Thanks for sharing. Everything lined up for you this season and you had fun and looked great.

It is fun when that happens! I really like the blue dress in 8- it is a classic style and will get worn again in a warmer summer.

Suz, you DO have a fabulous head start to Fall from the NAS. Me too. xo

Suz -- I love posts like this. You are so thoughtful and analytical that I know I will thoroughly enjoy your analysis (and learn a lot about myself in the process). Due to a time constraint, I will have to come back to this later.

If I send you my credit card information , will you please just take over? I am exhausted by trying to find clothes I like. You and I have a similar work lifestyle and climate concerns - so you know what to do ! You can even charge me commission

In all seriousness, your thoroughness is to be admired. I am not quite up to your level of detail and energy for all of this, but I hope to be one day because it's so apparent that's what it takes to build a good wardrobe. I have been shopping and looking a lot in the past two weeks, and have found almost nothing that inspires me. Where are all the fall clothes???

Great pics, and I enjoyed reading about your wardrobe and the numbers.

Although you bought a lot of new things, you still had a lot of stuff from the previous year, including shoes (I see the Okalas!), and shoes are usually some of the most expensive purchases. And you wore the heck out of your new Bernias, which is proof of a good purchase.

Yes, half your wardrobe was new, but it sounds like you clearly had to replace quite a bit of stuff. (It always seems like everything wears out at the same time, doesn't it?) I think that a newer wardrobe does have a part to play in why you were so excited about your summer outfits, but I don't think that's the *only* reason. After all, we've all bought new stuff only to wear it a couple of times and then see it languish in the closet. But it sounds like you wore everything you bought, which means you have been spending your money on the right things. I'd rather spend $1,000 on clothes I love than $500 on clothes that make me feel only so-so.

I think that you will still enjoy these items next year. And you might be surprised about the dress. It is older, yes, but when next year rolls around and you find that you haven't worn it for quite a while, it may look fresh again. I have found that some of the items that I wore to death before YLF that I couldn't stand to wear once I got new clothes are starting to look fresher to me after a year of letting them sit. I think we just experienced overload from wearing the same items from our teeny-tiny closets over and over. After the items in question have a rest, maybe they will be more than ready to come back into the game.

You have a gorgeous wardrobe full of beautiful pieces. You look wonderful in all of them and my favorites are #3, 5 and 6. You know I love casual, lol. I am the same way as you. I like to frequently add new items to refresh my wardrobe. I think that is why I am a quantity over quality person. I don't need classic pieces that last years and years. I need inexpensive fun or trendy items that I can love and then not feel bad to add more inexpensive fun and trendy items that I love.

Kiwi and Gigi, I think you are probably right about the dress. It won't hurt to hang onto it for another season. Also, it feels like a "sundress" to me -- and we didn't get a whole lot of days when I might wear that type of thing. I mean, I do wear it in the evening (out for dinners, etc.) but typically I liked to wear it on really sunny evenings when we'd be eating on a patio or something like that, you know? So, its day may come again next year.

I have to confess I cheated with the Okalas. I did buy them last year, but in the WINTER (on sale) -- as a "prospective" purchase for the coming spring! I'm really glad I did that. They've been a really nice addition.

And you are so wise to suggest -- better to spend a bit more on items we love rather than less on items we don't really care for. And especially with tops, they DO all wear out at once! My summer tops have a short life, since I don't have air con.

Lisa, you flatter me way too much. I know how great you always look! But I completely hear you on the stores -- fall stuff is not in yet, really. Online it is a bit better, but not a lot, yet.

Sterling, Angie -- thank you both.

Money well spent I say.You are looking so good Suz - I've been wowed by your WIWs.

As you wrote, you are still building your wardrobe. If you subtract your purchases for replacement items from your figures they are pretty good imo. As Angie says it was a good season for you so you would be silly not to buy.
Next summer will be really interesting

Fun headline, Suz, and great fun to read your analysis of your summer capsule. No wonder you were so happy with your summer wardrobe; you have looked amazing in one outfit after another! And I LOVE the way you plan your capsules so summer is your longest season! Very optimistic of you to call March "early spring."
I, too, have concluded that I'm better off with half a dozen or so shorter-season capsules than with just four.
I'll look forward to watching how you transition to fall.

Me again - and further to one of your later comments in this thread re: mini capsules for our horridly long winter season - that is a fantastic idea, and so so what we need to do. I'm with you - I like to refresh with Dec/Jan sale stuff I can still wear for a few more months. But it's the Sept-Oct and Mar-April ones that still matter and need attention to! We should form a School of Canadian Women's Wardrobe Studies. Undergrad and Graduate programs available.

