Moving away from capsules toward thinking outfit by outfit - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Moving away from capsules toward thinking outfit by outfit

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I was contemplating this last week. I wonder if I (we) sometimes get so caught up in the versatility of pieces and having them all work together in one cohesive style, that we lose sight of specific outfits for specific occasions.
I find I have mostly casual that can be dressed up a bit, but not a lot of truly active casual on the one hand and not a lot of specifically dressy clothes on the other. And speaking in specific terms, I realized a few summers back when heading to a pub here in FL to see a band that I didn't have an appropriate to the scenario outfit to wear. Ditto going to see Parliament Funkadelic earlier this year.
So for me, I am realizing I want one or two total rock n roll looks from Ticketmaster type concerts to little local unknown bands, and a couple classy date night dinner looks on par with the BF's Canali Suits.
I also need to flush out the 'rugged casual' or active casual part of my style. The kind of stuff I can scramble over rocks in, hiking, and still look fine in a casino for lunch a half hour later.
Just thinking out loud a bit, I guess. Looks like I know where to focus my shopping dollars for the rest of this year

General

22 replies

Latest reply was from shiny

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

You have to think of the outfit before the capsule, anyway, Malina:

item - outfit - capsule.

That said, isolating the outfit for these particular occasions makes perfect sense. Thing is you will find that the items will end up fitting into a capsule. Good news!

Capsules are not complicated and they do not need to be big. A capsule is merely a group of wardrobe items that work together. This way of building your wardrobe increases outfit versatility, which is economical and efficient. Stand alone items are fab too. You just have to be aware of them - and you are! So it's all good

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Makes sense! I guess I was getting too much in the mindset of all things working together, such as: this shirt can go over pants a, b, c and d and be tucked into skirt 1, 2, 3 and 4. I kinda forgot about the 'vibe' of each outfit along the way I guess. Everything is starting to feel like a variation of 'casual on the verge of dressy casual' lol.
Maybe that's also a result of having such a random mix of stuff over the years, that I needed to really streamline my look first, and then can branch back out into 'rock look', 'breezey picnic look', sexy dancing and dinner look, etc.

Dana

(website)

Veteran

Hi,Mo! It sounds like you have definitely thought this out quite well! I think it's perfectly fine to have some stand alone outfits. The concert outfits you're thinking about sound great , although here in Colorado most of the people going to concerts are wearing the hiking outfits you described, lol. Actually, not really but some are that casual. ( this is a great reminder for me that I need something for a Peter Gabriel concert at the end of Sept. Hopefully. It wont be snowing.)

You will probably get a lot of good out of a couple of nice date dresses. How fun to have your bf wearing a Canali suit.

Many kudos to your wardrobe planning!!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

It's that mathematical numbers mind working very hard, Malina

I have great faith that what you purchase will not be orphaned. You are too analytical for that.

Here are examples of my stand alone pieces. I like them best worn like this. No need to figure out another way of wearing them. I let them be.

Let your hunt begin!

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think Angie's examples suggest that dresses are often stand-alones. One way of wearing them is good enough! But if you end up with accessories in a different colour that also works, that's a nice bonus when it happens.

rae

(website)

Veteran

In addition to what Angie has already said beautifully, it might help to think of your capsules in terms of activities - your concert capsule, your hiking capsule, etc. These don't necessarily need to overlap into your day-to-day capsule or with one another, but you could mix and match within the capsule IF you want/need to. Or, the concert capsule could just be X stand alone dresses to rotate through your events.

shiny

Veteran

Concerts are easy -- jeans and a black top, that's what everyone seems to wear! Depending on the venue, I might even class it up with a silk black top rather than knit.

If the band is playing in a pub I add a clutch I have that's made out of beer can tabs; I don't care if it gets sticky and I like the humor of it. If it's at an arena, I take a black Kate Spade backpack, because it's highly likely it'll wind up on the dirty floor and I've learned my lesson the hard way.

If I feel like changing it up, I'll wear a graphic tee instead of a black top. Maybe with a boyfriend blazer or black moto jacket over. Or I'll break completely with it all and just wear what I feel like wearing, because it's boring to be wearing black/tee shirt in a sea of everyone else wearing the same old/same old... it's like a uniform or something? What's up with that??

I've got a huge capsule for classy date nights because we're always going out.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Shiny, can you believe I have just one black tee? I just DIY'd it 2 weeks ago from two tops that both had their own issues. Anyway, it and my one (yes only one) graphic tee are the only 2 possibilities at the moment, and I will start with them. I mean, I didn't even have a leather jacket until a couple weeks ago, so there is hope on the horizon Thanks!

