I have:
1 Cropped sweater that's getting ratty
4 ok-ish blouses, but two are too sheer
1 Cropped floral top
1 camel sweater
1 black drapey shirt
1 dark red sleeveless blouse

I have a few random non-work tees. But basically I have 9 tops, 4 of which have some sort of problem, lol. I tried the capsule building exercise, too, but like you, I couldn't find enough stuff that goes together.

I am at my computer now, with access to my 'wardrobe goal numbers' file, so: I was pretty close in my estimates. My ratio of tops to bottoms is 1.25 (i.e. 5:4). This is probably a little heavy on the bottoms than it needs to be, but I think with the whole 'you can't wear the same thing with skirts that you do with pants' issue it's not too bad.

It also really depends on what you need/want to wear. Take *lyn: she wears jeans or pants very rarely, so all of her tops need to go with skirts, and she wears dresses a good proportion of the time. But others wear mix and match separates almost all the time so all their tops need to work with all their bottoms.

Shiny,

That is a great strategy to go with tees and knits. There is so much variety in these now. Interesting cuts and venting, but not much pattern except for a flurry of jacquards.

Funny that you prefer pattern up top when as a pear i prefer pattern on my bottom half.

I have 30 tops, as follows:

15 summer (6 sleeveless, 7 short sleeve knits, 1 soft button-down, 1 crisp button-down) --2 prints

12 spring/fall (7 long sleeve knits, 2 soft button-downs, 2 short sleeve tops for interest under cardigans, 1 thin sweater) --1 print; would like more

3 winter (sweaters) --0 prints; would like more (I'd also prefer 5 or 6 sweaters)

About 30 for summer/spring and 30 for fall/winter. These do not include sweaters. All work appropriate. They are mostly not form fitting because I do have a thick midsection. Hope this helps.

Okay, I'm totally a maximalist. Or at least the only maximalist who is willing to try counting. I got to 50 in woven tops (which I divide in the closet into summer, winter and trans seasonal) and then I decided it would just be embarrassing if I added in knit tops (there are fewer) and sweaters (there are a lot.)

Oh yeah, most of my woven tops and many of the knits are patterned (I have not always had luck with patterned sweaters or have defaulted to solid cardigan over patterned top). I like to have pattern in just about every outfit. If not that at least some good texture mixing.

Well, I don't know. I have the clothes in my closet and then I have my holding boxes. I have clothes that I don't wear anymore because I stopped working but you never know what might happen. I don't count them. I have tops that I don't wear but that I like so they go in another holding box. Maybe they will come out some day.

Generally I wear long sleeved or short sleeved T shirts or tank tops. Or I wear denim shirts. I do not wear fluid, floaty tops. I find they look strange on me. I wear fluid bottoms. I don't wear buttoned shirts because I can't find any that fit me.

I do wish there was a better index (is that the right word?) for the VF. I look at the VF as a guide but not the final word. It has helped me limit myself in terms of my shopping. I can't see how I could follow it exactly.

Hmmm. I am in the camp that prefers not to count. I am also a Petite, so I know that what we want and what we get (in the stores) can be two different things.

In terms of looking at numbers, I am wondering if you pattern mix or wear wild-ish color combos (like orange + dark red + pink). Since doing one or both will stretch your possible combos, the numbers can go down.

Some of my woven tops fight with some of my toppers, either at the neckline/collar or the sleeve cut (dolman) or the length of sleeves so this limits their flexibility. OTOH, I feel that plain tanks and Ts, even the very thick ones I bought at Nordstrom, are really pushing into too casual territory for work even if covered by a jacket. And since I run cold and have flabby arms, I don't like to wear sleeveless tops even if covered by a topper.

After going for quite a few years without owning any pullovers (I live in Calif.), I bought four last year and a couple this year during NAS. I'm thinking I can wear them with and without a shirt underneath to change up the look, and one is mesh so I can wear various colored tanks or camis underneath.

I have six pullovers; that is plenty. I haven't even worn the Hinge polka dot one from NAS, so it may get returned unless I get the urge to wear it when it gets cool enough.

I only work part-time and have a home office. I only need to look office worthy once or at most twice a week. I've decided not to buy any more DCO items, wear mostly smart casual all the time, and think very long and hard before buying any more super casual Ts. At this point, my Ts outnumber my button shirts.

Wow, lots of good info here.

Shiny, I just wanted to come back and say I completely hear you on the idea of whether white/cream is an accent or a neutral or whatever. I was trying to do the Into Mind wardrobe system, and I was to choose three colors, two neutrals, and four accents. Well, I knew from past experience that white/cream is a biggie for me, so I threw that in with my "colors." But the "neutrals" were supposed to be your basics, stuff that can go with pretty much anything. So following that definition, the white/cream would certainly be a neutral and not a color per se. I finally figured out from reading another blog that I could fix the problem by changing her system to have *three* neutrals and *two* main colors—so I just switched the numbers around. But it was amazing how much of a monkey wrench the terms caused for me until I figured out how to tweak it.

I am close to Suz: 49 tops in all categories for all seasons and 28 bottoms (I did not include dresses there). This includes both work and off work (which is quite small as I usually use a lot of work clothing on weekends too). I have 4 season climate so I do have items which are one season only and others do cross over.
And definitely all tops do not work with all bottoms (and toppers too). It is not only skirts vs pants but also skinny / slim pants vs wide leg pants vs slouchy pants...

Not enough. Or not enough of the right ones?

black cotton jersey spaghetti-strap tank - workhorse
black drapey poly short-sleeve - dislike but bf loves
pink men's dress shirt - never wear
blue men's dress shirt - workhorse
b/w graphic print poly faux-wrap top - workhorse but looks cheap
black viscose turtleneck - rarely wear/layering-lounge
grey viscose turtleneck - ditto