I need to get into my fall.winter stuff and see what's there - but I can't make myself get into the cedar closet and look - too soon. But not really.

YOU CRACK ME UP.

I think of seasons as follows.

September - May: WINTER
June - August: CONFUSING

Maybe I need to take your approach and break down capsules for every couple of months so even if it's all the same kind of stuff it doesn't feel that way.

Love this thread!

Ha ha ha. The seasons are so different to us all. I have 3. Tahoe. Florida. In between.

Yeah, Lisa, we should definitely have a School of Canadian Wardrobe Studies!! It can be based in Canada, but really it is "northern" to include our Alaskan and Norwegian friends...even our Scottish ones, probably.

And Una, yeah!! In Alaska, June - August would definitely be confusing!

I'm honestly breaking it down the way I'm planning to simply to prevent boredom. You know....sort of like the way you might hide some toys from your toddler and then bring them out as a "surprise" after a few weeks.

There's a play called "I am my own mother."

Well, I am my own toddler.

Mo, Tahoe, Florida, and everything else makes sense for you!! Completely!! This is what I mean about dressing for our real lives. You have mastered it for the Florida climate in years of late. You've had no choice!

Interesting observations Suz! The one about newness is most illuminating, and I wholly resonate with it. When the collections feature was added, I made a SS14 collection that housed all my purchases for spring/summer... and when I counted them I found it's a very sheepish 40 (plus a few more things that I couldn't collect). WAY more than I'd thought or planned!! To be fair I had an entire capsule to create (the active-casual) and I also had to replace several things due to weight loss, but still. It's a very large number. I don't think I need quite so heavy a turnover next season, and I don't expect that you would either. Especially since the purchases you made that I can think of are all trendy or on trend, with fluid fits, so they're not going to date any time soon. Fingers crossed for both of us

Along those lines, it's also possible that with the fit changes you just needed to update more of your wardrobe to make it all feel current enough.

Also interesting to hear about the changes from what you expected due to your summer being cooler than normal. I had the exact opposite! So a few of the "summer" pieces I bought, that would work well with our normally mild summers, were rarely worn while my preexisting shorts and tanks got a LOT more wear than usual. These types of things are hard to anticipate though, and it sounds like you've now got both warm and cool summer items under control so whatever is thrown your way next year, you'll have a foundation in place.

I look forward to reading about your fall and, later, winter purchases and summary.

(PS: you look smashing in these outfits!)

Even though you purchased a lot of clothes, you are wearing them, and you are happy with them - that's a major goal achievement. In my past shopping life, I would "settle" for lesser quality, not such a great fit, etc. - like you, I am getting away from that. I say you had a brilliant summer!

School of Canadian Wardrobe Studies... YES!!! With an advanced degree in East Coast, where you can expect three seasons in one day, and your forecasts frequently look like this... (Aka "we don't have a freaking clue")

Hahahahah!!!! Yup....Elizabeth, we will have a CHAIR in that one.

The holder of the chair of course requires a full wardrobe for each eventuality.

Cough cough.

Hey - I have been known to sport a hoodie, shorts, tank top , and a rain jacket, oh and rubber boots all on the same day ! In Manitoba we like to say " if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes" . !!

Great analysis, Suz! And gorgeous outfits.

I think Shevia makes a good point about dressing as a hobby as opposed to a necessity. Maybe thinking of some of your purchases as a hobby instead of a need is a way of reconciling your desire for newness?

Gaylene, you and Shevia are wise. It actually does help to look at it that way. After all, I spend so much for books, for cooking materials, for fitness gear and/or gym membership per year -- why not also a percentage for fashion that goes beyond mere "need."

I will chew on that a bit and think about what percentage might be reasonable. Good point. Thank you both.

You have done an AMAZING job of getting a handle on wardrobe planning. I bow down to you.

FWIW, Suz, I have split my clothing budget into "needs" and "wants" for a while. It's another way to categorize, and it seems to account for fashion-as-hobby nicely. You still have to set amounts, which is another can o' worms, but it's a start.

Suz, as always your "musing" posts are very illuminating and resonating with me. I don't have to tell you that I love your outfits and every time I see them it is a highlighyt of my day.

But girl, I am going to hold you to these words in the months to come: "In other words, I don't have a lot of shopping to do for the fall. "
Somehow I don't believe this - expect some hand slapping in the near future!

Seriously though I can so resonate on a big portion of the wardrobe being new (hey, I was your partner in crime for June binge, remember?)

