Very interesting exercise! I am impressed with how much thought you're putting into it. I struggle with casual clothing so I am hoping to learn from your analysis and insights.

CocoLion -- I adore your capsule. It makes so much sense. I will look forward to follow on posts.

Readings the posts, there are a couple of things to which I relate. First, my cloths are somewhat off balance based on (1) weekly activities, and (2) climate. I tend to buy almost exclusively for work when work only makes up 35 - 40 percent of my week. I am working hard to overcome this and was marginally successful these past few months. I also tend to buy for Fall/Winter because I love those types of clothes. Yet, Spring/Summer dominate in my climate.

I seriously need to revamp my buying habits. Thank so much for posting.

I live your plan. Learning along with you.
I think this happens a lot. The fun occasions allow more creativity and trends so I tend to overstock that area.
You may find you can overlap more between smart and smartest casual, keep it leaner but update more often. Im learning that if i have just a few go- to outfits for going out , I'm
happy to repeat, since my " events" aren't even weekly( maybe should do something about that!). Probably aren't going to wear heels on the ranch, but maybe can use Sporty Luxe style to your advantage. I also learned that I'll mentally plan a dressier outfit for church or for going out and then tend to reach for something more casual at the final minute. So either it's still too imaginary or it's too fussy somehow, or something.

Denise, this is great, and I'm enjoying following your process too. I've been editing, but also added a bunch of F/W from NAS. As I evaluate whether an item is still useful to me (hello, velvet blazers and bodycon dresses), I need to do a better job of taking into account my lifestyle and activities and how much (or how little) I actually dress "up" for what I do. I definitely make more of an effort to wear my smart casual now than I did four years ago when I stayed home to work every day. I could wear sweats and tees to the studio every day and no one would care, but I feel better wearing my fab clothes.

I spent a little time looking at un-fancy last night and the exercises intrigue me, even though I doubt I'll do a capsule exercise restricting myself to 30-something pieces for 30-something days (although you never know). I do extremely casual capsule dressing when I go to the TX ranch or when I take photo trips, so I actually would rather use as much of my closet as I can when I'm at home!

Thanks for sharing this with us. I look forward to reading more!

Rock on, sister! I'll be reading! (And chewing my nails wondering what it means for me...)

I've been spending a lot more time editing too so I really appreciate this post and your thoughts and observations cocolion - and everyone else too. I think I've been trying to do more of what E said and wear my smart casual items at home too. I do go out to the post office and bank and grocery store after all so why not look decent when I do that? Of course I try not to buy too many high end smart casual items to begin with. But silk/cotton shirts are now everyday type items for me where as a year or so ago I wouldn't have worn those to work at home.

I've been "shopping" my holding zone recently and chose a button down for fall that is a nice pattern blend of deep russet reds and autumn tones. Not sure why I didn't think it worked last year but suddenly (maybe it's having a tan?) it seems right again. And fits wonderfully. I also chose a pair of flared jeans I thought I was done with, but realized maybe they'd work with my ankle boots this fall. Two "new" items for this fall with no $$ spent.

Well done, Denise! One of the things I liked best was seeing your work outfits. A little care to choice of necklace, the cool, but practical footwear, and the carefully rolled cuffs, makes it a cut above. I think your on the right track to a wardrobe that gives the right amount of freedom and choice without overwhelming!

*applause*

You are doing SO well, Denise. And forgoing stuff that is just not practical for your lifestyle is a good thing. I love to wear sleeveless tops - but I just don't have the climate for the style.

Denise-
I love this post because I am at a point where I am really
trying to streamline my wardrobe. As an RN I am in scrubs half the
week, the other half of the week I am usually doing "dailys", which
around here amounts to yard work, dog walking, family time, etc. My
wardrobe, when looking at it, can be very fantasy based. Apparently I
think I am a classically dressed, well heeled business woman by day and a
funky trendsetter who goes clubbing by night. I am neither of those
things; I'm just not as fancy as I think I am. I live in a smallish town in central MN. We are considering
moving out of town to a lake property, which means my life will be even
more casual. I need to create a wardrobe that is more congruent with my life.

To this end, I have been purchasing more funky casual pieces: cool jeans, booties, interesting and well made tees and tops, and tennies. These pieces are more "me" an are seeing use. What am I getting rid of? Dress pants, fancy footwear, lots of dresses. I very occasionally have to dress business casual so I did save a couple pairs of impeccable trousers and lovely tops.

Jeez- what a process! So while watching your paint dry, I am painting my own closet too Thanks for the updates an analyses, it actually is interesting!

Fantastic exercise and I am also learning along with you. I also live a mainly casual lifestyle as a SAHM and have a tendency to buy for my imaginary lifestyle. Although I've done a lot of purging over the past year or two, I've also done some buying. This weekend I bought the Stylebook app and spent a couple of days taking pics of my wardrobe (still not done!). I don't know if I'll actually use the app, but the exercise alone of taking each piece out to photograph has been very useful and eye-opening. Same idea as writing it out (as you have) but more visual. I will be following your progress. Thanks for sharing

I keep hoping to try a similar exercise soon...I'm thinking for fall and will be following you along in your experiment. Thanks for sharing your hard work with us!

