My Year Long Capsule Wardrobe

Building a Capsule Wardrobe

My Year Long Capsule Wardrobe
How to Build a Year Long Capsule Wardrobe for | spring Wardrobe | spring Capsule Wardrobe | Summer Capsule | Minimalist capsule | capsule wardrobe on a Budget | Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe | Summer Capsule wardrobe | fall capsule wardrobe | Winter capsule wardrobe | Minimalist Outfit

Row 1: White T-shirt • H&M | V-neck • H&M  | Blouse • H&M (similar) | Pullover • H&M old (similar) | Light Blouse • H&M old (similar)

Row 2:  Kimono • H&M old (similar) | Plaid Shirt • Zara old (similar) | Light Denim • Zara old (similar) | Mid Denim • H&M | Distressed Denim • H&M

Row 3: Dark Denim • Zara old (similar) | Kimono Jacket • Madewell old (similar, similar) | Floral Maxi • H&M old (similar) | Animal Print Cardi • H&M (similar) | Oversized Cardi • Mango old (similar)

Row 4:  Grey T-shirt • Zara | Oversized Sweatshirt • Zara | Grey Long sleeve • H&M old (similar) | Striped Tank • Banana Republic | Black Denim • H&M

Row 5Black Tank • H&M old (similar)  | Black T-shirt • Madewell | Band T-shirt • Urban Outfitters (similar) | Graphic T-shirt – H&M old (similar) | Black Sweater • Zara

Row 6: Boyfriend Blazer • H&M old | Dressy Blazer • H&M old (similar) | Leather Jacket • Zara (similar) | Swing Top • Asos | Black Blouse • Express

Row 7:  Midi dress • H&M old (similar) | T-shirt Dress • Asos | Maxi dress • Zara | Pencil Skirt • Le Chateau old (similar) | Print Skirt • Zara | Maxi Skirt • old (similar) | Black Pants • H&M

Shoes: Rainboots • Hunter | Booties • old  | Sneakers •  Converse | Slip-ons • Vans | Dress Booties • old (similar) | Sandals • Etsy
| Moto Boots • Frye Engineer | Flats • old (similar)

*I’m in the process of updating as many of these links as I can. When a post is older some links become dead while other items are sold out, and they need to be updated with new items.

I mentioned a while back that I wasn’t really into seasonal capsule wardrobes anymore.

While we do have four distinct seasons here the length of each season seems to vary by year, so you can never really plan your wardrobe in advance.

For example this year our winter was shorter and milder than usual but now that it is spring it seems to have been colder and snowier than the entire winter. 

I decided that going with a year-long capsule wardrobe is better suited to my lifestyle since I generally wear the same things all year-long minus extra layers in the winter.

My thoughts were to replace the items I have that are worn, or need updating while adding pieces that reflect my style to give me a nice rounded, cohesive wardrobe that can be mixed and matched to work in most situations.

My goal isn’t to achieve or whittle down to a certain number of items, but to find a sense of completion in my choices. 

I am updating my Capsule Wardrobe graphic while I add new pieces and this is now where it stands (up at the top of the post). I think it is actually looking pretty complete aside from a small list of things I want to add over time.

They are not “need them right this second” pieces, those pieces will be added as I find what I am looking for. There is no need to rush since this is an ongoing task.

There are a lot of jeans on this list, but I wear a lot of jeans so it would be silly to include khakis or other styles I don’t wear.

I am still iffy about my black pants because they are looking old but for now, they are there since it is mandatory for me to have a basic pair of black pants and those are the only ones I have.

I also mentioned in my last post that I was going to get rid of my older black pencil skirt in favour of the floral pencil skirt.

I decided last-minute that it would make sense to keep it as well since a solid black pencil skirt is a wardrobe staple that will be used (which is why you can see it crammed into the bottom row in the visual).

I have reevaluated and purged items over the last few months to bring me to this point and feel that I have done a fairly decent job rounding out the capsule wardrobe.

I know my choices are probably more colourless than many and have been called “edgy” although I don’t really see it.

I see items that reflect who I am and what I feel comfortable in.

I would never expect all of these pieces to be the choices that someone else would make.

My thought is that if you get anything from this post it is that you don’t have to box yourself into following a set of fashion rules, numbers, or styles.

One person’s idea of a capsule wardrobe is way different from someone else’s and that doesn’t make it right or wrong.

Do what you feel works best for you.

Get ideas and guidance from sites online so that you can arm yourself with the tools to implement them into your own life.

If you are a stay at home mom you may like my Year Long Capsule Wardrobe for Moms. or The Stay at Home Mom’s Capsule Wardrobe for Spring and Summer.

I wear a lot of black, grey and white now, while your ideal might be a colourful capsule wardrobe with many bright colours and prints (mine would have been like that once as well).

