Spring Capsule Wardrobe 2024

Capsule wardrobes, you either love them or hate them. And, I’m assuming since you’re reading this article you might at least be interested in the concept. 

Now, if you’ve read my capsule wardrobe articles in the past, you might be expecting a similar format.  I tell you what they are, how to build one, and give you an example for a Spring Capsule Wardrobe for 2024. 

I do plan to do those things, but we are going to shake things up a bit.  Capsule wardrobes have gotten a bad reputation.  I don’t want this process to be about overconsumption, lack of personal style, or lack of creativity.

Instead, I want to show you how developing a spring capsule wardrobe can actually enhance your creativity and your authentic style expression.

Will I give you a baseline example and my traditional spring outfit guide?  Yes.  Sign up below for the outfit guide. 

But, I’m also going to ask you to read the following paragraphs before skipping to the item list, because this might just change how you view the potential of a capsule wardrobe. 

What is a Capsule Wardrobe?

Ok, I know I’m testing you with this first heading, and some of you might be tempted to start scrolling.  But, this is going to be more than the canned response… And I’m going to link some interesting studies if you want to learn more about capsule wardrobes. 

A capsule wardrobe can be defined as a personal wardrobe that is minimal in size and filled with the following categories:  essential, basic, and timeless items that can be worn throughout multiple seasons.  

Now, it is important to define the concept of timeless here and how it relates to personal style.  I am a big believer in expressing YOUR personal style and that’s why I’m including more history and research into this article.  Because I understand we are all at different points within our style journeys and these guides can be a helpful visual to understand the mechanics of a capsule wardrobe and how the mix-match functionality works, but I don’t want to inhibit the development of your creativity. 

Timeless, according to the oxford dictionary is “ not appearing to be affected by the time passing or by changes in fashion”

Oxford Dictionary

I want to take this a step further and say that while there is a more stringent interpretation of what timeless fashion is to the fashion community, I want you to examine and find YOUR own timeless definition.  That does not necessarily mean it’s “classic fashion or style”.

Part of developing your capsule wardrobe will be finding your unique categories and your own style needs.  And, I’m going to lay out how to do that. 

{ Spring Capsule Wardrobes for all 12 Seasonal Color Palettes}

 We may earn a commission from you clicking a link below. And as an amazon associate, we earn on qualifying purchases. Full affiliate policy, here.

Developing Your Individualized Capsule Wardrobe

Before I get to my example of a Spring Capsule Wardrobe, I want to explain how to best start developing your own, and this involves looking at the different variations of capsules wardrobes over the years.

The historical roots of the capsule wardrobe first started in 1941 when Vogue presented it as a potential wardrobe strategy. They entitled it the “Campus Wardrobe” and it was part of their College Issue. The goal was to be an attainable, polished, and easily-used wardrobe for busy female students.

But the concept of “Capsule Wardrobes” really began to take off when Suzie Faux, who was a boutique owner, wrote “Wardrobe: Develop Your Style and Confidence” in 1980. And if you want we can do a deeper dive into Capsule Wardrobes and their evolution and my current strategy with them, just let me know in the comments.

And then in 1985  Donna Karen introduced her version of this concept with a collection entitled “Seven Easy Pieces”.  Now, she was a designer and was hoping to sell people her designs as an easy shortcut to a versatile closet.  But, what’s more interesting to me, is the concept of 7 easy pieces that exist in your closet. 

So while she listed individual items like a bodysuit, a wrap skirt, a cold-shoulder dress, etc… I want us to think more broadly and talk about categories so that you might examine these pieces for yourself and your needs.  

And if we like this concept, I’m happy to turn this into a more specific article and share my own experience using these broad categories.

I’m going to say that your wardrobe needs these 7 base categories or pieces.  Several pieces within your closet can fall within each category, but you want to nail down the main piece and how it works with your style parameters or preferences.

• The Comfortable Bottom
• The Polished Bottom
• The “Easy-Yes” Top
• The Polished Top 
• The Creative or Unique-To-You Piece 
• The Flexible Layering Piece 
• The Self-identified “Icing”

The Comfortable Bottom:  This is a piece that no matter what day it is, it’s easy to throw on and wear all day.  You’re never aching to get out of this bottom. It could be a knit skirt, a comfy pair of jeans, leggings, or cashmere pants for instance.  But, I want you to think about what item would fill this space for you. 

The Polished Bottom:  Now, I’m not referring to the concept of polished and it being linked to more “classic” silhouettes.  Instead, I’m examining how you like to show when you “put in the effort”.  When you walk down the street and have that “yes, this outfit is doing alll the things” what bottom are you typically wearing?  This could range from jeans, trousers, mini-skirts, silk skirts, or whatever you are drawn to. 

