With Easter passed, I felt full rights to pack away my winter colors and break out spring! Winter for me is black based, with heavy emphasis on grey on bottom, and a rainbow of jewel colors on top.
Spring, it turns out, is white and navy on bottom and a burst of spring life in greens, yellows, and blues with sparkly silver thrown in.
Once the clothes were out, I did a little sorting on shoes and discovered to my horror that I had 18, yes 18, pairs of brown shoes, boots or booties. Now a brown bootie with grey or black is fine for winter, and a brown shoe with white works as well in spring. But what I am doing with 18? So, serious purging, and ordering of various leather and suede dyes means that I have reduced the count that remains to about 9. Still embarassing, but possible to use I hope. Gee I hope I am not alone being a shoe hoarder...
To go on, once the shoes were switched and the heavier items packed away, and the closed toe, rain and slip proof shoes brought forth, I decided to do a little look into how many outfits I could make for work and for weekend shopping/lunches.
For work, I have 25 items of clothing, and can make at least 25 original outfits from those. I put spring as lasting 8 weeks (chilly here until late may), and found I would use all outifts at least 4 times and each item about 6 times. Not bad, but in a way it doesn't seem like a lot of wear, does it? I never did this before so I have no real idea what is a good rate for a season.
Then I did casual/weekend wear. Now this is just sad. I spend most time on weekends in a sporting activity with dear BF or at home with teenager girls who don't want to do anything. So those times are for the most casual of outfits, lots of jersey tops, jeans, and no jewelry or plain gear. But, I guess 1 day a week I might get a reason to be out of the house in something more planned. 1 day a week, for 8 weeks, That is 8 chances to wear real outfits. I have over 20 items of clothes dedicated to this capsule. This is a whopping rate of wear, for the most favorite of my potential outfits, of less than 1. In 8 weeks I have no chance to wear everything once. What a horrid revelation! Not only do I need to stop buying casual capsule clothes, I need to purge more than half (or hide them for a long time), and only replace at a rate of 5 to 1? Oh my. This is the result of loving to shop, but not necessary being accountable for what I aleady own.
This has been a most revealing exercise for me. Not only in how random purchasing creates problems finding outfits (which was my main problem last year), but even with style and theme, not being accountable for the amounts means things cannot possibly be worn enough. I see that, for me, I have some work to do in both casual, and work wardrobe also, to find the right numbers to acheive variety AND wearability for a season. Anyone who has figured out some good numbers, I would love your tips! I know I am not the only one spending most of their free time in gear, so how many 'weekend' outfits and items do you recommend?
thanks for reading my novel,
Spring, it turns out, is white and navy on bottom and a burst of spring life in greens, yellows, and blues with sparkly silver thrown in.
Once the clothes were out, I did a little sorting on shoes and discovered to my horror that I had 18, yes 18, pairs of brown shoes, boots or booties. Now a brown bootie with grey or black is fine for winter, and a brown shoe with white works as well in spring. But what I am doing with 18? So, serious purging, and ordering of various leather and suede dyes means that I have reduced the count that remains to about 9. Still embarassing, but possible to use I hope. Gee I hope I am not alone being a shoe hoarder...
To go on, once the shoes were switched and the heavier items packed away, and the closed toe, rain and slip proof shoes brought forth, I decided to do a little look into how many outfits I could make for work and for weekend shopping/lunches.
For work, I have 25 items of clothing, and can make at least 25 original outfits from those. I put spring as lasting 8 weeks (chilly here until late may), and found I would use all outifts at least 4 times and each item about 6 times. Not bad, but in a way it doesn't seem like a lot of wear, does it? I never did this before so I have no real idea what is a good rate for a season.
Then I did casual/weekend wear. Now this is just sad. I spend most time on weekends in a sporting activity with dear BF or at home with teenager girls who don't want to do anything. So those times are for the most casual of outfits, lots of jersey tops, jeans, and no jewelry or plain gear. But, I guess 1 day a week I might get a reason to be out of the house in something more planned. 1 day a week, for 8 weeks, That is 8 chances to wear real outfits. I have over 20 items of clothes dedicated to this capsule. This is a whopping rate of wear, for the most favorite of my potential outfits, of less than 1. In 8 weeks I have no chance to wear everything once. What a horrid revelation! Not only do I need to stop buying casual capsule clothes, I need to purge more than half (or hide them for a long time), and only replace at a rate of 5 to 1? Oh my. This is the result of loving to shop, but not necessary being accountable for what I aleady own.
This has been a most revealing exercise for me. Not only in how random purchasing creates problems finding outfits (which was my main problem last year), but even with style and theme, not being accountable for the amounts means things cannot possibly be worn enough. I see that, for me, I have some work to do in both casual, and work wardrobe also, to find the right numbers to acheive variety AND wearability for a season. Anyone who has figured out some good numbers, I would love your tips! I know I am not the only one spending most of their free time in gear, so how many 'weekend' outfits and items do you recommend?
thanks for reading my novel,