Your choices and tastes are going to change and evolve as you change and evolve, so what worked this year may not work next.

Allow your style to change and grow along with you because it will become more organic and authentic that way. Look at the pieces that you keep reaching for day after day, build your wardrobe around those pieces.

Everyone will have a different sense of completion, and some may never feel their wardrobe is complete. I am striving for being content and satisfied where I am with room to grow.

What do you think of my somewhat final list?

If you enjoyed my Year Lomg Capsule Wardrobe post please feel free to share it via Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter. Thank you.

This post contains affiliate links. By using my links to shop I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you). Thanks for supporting what I do 🙂

You may also like:
How to Build a Summer Capsule Wardrobe on a Budget
How to Build a Summer Work Capsule Wardrobe
A Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe Starter Kit for Summer

This post contains affiliate links. By using my links to shop I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you). Thanks for supporting what I do 🙂

Follow me on
FACEBOOK || INSTAGRAM || PINTEREST || LIKEtoKNOW.it

Sharing is caring!

Sara

Sara is the founder and creative behind livelovesara. A George Brown College Fashion Styling Graduate, she provides advice on finding your personal style regardless of age and budget. She is always on the hunt for the perfect wardrobe piece and is a vintage and thrifting enthusiast who can't wait to share her newest finds. She is also trying to learn French.

14 Comments

  1. I’m really impressed! Your year long capsule looks like my Spring 🙂 I think you have splashes of color while still maintaining a good mix of pieces that can be combined to create a variety of outfits. I love the cape sweater, it looks so warm and comfortable!!

    • Thanks! That cape sweater was one of the best purchases I made. I got it on sale too which makes it even better. I’m going to head over to check out your capsule now 🙂

  2. I like your selection and I find my own approach to creating a wardrobe is similar to yours. I wouldn’t bother to call it a capsule though, since a capsule is a small piece of something bigger. What you are really saying is that you know your style, your lifestyle and your environment well enough that you are able to create a cohesive year round wardrobe without excess that goes unused. Not a catchy title for a post, I admit. 😉

    • I’m not going to disagree with there 🙂 I have had capsules and it was through those that I realized most of my wardrobes carries through the seasons which brought me to here. While I have more pieces in this than I did seasonally, I have less than I did when I had a capsule with other seasonal things stored away (if that makes sense). I use the word capsule loosely because people like to have things labelled. Plus it is more catchy 😉 but completion and cohesiveness is my goal vs a number and set of rules that need to be followed. Thanks for stopping by.

  3. For a year long wardrobe that seems impressive! I love that you have a clear sense of your style

    • Thanks Alethea! It only took me almost 37 years to find it with a million embarrassing fashion detours along the way 😉

  4. Love Love Love your wardrobe and style! Very excited I found your website since I’ve recently purged most of my clothes and have been looking for a good wardrobe that fits my style.

    My issue: how do you combine them to create more than one outfit..? I am so bad at it..

    • Thanks Klea!

      I think the most important thing is to make sure that every top you have can go with every bottom (or at least as many as possible). That there gives you a huge number of outfits. Then you move on to layering pieces like sweaters/blouses/blazers over and under dresses, tanks, sweaters, other shirts. I basically take one piece then think of every possible combination. For example a white blouse can go with jeans, black pants, a skirt, undone over a dress, layered under a sweater or cardigan, with a blazer….etc. After you figure that out you can change looks even more by adding scarves, switching up shoes, hats, purses, necklaces.

      Once you get into the habit of mixing and matching it becomes easy. A good way to practice is by picking one item (like a dress or shirt) and wear it for a straight week seeing if you can wear a different combination everyday. It’s forces you to be creative and shows you that you don’t really need that much after all.

      I hope that helps 🙂

      Sara

  5. This is the first of dozens of capsule wardrobes that I actually feel might work for me. Just need some advice; I am a very young 62 year old, with only a few grays in my dark brown hair. I work with the public, and on my feet all day, and just need to look professional (and be comfortable!) I don’t like black much, and feel like tans, camels, browns work so much better for me, and of course, standard jeans. Would this be adaptable to that scheme? Thanks for sharing your plan!

    • Definitely. I love camel and denim combination. I think if you just swapped out black for brown, like some nice camel and brown sweaters/cardigans, neutral shirts for layering, even a cute and comfortable pair of flats in animal print that will tie the browns together. It’s totally adaptable to your colour choices. I really love camel and have been looking for some pieces I can add to mine anyway 🙂

    • Hi Katherine 🙂 if the item is still sold in stores I use a stock photo and link back to them. If it’s not I try to either hang it up or lay it down on a white background and photoshop the background/hanger out. Then I take all the individual pieces and put them together in one photoshop document in a tidy layout.

      Sara

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.