The “Easy-Yes” Top:  You’re in a rush, what top are you grabbing?  Now this may change based on the seasonality of your climate, and we will discuss this in the next part. 

The Polished Top:  Something that makes you feel put-together and like your best self.  It may not be the top you reach for when you are in a rush, but it is the top you grab when you want to have that extra pepe in your step.

The Creative/Unique-to-you Piece:  This can be a go-to silhouette that you feel speaks to your unique personal style expression. This could be a piece you found while vintage shopping,  a dress you enjoy wearing, a fun coat you love… The possibilities are endless and if you’re struggling you can try thinking about what item or piece would you pull out if you had to define your style in one item from your closet. 

Flexible Layering Piece:  An important part of style is “completing” your look or achieving a head-to-toe look (as Kibbe and other fashion stylists refer to it).  This just means that you have evaluated the style lines, the flow of the outfit, and what the cohesion of the outfit elements express.   A flexible layering piece can be a great staple to do this.  Whether it is a coat, a sweater, a linen blouse, a vest, or anything else you add on top of your outfit, defining this is important.  

Self-Identified “Icing”: Now, similar to a layering piece, your final touches and accessories can elevate a look.  What is your easy-yes “icing”?  What does icing even mean in this context?  Well, I like to compare it to a birthday cake.  The cake is just a cake until you add the “Happy birthday message” and the candles. And you can take it even further and have graphics, aesthetics, photos, or full-on 3-d models on your cake.  But, it depends on your likes and aesthetics, right? So what are your easy icing pieces?  You can expand this to makeup, hairstyles, jewelry, shoes, or however, you like to accentuate your looks.  I don’t want this to be put into terms of your “ideal” outfit, but rather your average outfit.

Determining Your Own Capsule Basics

Now, an important aspect to determine these pieces is gathering style data. If you’ve been taking daily outfit photos for some time you may have a good sense of how to define these pieces already. 

If you’re just putting together your first capsule, and you want an example of where to start I suggest you do the following: Take daily outfits, use this base example as a place to start, see how many pieces you wear, adjust once or twice within 8 weeks of wearing those items, and then track the commonalities and most-worn pieces (from your daily outfit data).  From there these pieces should be easier to define. 

How Many Pieces Should My Capsule Include?

Based on this scientific study on the links between creativity and capsule wardrobes (which generally showed positive results!), 33 pieces seem to be the magic number.  This is also the number that Project 333 states is a good starting point. 

Now, 33 items may seem like a lot or little to you depending on your wardrobe state.  But, I think it’s a good baseline suggestion and you can tweak it if you need to. 

This number does not include things like underwear, sleepwear, your wedding ring, or workout clothes.  Now, if those Lululemon leggings are something you wear on your regular days out, then count them. But if they are generally for gym or workout classes only, they would not count.

You could examine this Spring Capsule Wardrobe Checklist for a general idea of what might be included in your capsule. But don’t be hesitant to swap out items for your personal preferences or climate needs!

It is suggested that you build this closet and test it for 3 months, allowing yourself one time to re-adjust the closet if you’ve found your initial pieces not working. 

So developing a Spring Capsule is a perfect time to start this! 

Now, let me show you my example for a Spring Capsule Wardrobe… and we will get into the creativity aspect of it and outfit building after that. 

Aren’t you glad you didn’t just skip all that text 😉 

Spring Capsule Wardrobe 2024 

Why these items?

Now you have to remember that this is just an example capsule wardrobe and if you buy everything I just suggested and don’t tweak it at all, you’re going to be disappointed with the results.  And maybe even proclaim “Well, see, capsule wardrobes don’t work for me”. 

And they might not… but this capsule wardrobe is an example to reach as many people as possible.  So if you find it boring? Good- change it to your unique style POV. If you find you don’t like longer trenches… Great, swap out that piece for your own flexible layering piece. 

Think of this list as a basic foundation in a pyramid. These items are the foundation of your style (encompassing the lifestyle necessities and the basics/foundational pieces in my Style Hierarchy of Needs pyramid above). You can use the checklist in the previous section to see what you already have and compare them to your daily outfit photos to determine what you actually wear. 

The Creativity of Capsule Wardrobes + Outfit Building

Now, a frequent complaint people have with capsule wardrobes is that they look like the example I just provided.  I get it!  If you have honed down your personal style, the above image should viewed from only a category list and not from an aesthetic one. 

