anything goes with emma chamberlain
how to build a realistic capsule wardrobe, explained
Thu, 14 Nov 2024
my relationship with clothing and fashion over the years used to be toxic. my mentality was, "the more clothes, the better". but recently, i figured out that a capsule wardrobe works for me, and i'm loving it. today i'm going to share with you my guide to building a capsule wardrobe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is a capsule wardrobe?
Chapter 2: Why is a capsule wardrobe beneficial?
If you don't have a lot of clothes, then that means you're going to want to add a few things. And if you have too many clothes, the goal should be to buy nothing and just get rid of stuff. I also think it's important to remember that your capsule wardrobe is going to change throughout your life. This is not something that you're marrying forever.
This is what you're going to be wearing for, say, the next year, maybe two years. But you can constantly be changing it and evolving it and swapping out pieces here and there. Like, don't feel like you're marrying this for the rest of your life. Your capsule wardrobe can evolve and change as you do. And you can just do it intuitively as it happens.
And last but not least, instead of rushing to buy a bunch of new things for your capsule wardrobe, shop with intention and wait until you've found the perfect piece. If you're like, I really want the perfect pair of jeans. Don't just rush and buy the first pair of jeans you find. Look in your own closet. See if you already have that pair of jeans. Or...
Go out for two or three weekends in a row and go try on jeans in person until you find the perfect pair. Don't rush it and pay attention to what you already have in your closet. So shop intentionally, don't rush, be conscious of what you already have. Okay, with all that in mind, let's begin. This is the step-by-step guide, how to build the capsule wardrobe by Emma Chamberlain.
In my opinion, take it all with a grain of salt. The first thing I did was choose my base color. Now, what does that mean? The base color is kind of like the color that grounds the outfit. I would say this is usually a dark color. Honestly, I think the base color is either black or brown. And the first step is to choose one or the other.
I mean, if you're somebody who loves bright colors, your base color might be red. But I would say majority of us are going to choose between black and brown. So what is a base color? A base color is like the through line color in your outfits. This is the color that's present in almost every outfit, if not every single outfit.
This is the dark color that sort of roots the outfit and gives it dimension. Okay. That's why I'm saying it's usually black or brown. For me personally, it's black. I tend to choose black as my base color for my outfit. I'd say probably 85% of the time. These days, there was a long period of time where I would say my base color was more brown, actually.
Like I tended to choose brown shoes, brown bag, you know, brown sunglasses. But more recently, I'm choosing black. Like black is the through line for my outfit. Okay, next, choose your metal. I would recommend choosing a metal and sticking to it. Now, some people are like, uh, shut the fuck up. No, I like mixing metals.
I like wearing gold earrings and a little silver bracelet and a little rose gold thing. fucking anklet, like whatever. If you love that, go for it. But I think there's something really nice about choosing a metal and sticking to it and being cohesive. It's pretty much just gold or silver, okay? Choose gold or silver. Which one is more you? Which one do you lean towards?
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Chapter 3: How to start building a capsule wardrobe?
Like if I were to go on my Pinterest right now, there's an obvious sort of color palette going on. There's a lot of reoccurring colors. Because that's what I'm into right now. That's what I've been wearing recently, right? That just naturally sort of happens. So that could also be another method of figuring out your color palette. From there, we must build the wardrobe.
Okay, so step number five is finding staple tops. Now, my recommendation that I think would work for almost anyone would be to find a brand that you love that makes basics and load up on simple silhouettes in colors from your color palette, okay? Tank tops, short sleeve, boxy t-shirt, long sleeve, buttoned up colored shirt, and turtleneck. These are like the staple shapes.
Chapter 4: What should you consider when choosing your base color?
You need the tank tops and the short sleeves for summer. There's, you know, lots of different variations so you can find the one that you like. Maybe you like a scoop neck. Maybe you like a slightly cropped silhouette. Maybe you like a slightly longer silhouette. It's all there for you to decide. Boxy t-shirts are great for layering. Also very comfortable. Also kind of a style choice.
That's great to have. Coarse long sleeve in turtleneck for the winter. And then I feel like majority of us need a button-up collared shirt every once in a while for something. you know? Now, this is sort of going to be the base top for everything that you wear. I think when it comes to building a capsule wardrobe, it's best to just have a bunch of simple tops, and then you can build from there.
