I recently hit six months of participation here at YLF and decided this would be a good time to take a step back and reflect. After months of trying to absorb as much as possible and plenty of information overload and over-thinking my closet I've experienced a bit of a breakthrough in the last few weeks. I'm starting to feel more comfortable commenting on other people’s threads, I’m feeling out my style persona, and I’ve actually successfully assembled a fall capsule.

Almost immediately after discovering the site’s archived posts I came to appreciate Angie’s approach to mix and match capsules. I’ve never wanted an entirely mix and match wardrobe, but I do like the idea of having a solid casual capsule to bring cohesion to what tends to be an eclectic closet.

I spent months thinking about this capsule before actually making any progress. The first hurdle was my existing wardrobe. I initially wanted to plan a capsule around what I already owned, but I finally realized 1) I have too many statements in my closet and essentials are, well, essential to building a functioning capsule; 2) I am so attracted to the new fluid fits in fashion that I am not excited to wear many things I currently own; and 3) Much of what I own is showing wear. So, I decided to build a capsule with new items and simply mix in existing items from my closet when appropriate.

I also decided not to require that every top work with every bottom and every topper (too hard for a beginner). Instead, I tried to pick things that will work
with MOST of the items in my capsule. For example, a short top might not be great over my ponte pants but will work with my other pants.

These realizations gave me the freedom I needed and within a few weeks I finally had a capsule! Of course because I essentially began from scratch these items are from a variety of inexpensive to moderately priced sources (ebay, thrift shops, and sale items from stores like BR and the GAP). I also did not buy items in the perfect ratio (Angie recommends 3 tops for every bottom), but I bought a nice selection of new tops and will mix in tops from my existing closed when I need variety.

I expect I will be able to use parts of this capsule as the foundation of next year’s version, but will also need to replace some pieces. I’m on Team Wear, so some things will wear out. I hope enough lasts so I can just refresh the capsule with better quality items and a few trendy peices next year.

I road tested the capsule on a trip to visit my parents and enjoyed the variety it offered.

Thanks for reading and I hope some of these musing will be helpful to anyone else considering the capsule plunge.