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Agonizing on wardrobe numbers...

lyn67

Veteran

This could be linked to the series on wardrobe numbers some of us are quite obsessed about recently:-).

Laura(rhubarbgirl) had a thread about her numbers which were very close to mines(FOR IDEAL) and some of other's, too.

Shall I tell you where my ideal numbers come from? A little from here, a little form there:-).

I think Suz was the first who admited that she has not only 4 seasons, but 6 or 8 to dress for.Then, it downed on me, we certainly have 8(!) here, where I live.

This means 6,5 weeks/mini seasons, each with approx. 32 work outfits(smart casual to business casual) and 8 true casual ones (for weekends only). This means 10 different work outfits(with no more than 3 repetitions) and 2-3 great casuals (3-4 repetitions it's OK with me for errands on the weekends).

Then, how can I translate outfits to actual items of clothing? Angie's(and other's) capsules came to my mind.

The 10 work outfits will consist of (due to my speciffic personal prefferences):

5 skirts+ 7-8 tops

3 dresses

+3 shorter toppers for skirted bottoms

2 pants+ 4 tops

+1 speciffic pant topper (longer)

____________________________________________

(I count my outfits different if they have different bottoms. Q:-what about you?)

So, 22 items for my working capsule and mini season.

For my weekend casuals I will adapt some of my work outfits, with say more 3 extra casual tops(and/or toppers)

This means a total of 25 items per mini season.

So, 8 mini seasons x25 items=200 items all year round...

Phew, a lot of work done:-)

It seems me, 200 is a nr. on which many of us gravitate around. Am I right?

For me, these numbers don't include lounge wear, speciffic holiday wear(which can be so different depending on the venue), coats, trenches, outer jackets, nor my scarves, or other accessories. Shoes and bags are another kind and completely different animal- will have to be the subject of another thread, sometime:-).

My 200 clothing items will probably include 40 skirts, 24 dresses, 16 pants, 96 tops (of all kinds: sleeveless, short/long sleeve, wovens/knitted) and 32 toppers (of all kinds: blazers, jackets, cardis).

As for my actual numbers. For the moment am afraid to count the items in my closet (and other storing places around my house-because I'm so bad at culling if things still fit and loved once) but I think I actually do use quite the ideal nr. of dresses, tops and toppers but less skirts(which do really can overlap seasons) and pants (which are so hard to make fit).

Does this analysis make sense for any of you?

Thanx for reading so far & comments always appreciated...have to run now:-(.

Dressing

21 replies

Latest reply was from lyn67

Mo

(website)

Veteran

For me, I have no idea what my 'outfit' is going to be ahead of time, so I can't possibly say 12 high summer outfits, comprised of skirt x put with top z. The best I can get is knowing I have to cover my top and bottom each day and figure from there LOL. The dresses are the only items that cover both bases in one fell swoop. That's partly why I figured dressing 6 days a week. I can plug that last day with a dress. That and I often stay 'loungey' one day. So it's a failsafe for either scenario. Then I figured how much repetition I wanted and went from there.
I still can't wear most of what I have more than 12 times with only owning 150 items, shoes and coats included. So I just assume those with wardrobes larger than this are wearing their things even less often or changing more than once in a day.
It's all good, as long as you get the chance to wear all the stuff you like as often as you like.

Anonymous

This makes perfect sense to me Lyn! Do you think you have enough pieces to fill each mini-season separately, or do you think you'll need to carry over some items from season to season?

carter

Veteran

No agonizing! There's no right or wrong answer. My total "ideal" number is very close to yours, maybe a touch higher. I struggled a bit with our strange seasons as well, but they're so fluid here that I just couldn't pin them down into neat little chunks. My solution (that may or may not work) is to have 2 seasonal wardrobes in my closet at once, except in the dregs of Summer. For instance, I'm calling Dec-Feb our Winter, but December can easily be very mild, so I would also keep my Fall wardrobe available. February can also be Spring-like some years, so Feb 1 I may move out the Fall items and move in the Spring items to mix and match with Winter items. By mid-late March I should be able to remove Winter items and start bringing in Summer items in the event April is super hot. The lightweight sweaters and long pants of Spring are unwearable by May, so I just need my Summer wardrobe until October when I start to bring in Fall items to mix and match until Fall arrives in November. It seems to work for me on paper, but we'll just have to see how it works in practice (when I'm actually paying attention...not just running around to the out of season side of my closet to grab what I need for unexpected weather;-).