There are typically two results from building a capsule wardrobe.  The first person is striving for easily repeatable outfit formulas that make getting dressed and looking polished a simple task. They want to find the path of least resistance and then rinse and repeat. 

If this is your goal, then signing up for my spring capsule outfit guide might be a great place to start.

The other result is less well-known, and that’s an intentional stretching of creativity through a limited wardrobe (research study here) and a decrease in impulse purchasing.  Now the study had a fairly limited sample size, but the results correlate with a lot of my best practices for personal style building. Including collecting data, reflecting on your outfits, and getting creative with the pieces you already have instead of defaulting to new purchases.

Here’s where I’m going to nerd out a little bit on the roots of creativity, so bear with me a bit. 

Creativity has a broad and ambiguous definition depending on who you ask.  However, Kaufman and Beghetto created an interesting study where they coined the Four C Model indicating different levels of creativity. 

• Big C Creativity-  in fashion these would be your big designers like Alexander McQueen and Christian Dior.  They have a mainstream, large, and imminent status within the field.
• Pro-c Creativity- These would be your professionals who are experts, but potentially not known worldwide or reached the status of the Big- C people.
• Mini-c Creativity- This is the evaluation of creativity as a growth model and is often used for young kids or high school students (so it doesn’t really apply here).

And there is the little-c creativity which is what I plan to discuss briefly.  Little-c level of creativity is the result of highlighting everyday creativity and how we use creativity to nurture, grow, and improve to reach unfulfilled potential. 

This can include traits like inquisitiveness, imagination, unconventionality, and freedom.  The more you can stretch your interpretation of creativity, the better off you will be. 

For instance, we might instinctually or stereotypically define the above outfits as outfit A: creative, outfit B: classic.  But that would be doing our styles and minds a disservice. Both outfits exhibit their wearer’s creativity and showcase their individual style POV’s..

No matter what your wardrobe looks like, embracing a flexible and malleable definition of creativity will help you bring it to life. 

And the more intrinsic motivation you have around your style, the more you can engineer your creativity.  (Remember intrinsic motivation: doing it to feel good, express yourself, explore your expression… Extrinsic motivation: doing it to impress your boss, get noticed by a crush, or fit in with your friends).

Based on the research that followed people using a capsule wardrobe and measuring their creativity (including their base creativity styles), they found a general link between creativity and the reuse of existing clothes and the reduction of new pieces.

So why did I give you that breakdown? 

Because I wanted to emphasize that capsule wardrobes are not boring.  I encourage you to start to slowly define your 7 category pieces and how they relate to your style toolbox and your style statement.

Building a capsule wardrobe takes some time. My base example and outfit guide can help you see how the mechanism works, but what it can’t do is replace the pieces with YOUR own personal expression.  

The sooner you tap into your own fashion instincts, and determine your own authentic style (a great place to start is here!), the better you can create your unique recipe for your capsule. 

Why the change in this article format?

I want to help everyone along different points of their style journey.  And I want to give guidance to people who are just starting and need a stronger framework.  But, I want to make sure that I’m also emphasizing the importance of what comes next. 

My goal is to help you find strength through style. I want you to learn to trust your own fashion instincts and I hope that you uncover and express your unique Style POV. 

So while I won’t stop creating resources that people find helpful, I also want to help create a map you can follow to get to the larger style goals you have.

My Thoughts

It’s all well and good to hear the data and hear my thoughts on this, but if you’ve watched my videos your doubt might be creeping in and you’re inner voice is going “Sure, I’ve seen your closet, you don’t capsule.”  

And I could give you some baloney about how I’m in the fashion industry and I need more clothes for examples in content, and while that has some merit, the assumption that I don’t capsule is incorrect.

I am bicoastal, which means I have two closets to contend with and I capsule them to different degrees. My larger closet in New York is organized via clusters and categories and I take out seasonally inappropriate items as the weather changes.  My second closet is much smaller and much more refined and works off a more traditional capsule system.  My Closet Audit Video can help you understand this better (as well as get your wardrobe looking up to snuff).

Traveling between these two homes has led me to really understand my foundational fashion pieces because those are the items I bring back and forth with me.  I’d like to re-emphasize that each person’s capsules will look different and with time you may even change how your capsule works for your style needs. 

Even if you have a huge closet or a 20-item closet, the concept of capsuling can be beneficial. It can enhance your creativity, and take a hard look at your consumption habits around fashion and seasonality. 

All that to say, if you’d like me to do a deeper article on the 7 category capsules I’ve created, let me know in the comments.

If this was too much data for you, I’m happy to hear that too.

Let’s find strength through style.