any less.  It might also discourage them from buying you more crap in the future, which will save them money.  Remind them of that as well, and everyone’s a winner.

As you work your way through your clothing collection, make a note of anything you think is missing.  This will come in handy when you come to build your capsule wardrobe at stage 2.  Pay particular attention to essentials and practicalities – base layers such as vests and tights and useful items such as jeans and plain cardigans.  The key to the capsule wardrobe is layering, so the greater your quotient of mix and match basics, the more effective your capsule wardrobe will be.  Keep a note also of anything that needs repaired or dry-cleaned (my nemesis is always broken-heeled shoes).  The idea behind the capsule wardrobe is that everything in it is ready to be worn at short notice, so all those pesky repairs you’ve been putting off for months really need to be sorted pre-capsulizing.

Once you’ve fought your way through your wardrobe and decided what to keep and what to shed, you’ve completed Stage 1 – Congratulations!  Now you’re ready for Stage 2 - constructing your capsule wardrobe.  Join me next week to find out how…

Image above from Flickr – purplemattfish.

This is the cardigan I dyed at the weekend.

It used to be white.

I now anticipate sunny autumnal days when I look at it.

Plain and boring white buttons off…

…exciting, sailor-esque buttons, taken from an ancient skirt, on.

Instant new look (of course I’ll use the white buttons for something else).

Result!

Happy Tuesday x

I think I’m a little late to the Polyvore party, judging by the fact that I’ve been reading about it on other peoples’ blogs for a while now, but only took the initiative and actually checked it out for the first time this morning.  I think I’m addicted.  This thing is SO MUCH FUN.  Simply create an account, have a blast building your own outfits and then publish your ideas for all to see.  The clothes are totally swoontastic, and although I’m not the kind of girl who could justify spending circa £400 on an outfit EVER, Polyvore is a great way to experiment with clothes and styles you like.  You never know, you might come across similar pieces at knockdown prices in the local charity shops!  Here’s hoping anyway!  I’m also thinking you could design outfits for friends and family on here – e-mail them with your ideas and see what they think.  Just for fun, here are three outfits I created this morning…

LOVE the shoes here, and the mix of blue, white and gold – sailor chic, right?

This rather girly ensemble makes me want to eat pink frosted cupcakes and dance to Cindy Lauper with my friends…how cute is that heart-shaped bag?!

Finally, this outfit makes me want to stroll the streets of some beautiful city somewhere, looking at beautiful buildings and feeling all cultured and well-travelled.  I love the satchel bag, it’s just begging to hold some library books…

I’m so not done with Polyvore yet, so expect to see many more outfits in the future.  You can store your creations in your own collection online, and refer back to them whenever you’re in need of a little sartorial inspiration.  Just don’t get so excited that you end up buying everything!

My first month of mini-goaling was, I think, a success.  I scored 8/10 goals, which is more than can be said for some of the World Cup teams (come on Spain!!).  The two things I didn’t get round to scoring off of the June list were going for a swim, and learning some Spanish (the latter was a failure even despite me having borrowed a ‘teach yourself Spanish’ audio course from the library).  On the whole, though, I think I did alright.  I finished my book, I baked a carrot cake, and I’ve been back on my bike for three weeks now, not yet having been mowed down by a bus, which is great.  Having the little list in the back of my mind has really spurred me on to tackling some jobs I’d been putting off for ages.  The mound of paperwork that was slowly turning my room into an administrative hell hole has shrunk considerably; I’ve found out a bit of information about career development loans (although there is still more to do on that one) and I have a lovely new set of bedlinen thanks to my strenuous but thoroughly rewarding efforts with the sewing machine.  It really is true what they say about pressure – tell someone (or the world) that you’re going to do something and it suddenly becomes a whole lot more difficult to wriggle out of it as I’m so often wont to do.  So in the spirit of continuing to get things done, here is July’s top 10.  I’ll be keeping the list in a separate page at the top of the blog and scoring things off as I get them done.  Going for a full house this month!