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Laurinda

Veteran

An outfit is just the smallest possible capsule

unfrumped

Veteran

I think I may be hearing where you are coming from as I have been somewhere in outfit-capsule zombie land and am working out of it. I've always been a mix-and-match person and sometimes left the outfit to chance, as in, I'm buying these colors that go together, a blazer could go over pants or a skirt, I appear to have coordinating pieces, somewhere in there I've got some shoes and a purse, so I must have outfits, right? Wrongo.

I have been helped tremendously by Angie's outfit -capsule posts and all the archived blogs, but I had to really stop and think to get the most out of them. I was aware of my lifestyle-event capsule needs in general, but wasn't really focusing my wardrobe and apportioning it out percentage-wise, whether you use money, space or joy as the currency.

So, first , I had to stop and focus on outfits--taking time to put together an outfit that is really fab (okay, or seems so to amateur- improving fashion eye), analyze it, and decide--do I also already have other items that make equally good outfits wth the parts (or however "good" you decide is worth the effort at this time); is it fab but just one outfit , but so good and in the right direction that I want to expand it to be a capsule, and how? Is it fab by itself but for some reason I don't want to expand--maybe I'm aiming for different colors so don't want to invest more there, or something, but it's good to keep as-is. Dressy or special-occasion clothes might also fit here, or special weather, or a look at the edge of my comfort zone, or something.

Also, love the "too much choice" viewpoints--of course, I had too much choice from things that weren't quite right together, but again, it helped me focus and not feel guilty if something couldn't be worn 27 ways. So for me capsules are very important for me to work on further in order to both feel efficient--several things work together--and because I can tell I just get more fun and satisfaction out of being able to mix and match to a reasonable extent, but now I don't feel like the capsule has to be huge, and that is helping me not expand to certain things just because they would go together and even make great outfits--I may have enough there.

I'm a little cynical anyway about being able to say, throw this little black blazer over anything! I'm sorry, but short, long, lean, cropped, nipped all to me make a difference in whether the outfit looks really good or looks like, well, you just tossed a jacket over it. It's a fashion plot, I know, but I'm susceptible. This is combined with my aha moment that, hmm, my so-called classic forever-item may not look good for as long as I thought. So I think that is leading me to build smaller capsules that if the core item or items start to look blech, I haven't built my whole wardrobe around one item or one style of item.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Yeah, I think I need to focus on specifics more (exact items, situations) rather than just a generalized, "it's in my color palette and can be dressed up or down."
Angie is right, though, I'm too analytical in my approach to grab a bunch of orphans on a whim lol.

unfrumped

Veteran

Right, Mo, that's just what I was not doing. I had outfits "sort of" in my head, but in real life you acutally have to put on this, that, and the other before you can go out the door and it's for real. So that put me in the zone too often of "having nothing to wear" in the midst of a full closet, because I was, in fact, picky about how an outfit looked once I got it on. It was almost a conceit that I should not have to be so purposeful and planning ahead--like that was too frivolous. I am aware of the idea of the perfectly curated wardrobe and the legendary French woman's perfectly classic pieces and style, but so far for me it's been good just to plan, if DH and I go out this weekend, I'm gonna wear X outfit, and for church I'm gonna wear Y outfit, 'cause I've tried them on and really like them! And then do it.

shiny

Veteran

There you go, Mo! Both those shirts belong in your rock concert capsule! Just add jeans and some fierce shoes. I would go with black shoes for concerts because you may get beer spilled on them. Something comfortable if you will be standing for better view, or may be dancing.

Toss a jean jacket on outfit #1 and you've got a concert outfit. Why not wear a skirt?

I only have two graphic tees myself. A white one with black rose image (which needs replacement; it's getting worn out) and one I thrifted for St Patty's day event.... it is green and has an image of Jesus with "You gotta problem Yo I'll solve it." And I sometimes borrow DD's brown-and-gold Van Halen tee. I actually tried to hide that one so she wouldn't take it off to college. LOL

Gaylene

Veteran

I posted a link to Lisa's (Privilege) post in this week's Weekly Links on how Lisa suggests building a career wardrobe by thinking of the perfect outfit to wear in different situations or contexts. She then suggests looking for the commonalities between these outfits to build your capsule. It's very much like Angie's approach.

It made so much sense to me and can be applied to casual dressing as well as career. It also made me think about what events I need to dress for in MY life. Since I haven't been to a cocktail party in 10 years, buying a cocktail dress to fill a "wardrobe hole" was just a waste of money. But I DID need something for casual dinners with friends and for university events...

