Hi,

This is a recap of Week 3 for DH’s closet challenge. Some great discussions (Deb's closet inventory is one of them, Pam's closet analysis is another, Susie's number crunching is another, and Mo's number crunch also linked later in this thread) on the forum this week regarding wardrobe sizes and some personal insights, mean this is going to be a long post. Consider yourself warned. I tried to bold some subtopics in case you have a specific one in mind.

To read more about the challenge, including the rules, click here.

For Week 1 recap click here.

For Week 2 recap click here.

My wardrobe size after 3 weeks is 34 items:

5 bottoms

1 hoodie

4 toppers (added a tweed blazer this week)

6 knits (added a striped knit this week)

3 gear items (added a sweatshirt this week)

1 shirt (for layering)

2 LS T’s (for layering)

4 tanks (for layering)

2 thermal layers

2 scarves

2 workout outfits (top and bottom)

Reflections for week 3

I started week 3 with 31 items. After doing the challenge for 2 weeks, surely
this would be enough items going into week 3 right?

Wrong. I ended up adding an additional knit (stripes) and a topper (tweed blazer) right away due to a laundry bottleneck. Then I realized I’ve been sporting the same gear outfit for two weeks straight so I added one more item, a sweatshirt.

It’s harder to save clothes when you have only a small number in rotation. When my closet was stuffed, I had a habit of reaching for the same handful of items again and again. But now I find it easier to wear everything in my closet more often, which is an important goal for me. I only have 6 knits in my closet right now,
so it’s not as easy to save one for later, I have to wear it.

I haven’t given special occasion items a second glance when I visit the “boutique.” Special occasion items (suits for interviews, dresses for weddings, etc) are not
typically going to be worn often and I don’t mind if those items sit.

You can remix a lot of outfits from a small number of clothes. I’ve worn some combinations that I would not have thought to create prior to this challenge, especially print mixing. I’ve liked some of them, but not all of them which brings me to a key insight for this week.

I have a low tolerance for remixing individual pieces and a higher tolerance for repeating entire outfits. To keep from boredom (and trying to participate in the no-repeat-November challenge by Mo) I’ve been trying to sport the same items in different combinations and I don’t care for it. I’d rather wear the same combinations again and again and just have a few more combinations to pick from instead. It’s too much thinking when getting dressed trying to remember if I’ve already worn an item in a specific combination or not and how I should combine it with something else for a “new” look. I find capsule challenges interesting because
you can find a new favorite combination, but to do so every day is just not for me.

Reflections regarding closet organization

Closet organization must tie into your outfit creation process.
I’ve tried my closet organized many ways (all by items of the same colors, all by items of the same type, and right before this challenge, all by outfits). Before I started DH’s challenge I had spent almost 5 months with my closet organized by outfits. It’s not as peaceful to look at as when it was organized by same color or same type of item, but it made getting dressed really easy. It kept me from over
shopping for one type of bottom and leaving another bottom as a wardrobe orphan
with no tops/toppers. And I didn’t have to worry about putting together an outfit, I had a collection of them ready to grab and go. I think my preference is a
bit like Angie’s client mentioned here. After reading her post I had reorganized my closet by outfits and I currently miss it.

I generally like to pair two tops/toppers per bottom. The bulk of my wardrobe is jeans which I consider an item that is really, really, easy to remix in lots of ways. Yet I’d rather pick the best two or three tops/toppers to pair with them and move on. This probably explains why I own over a dozen pairs of jeans, even though I only have 5 in my current working closet (the rest are in the “boutique.”)

Reflections regarding wardrobe size

Mo has a great post that goes into what a potential minimum wardrobe number could be, and if I add in my entire wardrobe, which would mean all the clothes sitting in the “boutique” and my current working closet, I see for some of my categories I am already at or have surpassed that magic number of 12. This could be why I felt overwhelmed by the size of my wardrobe before starting the DH closet challenge.

For example, I own a total of about 12 jeans/trousers. But for the DH closet challenge, I am only wearing 5 of them. Apparently I don’t mind repeating bottoms every week. Toppers I plan to add a few more as we continue to get colder weather. Now knits I am about halfway at the Mo limit already.

And here is a photo of the closet after week 3. I'll try to snap the outfits
this weekend.

Thanks for reading, I know this was a long one!

Edit to add: Here are the outfits for week 3.