1. Re-design and hang cork notice board!

Inspired by Holly’s efforts with her jewellery board, I’ve decided that my cork notice board needs a bit of a new look.  It’s been sitting in my room for most of the year with nothing on it except for some flowery fabric I covered it with ages ago.  I think a makeover is in order…stand by.

2. Organise and implement a fun birthday bash!

The big 24 is upon me next Friday, so I’m going to organise something fun and relatively youthful to do in its honour.  If the gorgeous weather we’ve been experiencing of late can hold out (or perhaps even if it can’t), I’m thinking of having a game of rounders in the park with a few friends followed by snacks, drinks and board games back at the flat.  Tres jollie and inexpensive!  So if you live in Edinburgh and want to join in then by all means come along – unless you can’t field for shit and will let my team down that is (that’s a joke but I am disgustingly competitive).

3. Watch two classic American movies!

This is in preparation for the summer’s big trip.  My film consumption rate is terribly low (I blame my attention span), but nevertheless I feel that there are some real American classics out there that I should probably see before I go state-side.  Laura from Move to Portugal has helpfully suggested Manhattan, which I’m currently trying to get my hands on, and I really want to watch Milk again as well, given the time we’re going to be spending in San Francisco.  If anyone has any other ideas, however, then drop me a line with your recommendations – perhaps I can squeeze in three, or four, or more!

4. Finish the perma-unfinished quilt!

The clue is in the title with this one – yep it’s another unfinished sewing project!  I started making a quilt one summer afternoon a couple of years ago, and I just didn’t ever finish it.  A new job, a house move and multiple other distractions saw it safely into the bottom of a suitcase never to be looked at again.  I’d love to see it finished – it’s a shame to leave something so pretty languishing with no prospect of ever actually being used.  So that’s another one for July.  I’m not sure what I’ll do once I’ve completed all of these half-finished projects I seem to have.  Start a bunch of new ones perhaps!?

5. Wear five things from my wardrobe that I’ve never/hardly ever worn, and document it!

This goal is really a bid to reassure myself that deciding to keep a whole bunch of stuff that the stern minimalist in me tried to put to the carboot sale last month was the right thing to do.  I’m also making more of an effort to hang all of my clothes up rather than leave them draped on a chair or hiding in the ‘to iron’ basket (which is a hilarious name for it seeing as I only iron in dire straits – it would probably be more accurately described as ‘Rebecca’s clothes dumping ground’).  Anyway, the challenge is to actually wear these elusive items of clothing which rarely see the light of day, and to take photos of them to prove it.  Only then shall I be satisfied that they really do still have a place in my wardrobe.

6. Do a carboot sale!

And this is to raise money for my travels at the end of the summer.  I’ve been ruthlessly combing through my clothes, shoes, accessories and other possessions for a few weeks now, and I think I’ve arrived in a position whereby I can put up a reasonably good stall and hope to make a little bit of money from it.  That’s all there is to this one really, it’s just a matter of finding the right date and getting myself organised!

7. Make cushion covers from Ikea fabric!

When I went to Ikea a couple of weeks ago I got some really nice blue material with leaves on, which I think would make adorable cushion covers.  I also bought a couple of ‘naked’ cushions, and I’ve got plenty of thread, so all I really need now is a free evening, a shedload of patience and a gritty resolve not to fall out with the sewing machine.  Hopefully I’ll find myself with both at some point this month and ultra-stylish cushions will be the ‘that was totally worth it’ result!

8. Repair yet more clothes!

I was clearing out a load of stuff for the carboot sale at the weekend and came across an old jacket that I thought I’d thrown away years ago.  I stopped wearing it because the zip went bust, and having virtually no sewing skills to speak of at the time (and very little money to take things to a tailor) I bundled the jacket away and haven’t looked at it since.  But when it popped up on Saturday I wasn’t immediately filled with horror at the prospect of trying to re-zip it, so I’ve decided to chuck it on this month’s list for a punt and see how I get on.  I also have a cream sundress with a strap that’s in need of a little tightening.  It’ll be perfect for the desert temperatures of the Grand Canyon so I’m going to fix that up as well.