Your outfit approach is interesting...along the lines of Susie's current experiment. Mine tends to be more capsule mix and match, so I haven't yet flushed out the numbers I need in tops, bottoms, etc yet. Working on it though!

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

Interesting about the seasons. I'm wondering about the reason behind the math though. Are your seasons so different that at least some of your tops and bottoms wouldn't cover multiple seasons?

qfbrenda

Veteran

I'm thinking layering needs to become your friend. A winter dress will be very different from a summer dress, but there will be some carry over with dresses that are in the middle. And even some summer dresses can be layered. I might wear a dress by itself with sandals in the summer. But in the spring I might add a camisole, jacket or sweater, plus boots plus/minus tights as needed.

I don't think you would need 200 items to get across that many seasons unless you really want that many.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I'm thinking along the lines of the others, Lyn -- that some of your seasons carry over. Spring and fall are probably similar temperatures, no? You probably do need a distinct summer capsule (or capsules) -- one for work, one for the casual life. And you probably need a true winter capsule also. But you might be able to crossover bottoms and at least some tops, as well as some dresses.

Even in my climate of extremes with no air conditioning and foot commuting, I have some items that are virtually "all season." I don't wear jeans on super hot days, but they are spring, fall, winter, and cool summer night wear. I have a few tops that can be used all seasons also, although I do tend to favour them in one season or another. My wool jackets are also usable in all but high summer.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

This is partly why I simplify with warm vs cold, and then lump the rest as temperate or transitional. As Suz mentioned, a handful of things are only for warm weather and a few for just cold, but I bet at least half my wardrobe can span most seasons. I can wear a tank in fall with cords and a jacket layered over it, for instance. Same tank can go with shorts and sandals for high summer. Etc, etc.

ironkurtin

Veteran

This isn't a test to pass or fail. Don't agonize!

Alassë

Veteran

Seconding qfbrenda.

Urbanfae

(website)

I completely identify with your season issues because we have the same thing here. I have the rotating wardrobe as well. Some of my spring/fall clothes overlap but I prefer warmer colors in the fall. I really like how organized you are with everything.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Ditto to IK! Numbers are just numbers. If you're happy with what's in your closet, THAT is what's important.

If I fretted about numbers, I'd have to throw out half my wardrobe, and that is NOT going to happen.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I have to agree with IK and Janet. I find numbers fun! Because I'm a geek like that. If I didn't I wouldn't even begin to stress over them.

Anonymous

I agree with IK. No need to agonise about numbers. If it makes you happy having choice and variety then it's all good.

Gigi

Veteran

Lyn, if you are happy with your closet and are wearing everything in it, then that is the size of closet that you need. It's not always just a practical need—there is also an emotional need. Lots of us need more than just what's necessary to keep us warm and not going around naked.

As far as having some items do double duty, I find that the fact that I like different color palettes for different seasons means that a top that might technically be the right weight for, say, spring isn't going to be worn because the colors of it are what make me think "fall." And I just can't make myself do it. For instance, I have a beautiful bright yellow cardigan that I love wearing for spring—but come fall, even though the weight is right, the color seems very out of place. So I think it can sometimes be tough to estimate crossover of items from one season to another.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

Ha ha ha, it's catching on! I love the idea of the eight mini-seasons, and thinking of it as numbers of outfits and extrapolating from there. I suspect that if I worked in an office I would really like to try the '10 work outfits per season' idea. But since there's not as much difference between my home office wear and my weekend wear, individual items cross over much more. (Maybe that's why it doesn't appeal to Mo either?)

I think you could easily approach this by remembering your ideal outfits for each mini-season, and when it arrives pull out what you've got and see if you have excess. Then you can make decisions to get rid of something or put it aside for another season. That way you can do it a bit at a time over the year and not all at once! It reminds me of the blogger (Sheila at Sheila's Ephemera, IIRC) who did a year-long 30x30 challenge, starting over with a new set of 30 items each month.

Lyn D.

Veteran

Don't stress!
The main thing counting did for me was increase my awareness of actual needs, and items that don't get worn much and should be purchased with greater care in the future

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh, I do agree that some colours only work for some seasons! This is true even if you limit your colour palette quite a lot. But Lyn dresses quite a lot in her neutrals and in that case, it's easier to make the transition. You can wear grey, taupe, navy or even black very easily year round. Probably khaki, too. And white or off-white/ cream.