Anonymous

Mo, i do see where you are going with this and here are my humble fifty:
I feel that all of the concepts we discuss here, capsules, item versatility , cost per wear etc, are merely tools. Fashion is an art form, therefore you have to let intuition and impulse have input on this as well. A too analytical approach can be as derrailing as a purely guttural one. It's ok to have items in your closet that are not worn as often or only work as one cohesive outfit. Also, I can construct capsules out of what I own but the capsule concept does not govern my purchase decisions. I try not to to read too much into into the concepts. This is my hobby and the only thing I can be creative with at the moment. Everything else in my life is so cerebral, you know? I have stand alone pieces too and they are not purchasing mistakes by any means.
You have a great sense of what works for you. Let that be your guide too!

shiny

Veteran

Okay here's your concert capsule:

- black shirt
- graphic tee
- jeans
- slim black pants (or colored pants)
- fierce black booties
- flat shoes that will be okay if they get scuffed or dirty or have beer spilled on them. Could be converses. Could be ballet flats in a bright color and material that can be easily cleaned. Could be deliberately distressed leather.
- leather jacket
- denim jacket
- wristlet or over-the-body bag (small), so you can hold it easily while dancing, clapping, it won't get stolen, you don't have to put it on the ground or sticky bar top
- some rocker jewelry... studded cuff bracelet... giant hoop earrings... necklace that is whimsical

There -- I have you sorted! You can mix and match that a lot...

shiny

Veteran

Gaylene: once I found the perfect cocktail dress, I suddenly received invites to cocktail parties. Hee hee.

What I don't have is a "rugged activity" capsule. If I acquire one, I'm afraid someone will invite me to go hiking. EEK!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Zap, so true - sometimes you gotta give your head a rest and let the heart do some talking!

Shiny, you're hired! Actually, my FL concert trouble was that outdoors in the weather, my Tahoe concert duds wouldn't cut it. I wore capris and flip flops 'cause that's all I had
I wore my red pants and multi strand keyhole necklace to Parliament, which felt fine . . . except the turtleneck was the odd man out - ugh. It was March in the Sierra's, but still.
I'm going to Fiona Apple in a month or so . . . if it's not too hot I'm thinking LBD, crop leather jacket, and platform sandals.

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Anonymous

Slight side topic if you are thinking capsules. In my opinion, the ability to mix and match items has a lot to do with how each piece fits and the tonality of each item.

If I may use two amazing ladies as example, Mary K is a great example of item versatility. If you look carefully, most of her blazers fit her at around the same spot length wise. She found a length on her that works well with both dresss and pants. That increases wearability. Also, if you look at her color choices, irrelevant of what color it is, the intensity of each color is the same, brights. Colors in the same intensity have a great likelihood of mixing together.

If you look at Rae's the colors are muted, with the exception of citron and orange and other selected brights, jackets are cropped, which works great with pants and skirts and her footwear is a huge tool in increasing cohesiveness.

Each one has a huge capsule, their entire closets, in my opinion.

Gaylene

Veteran

Shiny-- maybe I DO need a cocktail dress--and maybe a new husband who won't roll his eyes at the thought of attending one.

And I think we are clutch twins. I also bought a beer can tab clutch this last year. I don't go to rock concerts anymore, but I love setting it down on the table if I'm sitting with a group of corporate wives. They compliment it before they do a double-take--too funny!

unfrumped

Veteran

Zapotee, I like your descriptions. You make a case that large wardrobes can of course be fab but also that they may be fab because of some structure and discipline is still present, which is good for large wardrobe or small. Angie has described that as well with her PPP and tests for bringing something home.

I am learning more discipline insofar as I want to achieve certain goals--I want a not-too-large amount of clothes, not so much for a tight size limit as a goal, but I want to feel like I'm wearing most of them throughout the year. That is the satisfaction place for me, not the size per se, so I'm not counting items, I'm checking to see what's languishing or not. (Super blog Angie, on Wear Your Clothes!) I am finding that trying to identify my best types of "bottoms" and "tops" and "topper" combos and focusing on several classic styles & combinations helps me not have to have endless different lengths, fits, and styles in jackets and tops that then seem not to get worn as often. If the outfits are too complicated I tend not to bother. It's a lot like doing the formula dressing and using it to liberate--I can still go outside the box when I want to, but I have better outfit options if I can say, no, that's cute but not really going to fit in well with what I'm doing--something else will come along. It's why I did not keep the Anthro jacket I posted about--it didn't really complement the types of "bottoms" I was focusing on.

shiny

Veteran

Mo: you already have the colored slim pants!! And that turtleneck and dress are also black! For Fiona Apple the LBD combo would work, or you need something floaty, and romantic.... and I totally understand about FL. It's so hot there. My BFF is in Tampa and she would probably pair an LBD with cowboy boots.

Gaylene if your husband rolls his eyes, then I will invite you to a cocktail party without him. As for the clutch, I actually purchased it as a gift for my youngest, because she is super crafty and I figured she'd get a kick out of it and want to learn how to make similar purses/tops/dresses out of soda can tabs. But I wound up "borrowing" it from her all the time (for purposes already mentioned). And oldest daughter wore that clutch to her prom -- with soft gray dress and silver heels. It was perfect and totally fit with her funky style.