9. Make a scrapbook!

Friday 5 several weeks ago was things you’d save if your house was burning down, and one of mine was my so-called ‘memory box’, otherwise known as a bunch of randomly ordered scraps, each of huge sentimental value.  I’ve decided that being as precious to me as it is, my memory box really deserves to be looked after a little better than I’m managing at the moment.  So this month, I’m going to start the mammoth project of scrapbooking the entire thing.  It’ll be like Blue Peter – scissors, glue, sticky tape, perhaps a bit of ‘here’s one I made earlier’…

10. Learn stuff about America!

So I’m not completely ignorant when I go over there.  Simple as that really.

Finally, I’m going to roll over the unfinished goals from last month to this month, adding swimming and Spanish learning to the list.  So I really have 12.  That’s do-able, right?

Image above from Flickr - Curt Deatherage.

Sunny days

It seems like an obvious one, but I’m very, very sure that if it were pouring with rain outside right now I’d be feeling a whole lot worse than I am. The sun is shining, the temperature is up, and I’m going to go and sit on the Meadows after work and finish my book. Definitely not a prospect to be sniffed at.

The American Dream

OK so the prospect of the NY/Cali trip should really be enough to quell absolutely any mumblings of dissatisfaction I might be experiencing at the moment. And it actually is: a single thought about it and I instantly feel all excitable and cheery again. The planning is well underway now, with all of our flights, plus accommodation for our first six nights booked (including two nights at a hostel in Las Vegas called ‘Sin City Hostel’, the e-mail address of which begins with ‘party@sincityhostel’…not sure what we’ve let ourselves in for there). I’ve also got some travel guides on loan from the library so I can do a bit of my own research in the run-up. 6 weeks and 6 days to go!!

Projects

Does anyone else ever struggle to think where they’d be without projects? I do, all the time. Nothing screams ‘satisfaction’ at me as much as a completed project. The predominant themes of my current to-dos are ‘sewing’ and ‘downsizing’, so most of my evenings of late have been spent in one of two places: at the kitchen table with the sewing machine, or in one of our cupboards, filtering my many possessions for candidates to sell, gift or recycle. Both themes are making me feel equally positive: last Thursday I finished my first ever tote bag, made from the stag fabric I got from Ikea, and on Saturday I got to grips with our ‘this is where we keep all of our crap’ cupboard, and came away with tonnes of swag for the ‘to make profit from’ bag. I also found a wicker handbag I thought I’d thrown away ages ago, which I’ve totally fallen in love with again (it’s pictured above), and a coat that’s in need of a new zip (yay, sewing project!). It seems that joy can be found in the most unexpected of places, namely a dark, spider-ridden cupboard full of rubbish. Nice huh?

Charity shop swag

I had a little run at the charity shops on Saturday (as I’ve said many a time before, when the going’s good, you’ve just got to roll with it). I came away with a gorgeous little apple-print dress, a couple of summery cardigans (one of which I’m wearing in the outfit picture above) and a belt, all for mere pennies of course. If I remember later on I’ll take some photos to show you. They’ve all slotted nicely into my newly-cleansed wardrobe, and buying them ignited a little flickr of a business idea within me, which I want to get to work on asap. Exciting, entrepreneurial times ahead!

Google Reader

I absolutely love coming to my Google Reader on a Monday morning, because it’s full of peoples’ weekend posts. I’m rarely online at the weekends, which makes opening Reader at the start of a new week to learn about all sorts of different and interesting things a real joy. I’m usually full of inspiration and ideas after a Monday morning GR session, raring to go again – it’s a great kickstart to the week.

Finally, I realised the other day that I haven’t done a ‘Welcome to my Wardrobe’ post in a good few weeks.  So here’s one for today.  The butterfly skirt I bought for half price from New Look when I worked there (that was the best staff discount EVER btw).  The T-shirt I got for free years ago as it was rejected stock; the scarf is actually the belt from another top; the cardigan I got in a charity shop on Saturday for £3.99 and the bag is the one I ‘re-found’ after it had spent many months (years) in the bottom of a suitcase.