Gigi

Veteran

Thanks, Laura, for your comment above...I understand Lyn's concept a little better now. It's an outfit-based capsule, with X number of outfits for each of 8 miniseasons. I will have to think about this! (I'm having a bad brain day...)

Suz, you have posted about moving in the direction of an outfit-based wardrobe, and I am liking that idea, although I am not 100% clear on my style yet so am still experimenting. If, like Laura says, I can come up with certain ideal outfits for each miniseason, I can better see what I want to purchase and what I have enough of. Hmmm....brain gears moving...

And Suz, you're exactly right on the neutrals. They do make seasonal crossover so much easier!

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Agreeing with the others -there is no ideal number imo I don't think we can start with JUST numbers, numbers vary season by season & person by person.

We all have to work out what is "enough" imo. Variables like climate, how often we want to wear our clothes & how often we want to wash our clothes are all factors.

Lisa

Veteran

I always enjoy some number crunching. I think it helps to get one started to crunch the numbers, but then as others have mentioned there is the actual usage factor to apply. I don't need nearly as many bottoms as I would crunch because I carry over bottoms across the seasons. And I like the repeat items often, so for me, I own less outfits than my number crunching because I repeat and remix quite often.

lyn67

Veteran

Wow, ladies, I enjoyed to read your thoughtful comments -and kept learning from each of them, so much! (I'm only sorry for not beeing able to come back to you yesterday).

To answer some of your's questions.

Mo: I am very aware that I preffer skirts and dresses to pants, as I feel they fit me easier and their look is more professional(on me). After my calculations here, I am repeating each of the 10 work outfits in 2 weeks again, and and that's a nr.of repeats that keeps me interrested, but indeed, means only 3 repeats in a mini season. It's quite a few but will happily wear the same perfect (or slightly updated) outfit years in a row. Is that such a weird thing? (I almost forget what I have from one year to the other, so it can be again like new to me, and am still cheered up when find it out, if that makes sense:-)).

Claire: I now certainly have enough pieces for each of the 8 mini seasons(and of course I have beloved transitional or multi seasonal pieces, too). But it took me time to achieve that, and I wasn't quite happy before, so that was my starting point. The problem is, now my wardrobe is crowded, and I don't like that....I would like to have more space, but it will not happen, so it's a bit controversial:-((.

Carter: 2 seasonal wardrobes in my closet at once would be so great for me, too. But as said above, lacking the place for it:-((.

Alexandra, qfbrenda& Allasé: Yes, our 8 mini seazon can be so varied, and different. I never knew this, until joining YLF years ago, and stared paying attention why am I unhappy with my dressing. Layering IS my friend already and I do have overlaping items but I like different color palettes for different seasons, now. As Suz remembers so well I once had a completely neutral wardrobe:-), but I wasn't always 100% happy with it. During my years at YLF I have slowly incorporated some colors, and even I still like to dress monochromatic, or color blocked once I added colors, I became quite the sensitive to that- as Gigi, Urbanfae and Suz said some colors are more appropiate for a season than for another, even if the weight is right. And so, it's getting more complicated, of course.

Suz: Jeans is quite the good example for overlaping seasons except that I own only 3 pair of jeans (bare with me that my blue jeans are not premium, and I find them too casual for work) and only wear the white ones for work. Still, agree with, and use my (wool, or denim, or other) jackets all year round.

Ironcurtin, Diane G, Lyn D: Thanks for the therapy and wisdom. You are so right! Agonising over these freacking numbers is no help, other than that it increased my awareness on my latest, and hopefully future purchases, too. It's all good:-).

Laura(rhubarbgirl): I know(and love) Sheila's blog:-). 30x30 would be a great challenge, and seems quite doable for me. Thanx for the great ideea, I will have to consider this.

Lisa and Mo(again): Yes, you are number crunchers and geeks like that:-). I never would have thought to count my clothing items, or agonising on them, before reading that very first post of Mo's in the thema, years ago:-)). I blame you (Mo) for all!:-)).

Caro in oz: you are so right. There are so many variables in our lives that it's pretty challenging to keep them at bay. This is my thread about:-)