However is it newness or currentness of the items I really crave? On one hand I seem to reach for new for the season items more than for the older ones. Even ones I loved last summer I don't wear nearly as much this season (blush khakis? yellow blazer?) On the other hand one of the most used items in my wardrobe is Gap denim biker from the last year. I love the combination of a soft color with the sharp boxy style. It feels plenty current to me and I am hard pressed to find any outfit it does not work well with.

I found that I really need to refresh my wardrobe for each season. What I am not sure is how big this "refresher" should be - 5%? 20% 50% (I hope not!) - to keep me happy.

Also unlike you I don't think I can say that I feel my happiest this season - but this may be a side effect of a size change and the fact that a lot of my things do not fit perfectly as before. I am never happy when the fit is not 100% right!

I am away on business now but when I am back I am going to reflect on MY summer style and learnings from it as well - thanks for the inspiration!

Great musing Suz. I'm needing a refresh, and have a short, but important list of 'needs'. Now does not seem to be the best time for B&M fall fashion. The stores are all posting 70% off sales and clearing out summer stock. The mannequins in the windows are wearing white jeans and plastic bags!

Oh! And sign me up for the BFA* program with the CSWS, please. Honours Budget Fashion. Thesis topic: 'No Retail Stone Unturned: Shopping Mark's Work Wearhouse and Canadian Tire."

*Bachelor of Fashion Arts

I love your seasons, Una. Spot on!

I think about this all the time: I like to pick up something every month. I just like to. I'd rather a new sweater than a movie. But I always feel that's not really the way it's supposed to be. You're supposed to buy some clothes once a year, mostly replacements, and be done.

Your summer wardrobe looks fantastic, as always! But it was your musings on your preference for your new or "current" items really resonated with me. I also find myself reaching for my newer items, which was not fine exactly, but not a huge problem when I had a closet full of cheaper/fast fashion items. Now that I've started buying higher quality pieces, I need to either be more careful of a high turnover rate or commit to having a much smaller wardrobe and accept it as a natural part of that. Hmm. Definitely food for thought!

It's awesome that you've come to a point where you love all your outfits. I too struggle with the need to purchase something new in order to feel current. I do agree with some of the previous commenters that a lot of this comes from how trendy pieces are, so I've tried to move away from buying anything that is TOO on-trend.

Loved to read your great analysis, Suz! All these outfits are gorgeous, and very very you! You must have reached your style zen, indeed-and it's so liberating to not struggle when packing for a trip, but this means work. Lot of work, and money:-(.

Actually I had some of your same revelations. Our summer was a unusually cold and rainy, too, so somehow it made some sense that I also purchased a lot. Including mesh sweaters/cardis, other fluid knits and 3(!)BF chinos-as I did not have any other springy pants than my white BFjeans. But I also felt, like Angie, the spring/ summer colections was uber great this year-so I purchased some great mixmedia summer tops, and sandals, too.

Who thought we will wear sweaters in summer, and so many pants outfits I did and still do-we almost didn't have summer weather at all. It was all spring:-(. So, my beloved hot weather capsule(mostly dresses) from last years was staying almost unworn in my closet, meanwhile the new items have been worn a lot. And, this terrified me, too! At the beginning of the season, I thought I am much prepared to go with what I have, but it prooved to be the very contrary. As dear Sveta already said in her recent thread, I was so dissapointed to find out my well worked on wardrobe still has big gaps to fill in. Exactly when I just wanted to consider it done!

And now, I see so many fall clothes that are screaming my name:-)...It just never ends???:-((

Thanks for this informative report Suz. It has helped me figure out my own wardrobe count. In my last capsule test thread I asked for numbers suggestions -- and I was actually thinking 60 per season would make me happy. That's 240 total however there is overlap between seasons of 25-50% so the total would be around 180 for me, including footwear and "uniform" needs.

I don't think I will be creating a strict capsule for September, as I had planned. First of all I have trouble with anything strict. Like SYC for example?! It's started to feel tedious. But I'm glad I did it. I realized I need very few smart casual clothes, but that I could be purchasing more for my "uniform" and not just wearing the cheapest, dingiest things (greyed white button downs, I'm looking at YOU). And, I think I have come up with a wardrobe count of 180 or at least under 200. That was one of my main goals. I know that's a high number for many, but although I have a fairly mild climate, I do have distinct seasons with more extremes than when I lived in Coastal California. The extremes -- hot summer requiring very lightweight clothing -- and a chilly but not exactly cold winter requiring warm sweaters, and some foul weather gear -- will be packed away each season. I like that they feel fresh when I pull them out each year.

I do love to shop and keep a refreshed wardrobe, but as long as I spend within my means AND practice one-in, one-out, I am going to be at peace with my largish wardrobe.