Instead of having a bunch of different intricate tops, it's best to just have all the basic tops in silhouettes that you know, you love, you're top of them. And when it comes to picking the colors, I mean, I think anything from your color palette, but most importantly, the neutrals from your color palette.
And now that that's sort of the base for your top half of your body, step number six would be to find some layering pieces, some exciting layering pieces that can be paired with your basic tops to add dimensions to outfits. And these should be simple enough that they could be reworn over and over again, but exciting enough to add dimension. Okay?
Like something with text on it, like something that says like star girl, you know what I mean? Or whatever. That's kind of loud. That is very memorable. Okay. It's hard to re-wear that over and over again and make it look and feel different. It has a very distinct style. Something with maybe a more subtle pattern. or a really unique silhouette, but a neutral color.
Those types of things can be styled many different ways. And because they're a bit more subtle, it's not like, oh, she's wearing that shirt again. And some people are very self-conscious of that. So that's why... you know, I'm bringing this up because it doesn't really matter. If you don't care, then great.
But I think, again, the beauty of the capsule wardrobe is that you can create a bunch of different outfits and it's not like, oh, she's wearing that shirt again. It's like, oh, that feels like a different outfit. And that's what's cool about it is that you can get that new fresh feeling while wearing the same pieces over and over again and rotating them, right?
So like layering pieces to me are little vests sheer lace mesh tops that you can pair underneath other tops, put over other tops, over shirts, okay, like a boxy button-up or like a quarter zip sort of, you know, boxy top tunics, like slightly baggier, longer shirts that maybe have an interesting silhouette. And these things can be paired with a tank top during the summer. Super cute.
During the winter, you can wear your mesh top over a long sleeve shirt. Now it has a completely different feeling. If you have like a lace tank top, you could wear that over a short sleeve for a cute layering moment. You could also wear it over a turtleneck for a cute layering moment. You can wear a tunic over a short sleeve, a long sleeve. Do you see what I mean?
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Chapter 5: How to determine your color palette?
I honestly personally prefer blank hoodies. Hoodies and sweatshirts. I used to love ones with designs on them and stuff, but I've noticed that I can sort of elevate the vibe of blank sweatshirts. So that's pretty much what I have now. And I find that I get more use out of them because I can really wear them with anything and everything. A few light jackets, approximately two to four.
I think jackets are an area to have fun. It is nice to have like one solid jacket that you can throw over pretty much anything that's in your base color. So again, that would be black for me. But I think it is fun to have like a cool pop of color jacket. So choose one of the bright colors in your palette. And then I think it's nice to have one heavy jacket for cold weather and one heavy vest.
Like really find the perfect fucking winter jacket and winter vest and dedicate to it. I can't tell you. I mean, it's even worse because I live in California. Like I really never needed to have more than one puffer jacket or more than one like super cozy warm vest. But it's so nice to just have like one simple matches with everything heavy jacket and heavy vest.
Honestly, I'd recommend choosing one that's in your base color probably. My heavy jacket is a black puffer jacket. Okay. This like amazing black puffer jacket. I've had it for years. I always go back to it. I always wear it. And then I just recently got my vest. It's just a black vest and it goes with everything. And that's it.
And then the next step, which is not really a step because this is something that is sort of like an ongoing journey. As you find them in the world, it's fun to slowly collect a few extra fun accessories and shoes in more exciting colors from your color palette as you find them, okay? As you find them. Like, for example... One of the colors in my color palette is cream, okay?
I took a risk and bought these little cream flats because I was like, they're speaking to me. They're in my color palette. Let me give them a go. And I'm so glad I did because I wear them all the time. I recently explained earlier how I found an olive green bag. Olive green's in my color palette. This bag has such a cool silhouette. I love it. It's very comfortable on the shoulder.
So I picked it up. I'm slowly but surely adding accessories that match the color palette, match the vibe that I can use instead of my black base options that I wear a majority of the time. And that's fun and that's exciting, but those things are harder to find in a way.
Like both of those things, those cream ballet flats that I wear all the time and the little olive green bag, like those things found me. I did not search for those, you know? And so I'm letting those things come into my life. And as I find them, I add them into the rotation, but you can't rush that stuff. And then last but not least, you need special event outfits, okay?
Honestly, I think you need one outfit to wear to a wedding and one outfit to wear to another sort of fancy event. I have not found my go-to wedding dress yet. I haven't been invited to a wedding in quite a while. But next time I'm invited to a wedding, I'm going to dedicate myself to finding the perfect dress to wear to a wedding.
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