Following with interest. I tried something like this and found HUGE discrepancy in what I liked to buy and what I actually wore. I am impressed with your organization and love seeing the sample outfits.

Well score 10 for your fall capsule wardrobe challenge!!! This is illuminating. Count me as another girl who more often buys for her dream life. I do wear my dream clothes some, especially with fall/winter clothes. And the boho in me just loves gorgeous fabrics. It works. But I did find myself wearing far more casual styles (for me anyway) this summer than I have before.

I like how simple but informative this exercise was. Yahoo! Did you post this thread's link to the fall capsule challenge thread? (I am headed over there. Have been sick all weekend and am just catching up .)
massive insight and work here, Coco! Aaaaaand....love your example outfits! You are gorgeous.
xo

It can't hurt to try it & see if you feel comfortable or not. (I personally use aprons when I'm doing messier stuff, but I don't live in a ranch, so my messy stuff is in the kitchen.)

I'm sure there are other forum members who wear their nice stuff at home, although no specific name is coming to mind now. Suz has an at-home capsule that's mainly jeans with smart casual tops, I think (in the cooler months).

I wanted to add, that keeping this post in mind, I am going to really try and keep my focus on buying casual that's stylish. When my $80 tee arrived today I was starting to question it's value. But I know its Cost Per Wear will be much better than any dressy tops I've bought this year. Somehow mentally it's easier to spend on a soft button front. It's easy to start letting the smart casual (or what I call dressy casual) capsule swell because it's more fun to buy. Also, I aim to wear closer to smart casual out and about more often, and not just default to casual for grocery runs or whatnot.

Ok, first off, Denise, the technical writer in me loves the presentation of your starting post. Very very *digestible.* Lol. But I think I could repeat your test and evaluate my own wardrobe.

Second, so interesting your insights. Take the Walmart shorts. That strikes a chord for me. Foundation pieces, if you will, that cease to work as foundation pieces for any number of reasons - like the manufacturing changes, they get discontinued, etc. etc. I may be facing this with my long-sleeve tissue tees.

Very inspiring analysis, thanks Cocolion! I'm also mulling my real lifestyle clothing percentage vs what is not getting worn. One thing I have taken action on is shifting "down" two sections: I started to wear some of my "dressy/casual event" items to work (I'm lucky I can do that), like dresses, nice tops, high heel sandals and dressy slacks. Also started to shift some "casual/errands" items to home wear, so the look at home got upgraded. I now have to isolate the rarely-worn items and take them to consignment.

I've also try to create events to wear my nicer clothes – outings with DH, or dinners out with friends... thing is... it can get expensive!

I'll be following your updates with interest.

This is really well thought out Denise. Nicely planned and easy (for me) to follow too :). I see you've already tweeked things slightly and are seeing areas that need slight re-thinks. I look forward to more posts and thoughts on your capsule.

Eye-opener! Denise, I loved your post and have never heard of un-fancy.com so I'm thrilled that you shared your long hard work, along with the link. I'm fascinated by this, because you share a common theme that one can be overwhelmed with too many choices rather than truly appreciating those pieces that bring wearable pleasure, especially when you can trim the weeds or simply let other favorites rest in storage for a while.

Thank you for sharing the essentials of how you pared down and with what items. It's brilliant and doable and your smart casual outfit, in #2, is simply gorgeous.

I spent a lot of time, this morning, looking at the website and it's inspiring, as is your thread here.

I am truly inspired by your analysis! Your post (from 2 yrs ago?) was the catalyst for me to analyse my lifestyle, and determine my own lifestyle breakdown/ratios. I'm sure you have saved me millions of dollars (don't get too excited - we are talking CDN dollars) okay maybe, not millions, but you have helped me be far more pragmatic when I shop. A long overdue heartfelt thank you! I'm very keen to see the outcome of your current exercise.

What a great exercise - I realize that I'm doing almost the same thing, just coming at it from a different angle perhaps. I hope that what I end up with is a capsule like you describe, and a good understanding of my actual wardrobe uses and needs.
I'm following with great interest!

Great exercise Denise, I'm sure that you'll gain further clarity about your wardrobe needs even if this is something you've done similarly in the past. Very interesting to read such profound insights, a mere 8 days in. And I'm glad you left yourself room to substitute, because you'll definitely gain far more valuable insight that way. If you have photos of them, I'd also be curious to see more of what you ended up wearing throughout the experiment. Your casual outfits, in particular, always manage to have just the right amount of interest even though they're ultra caz.

(Hah Rachy I had the same thought about how well laid out those original posts are! Truly, very digestible.)

This is a fantastic post. I think it's wonderful that only eight days in and you have already learned some valuable lessons. I also love that you are being flexible with changing things out. Can't wait to read more about this experiment.